The Prague International Festival of Literature celebrates its historic 31st year from 14 to 17 May. As editor-in-chief and writer Tomáš Hejna from the new Prague publishing house OLYMPOS told us, its editorial and author team, unlike the book fair, starts from issue 1.

This can be seen in person at the exhibition centre in Holešovice from Thursday to Sunday at the stand HA 209, where several accompanying events will also take place, including a meeting of readers with the authors of the publishing house presented in these lines. Olympos is offering twenty titles here, published from September 2025 to the present. Among them, for example, are two titles about the war in Ukraine and the global context of this conflict - The War of Civilizations by Senator Jaroslav Doubrava and The Unnecessary War by journalist and foreign reporter Bohuslav Šnajder, which was the first of its kind to be written with the help of AI.

In this short list of published titles, we should not forget the book by documentary filmmakers Martin Mahdal and Markera Adamcova One of the Seven about the forgotten hero of the Second Resistance, paratrooper Josef Bublík, or Anthony Keas's witty, humorous, yet informative book Mad Inventions, or Zdeněk Kalkus's extraordinary travelogue Argentina All Inculsive.

Invitation to the 31st Book Fair in Prague

Presentation of a unique project

One of the accompanying programmes of the book fair will be the presentation of a unique two-year project by the director of Olympos publishing house Karel Hejna and his editorial colleagues, under the title 1000 Personalities of the Central Bohemian Region. This is a complete book novelty, literally unrealized in our country for half a century. With the exception of the publication of a collection of church dignitaries of the Olomouc region some time ago. As is well known, the Central Bohemian Region is the largest and most populous in the Czech Republic, and the greatest number of personalities of a wide range of interests and personalities are associated with it. Due to the limited space of the already extensive encyclopaedia, the working team, consisting of a quartet of experienced journalists, publicists and writers, is not able to cover all the names offered in book form.

Not to mention, in the words of the publishing house's editor-in-chief Tomáš Hejna, that for some personalities the meaning is more purely regional. The project envisages a website where a complete list of personalities, including medallions, should appear, which will not be included in the book. There will also be a rich picture gallery. For more information see What is the project 1000 Personalities of the Central Bohemian Region - Artes. It remains to add that one of the most common questions about working on such a complex project is what are the boundaries in the selection of personalities. The answer of the editor-in-chief Tomáš Hejna is: We have only one rule, not to slander, not to agitate - i.e. to write truthfully.

Ivan Cerny

Director of Olympos publishing house Karel Hejna on the left, editor-in-chief Tomáš Hejna on the right. Father and son Hejna were for many years associated with the legendary Prague sports and tourism publishing house Olympia. Last year, they left and, so to speak, made it for themselves, with the desire and wish to realize their own publishing dreams and ideas