City Library: Readings with discussions with writers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia - on 3 March and 24 March, both at 6 p.m. in the TIETZ, Central Library
On Tuesday 3 March and Tuesday 24 March, both at 6 pm, renowned Czech and Slovakian writers will be presenting their new novels at Chemnitz City Library. The two events in the central library in the TIETZ offer a foretaste and a review of the Leipzig Book Fair, which takes place from 19 to 22 March. Registration is possible at www.stadtbibliothek-chemnitz.de/buchen.
Jiří Hájíček, 3 March, 6 p.m., Central Library in the TIETZ, admission free
Jiří Hájíček, one of the outstanding Czech authors, presents his novel "370 metres above sea level". A village novel that tells of the beauty of a world that is about to perish.
In 2008, after 15 years abroad, Hana returns to what was once her home. The village of her childhood and youth has been flooded and a lake has been dammed in its place, which now supplies the Temelín nuclear power plant with cooling water. In her old home, Hana wants to find out what divided her family back then. She takes us on a journey into the lost world of the 1980s, the time before the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia.
Vera-Cosima Gutmann from Chemnitz Theatre will read the play in German. The evening will be moderated by Christina Frankenberg from the Czech Centre Berlin.
Michal Ajvaz & Lukáš Cabala, 24 March, 6 pm, Central Library in the TIETZ, admission free
Under the motto "Between Mirror and Memory - Fantastic Reading Worlds from Leipzig and Trenčín", Michal Ajvaz and Lukáš Cabala will read from their latest novels. The event will be moderated by translator Stefanie Bose.
In "Passages of Glass", Michal Ajvaz creates a multi-layered labyrinth of spaces, reflections and time shifts - a poetic adventure in which Leipzig becomes the stage for a metaphysical exploration of the everyday.
In "Are you still thinking about Trenčín?", Lukáš Cabala leads us through landscapes of memory in which the past and present merge imperceptibly.
Both authors allow the real to tilt, open hidden doors between dream and experience and show how close reality and imagination can be. A double reading that unhinges reality - and transports guests to a different order of things for an evening.
The authors
The authors
Jiří Hájíček liest am 3. März 2026, 18 Uhr, in der Zentralbibliothek im TIETZ.Picture: David Peltán
Jiří Hájíček, born in České Budějovice in 1967, is one of the outstanding Czech authors of our time. His novels, which are all set in the South Bohemian countryside, have already won the Magnesia Litera, the Czech Republic's highest literary prize, twice. The readers of the daily newspaper Lidove noviny voted the novel "The Rainstick" (original: Dešťová hůl) Book of the Year 2016.
Michal Ajvaz, born in 1949, studied Czech and Aesthetics at Charles University in Prague from 1967 to 1974 and completed his doctorate there in 1977 on Richard Weiner and Karel Čapek. During the communist regime, he withdrew into an "inner emigration", wrote without the prospect of publication and worked as a caretaker, night watchman and pump attendant. He has been a freelance writer since 1994 and was editor of Literární noviny from 1996 to 1999. Since 2003 he has been employed at the Centre for Theoretical Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University. His poems, stories, novels, essays and theoretical studies have been translated into 24 languages.
Michal Ajvaz liest am 24. März 2026, 18 Uhr, in der Zentralbibliothek im TIETZ.Picture: David Konecny
Michal Ajvaz, born in 1949, studied Czech and Aesthetics at Charles University in Prague from 1967 to 1974 and completed his doctorate there in 1977 on Richard Weiner and Karel Čapek. During the communist regime, he withdrew into an "inner emigration", wrote with no prospect of publication and worked as a caretaker, night watchman and pump attendant. He has been a freelance writer since 1994 and was editor of Literární noviny from 1996 to 1999. Since 2003 he has been employed at the Centre for Theoretical Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University. His poems, stories, novels, essays and theoretical studies have been translated into 24 languages.
Lukáš Cabala, born in Trenčín in 1986, lives and works in his home town, the European Capital of Culture 2026. In 2011, he turned his love of books into a profession and, together with his parents, founded the online antiquarian bookshop www.ciernenabielom.sk, which the family still runs today. Cabala is the author of four novels and two children's books, most of which are set in Trenčín. His debut novel was published in 2020. "Denk du noch an Trenčín?" is his first novel in German translation and was nominated for the EU Prize for Literature in 2025 and the Anasoft Litera Prize in 2024.
The readings will take place in cooperation with the Chemnitz City Library, the Czech Centre Berlin and Allee Verlag Munich; supported by the Czechia 2026 project in the Year of Czech Culture, which accompanies the Czech Republic's guest country appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2026.
Lukáš Cabala liest am 24. März 2026, 18 Uhr, in der Zentralbibliothek im TIETZ.Picture: Jana Gombíková
Lukáš Cabala, born in Trenčín in 1986, lives and works in his home town, the European Capital of Culture 2026. In 2011, he turned his love of books into a profession and, together with his parents, founded the online antiquarian bookshop www.ciernenabielom.sk, which the family still runs today. Cabala is the author of four novels and two children's books, most of which are set in Trenčín. His debut novel was published in 2020. "Denk du noch an Trenčín?" is his first novel in German translation and was nominated for the EU Prize for Literature in 2025 and the Anasoft Litera Prize in 2024.
The readings will take place in cooperation with the Chemnitz City Library, the Czech Centre Berlin and Allee Verlag Munich; supported by the Czechia 2026 project in the Year of Czech Culture, which accompanies the Czech Republic's guest country appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2026.
