The Prague Microfestival is one of the biggest international literature festivals in the Czech Republic, this year celebrating it’s 9th edition, organized and directed through the newly found International Arts Centre Prague by Louis Armand, Aljaž Koprivnikar and David Vichnar! 

In a spectacular new venue at Hybernska 4, Prague Microfestival is staging its biggest ever cultural showcase in nine years of running. Over four days, 18-21 May, 24 writers from 12 countries will read. Artists, musicians, and performers from all over the world will show their work. Even the small organising team, based out of the International Arts Centre (IAC) Prague, is made up from six nationalities.

Prague Microfestival, however, remains proudly integrated with Czech culture. It is fully bilingual and delivers all performances in both Czech and English, staging Czech authors and artists where they belong, shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of international contemporary arts and writing. The festival will welcome highly regarded poets, including Molly Antopol, Michal Ajvaz, and Mary Caponegro, while installations and collaborations from well-known contemporary artists such as Mark Divo, Paul Chaney, and Jaromír Typlt and Michal Rataj promise a mixture of pleasure and challenge.

This year, the festival will launch the first Prague Microfestival Prize for Poetry, as Prague’s only open poetry competition. Any unpublished poet can enter, in either Czech or English. The winner will enjoy a reading slot in the festival finale, publication in the festival zine, and a professional literary translation into either Czech or English (details for entry can be found on the website).

Founded firstly as a literary festival, Prague Microfestival continues to uphold local writing and publishing. A bookfair at the festival will showcase Prague’s independent publishing, including TVAR, Psi Vino, Equus Press, Literaria Pragensia, and Twisted Spoon Press. Patrons will be able to drink beer and browse books simultaneously, as the bar, open 16:00-00:00, is located with the books.

Visitors can then pop past the bar into the MICROSHOW, a pop-up visual art gallery, or next door to the unique sound installation by Jaromír Typlt and Michal Rataj. Food will be for sale in the courtyard, catered by the delicious local restaurant, Govinda. From the courtyard, shafts of light sink into the underground cinema, where film screenings will be shown in collaboration with FAMU. Skylights illuminate the pop-up art gallery, where the ‘MICROSHOW’ of local and international artists will take place.

Prague Microfestival will also host a number of critical symposia this year. MICROLAB is an experimental conference themed as a science laboratory. It will focus on Prague as a “petri dish” of influences, and on current and future arts theory and practice, on the upper floor of Hybernska 4, 16:00-18:00 daily. Emerging thinkers, students, and young academics will present and discuss their current work.

Every evening between 18:00 and 19:00, a social activist will give a talk, on topics such as environmental activism, religious philosophy, and feminist activism. These talks will take place in the gallery.

The readings will take centre-stage. With the height and acoustics of a chapel, and the white walls and industrial features of a white cube warehouse gallery, the concert space promises a spectacular show. The newly founded International Arts Centre (IAC) Prague has made the best of the venue, staging the evening programme of writers and poets until 10pm, followed by live music until midnight.

As well as an arts space, PMF is a place for people to meet, and for all its internationalism it remains a friendly place for discovery and discourse. As a fully bilingual and inclusive arts experience with an amazingly diverse offering, it promises something for everyone.

Prague Microfestival 9 takes place 18-21 May at Hybernská 4, 16:00-00:00

To read more about the program and participants, make sure to visit their website at www.praguemicrofestival.com !