Event
About this event
The Writer’s Center welcomes one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Czech literature, Petra Hůlová, and her longtime translator Alex Zucker for a reading and conversation about her provocative new novel, The Long Version. Hůlová and Zucker will read from the novel and discuss the ideas behind the book, contemporary Czech literature, and the unique relationship between an author and her translator. The conversation will be moderated by poet and translator Katherine E.
Young . FREE & open to the public. RSVP using this link>>> Petra Hůlová is the recipient of several of Czechia’s most important literary honors, including the Magnesia Litera, Josef Škvorecký Award, and Jiří Orten Award.
Read more
She lives in Prague and is a regular commentator on current events in the Czech press. Alex Zucker is an award-winning translator of Czech literature whose translations include works by Zuzana Říhová, Magdaléna Platzová, Jáchym Topol, Bianca Bellová, Petra Hůlová, Tomáš Zmeškal, Patrik Ouředník, and others. Katherine E.
Young is an award-winning poet and literary translator and the author of the poetry collections Woman Drinking Absinthe and Day of the Border Guards. She translates writers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. In 2026, Young and Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli were jointly awarded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Literature Prize for her translation of Aylisli’s People and Trees.
About The Long Version Can a woman wake up one day and say “#MeToo” 20 years after the fact? Or is “#MeToo” a right reserved for the younger generation? In her early fifties, Czech author Sylvie Novak looks back on her successful career.
As she embarks on a tour to promote her book of feminist essays–which she’s not convinced has captured the nature of gender inequality–her teenage daughter Judita finds her journals from her youth, discovering the intimate relationship she had with a much older writer. Judita is convinced the experience scarred her for life, whereas Novak considers her daughter’s views to be ignorant and absolutist, however critical she is towards the deep-seated machismo of Eastern European dissident cultures. Meanwhile, the man she loves has found a new, younger object of desire, leaving Novak to reflect on the decline of her sex appeal.
In The Long Version , we become spectators of Novak’s tightrope walk, balancing between the old generation and the new, love and desire, and above all the myriad interpretations of the past. Like Hůlová, Novak seeks not to lay blame or win sympathy, but to explore the shifting meanings of feminism at a time of polarized thinking and, perhaps, discover a path towards reconciliation. If you need an accommodation for this event, please contact us at access@writer.org .
We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services. Enjoying our free events? Help us offer more programs to support writers with a $10 donation »
Description from The Writer's Center.
Registration, tickets, accessibility and last-minute changes are handled by the organizer. Confirm details before you go.
More events in Bethesda
An Evening of Tributes to Tobias WolffThe Writer’s Center
Search Party: Find Your Writing GroupThe Writer’s Center
Daniel Nayeri Book ReleaseThe Writer’s Center
Open Mic @ The Writer’s CenterThe Writer’s Center- LGBTQ+ Writers MixerThe Writer’s Center
- 50th Anniversary CelebrationThe Writer’s Center