Join us for the event celebrating one of the world's most acclaimed writer, and learn more about the story behind Kafka's Letters to Felice and even discover the connection between Kafka and California. The one of a kind lecture will be introduced by Efraín Kristal, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at UCLA. The book is translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker. 

When & Where: Wednesday, October 16, 3:30 pm
UCLA, Kaplan Hall Room #311 (third floor), 415 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095

RSVP: Please confirm your attendance by Monday, October 14 , 2024 to: CzechConsulateLA@gmail.com

About the Author: Magdaléna Platzová is the author of nine books, including three novels published in English: Aaron’s Leap, a Lidové Noviny Book of the Year Award finalist, The Attempt, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and a Czech Book Award finalist, and Life After Kafka, a Magnesia Litera award finalist. Her fiction has also appeared in A Public Space and Words Without Borders. Platzová grew up in the Czech Republic; studied in Washington, DC, and England; received her MA in Philosophy at Charles University in Prague; and has taught at New York University’s Gallatin School. She is now based in Lyon, France.

About the Book: Life After Kafka: A novel by Magdaléna Platzová, Translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker

“A deeply empathetic story of survival, exile, and belonging. Magdaléna Platzová allows Felice Bauer to step out of Kafka’s shadow and, in the process, she recognizes that there is always so much more than one truth. This is a powerful, kaleidoscopic literary novel.” 

—Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin and Apeirogon

“Franz Kafka is a universe that resists any attempt at interpretation. Magdaléna Platzová’s novel offers a new key to Kafka’s world: we look at it through the tender and sorrowful gaze of the people whose fate had been marked by him personally. An utterly touching book!” —Agnieszka Holland, award-winning filmmaker and president of the European Film Academy

“Life After Kafka is a thrilling detective story about one of literature’s most celebrated names, a haunting family saga about preserving our legacy during the darkest turns of history, and a thought-provoking exploration of the rippling impact of famous artists on the people in their lives. Platzová’s masterful merging of fact and fiction, in Alex Zucker’s artful and inspired translation, carries us across decades and continents to prove that our connections can be abandoned and yet unbroken, and that even the briefest encounters—in love and in art—can shape us forever.” —Jaroslav Kalfař, author of Spaceman of Bohemia and A Brief History of Living Forever

Thank you: The event is co-organized by the UCLA Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies, UCLA Department of European Languages & Transcultural Studies, and UCLA Department of Comparative Literature. Special thanks to Igor Pilshchikov, Susan Kresin, and Lisset Cadena.