Info - Letter

25 November 2010

Dear friends,

Please receive in the enclosure a nomination form for the Jiri Theiner Award.

The award is named after the man who for many years was editor-in-chief of the magazine Index on Censorship, which has been published in the United Kingdom since 1972 and engages with issues related to freedom of expression. The prize will be awarded by Book World Ltd., a company of the Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers, to a living person or institution operating abroad who or which by their or its acts, initiatives and/or long-term endeavours contributes to the dissemination and promotion of Czech literature abroad. The award is connected with a financial award of £1000.

The Jiri Theiner Award will be conferred ceremonially at the 2011 Book World Prague international book fair and literary festival in the Authors’ Room of the Palace of Industry (Prague - Holešovice Exhibition Grounds) at 2 p.m. on 13 May.

Nominations may be made by representatives of the professional public (eg., publishers, librarians, institutions or media concerned with literature and book culture) and members of the awarding committee. A nomination must include the full name or title of the nominated individual or organization, plus an address at which the nominee may be contacted and reasons why the nominee is deserving of recognition.

The winner will be chosen by a five-member committee appointed by Book World Ltd. Pavel Theiner, son of Jiri Theiner and donor of the financial award, is a permanent, honorary member of the committee. The committee is chaired by Dr Lenka Jungmannová of the Institute of Czech Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The closing date for nominations is 15 February 2011.

We will be grateful for your nominations not least because we believe the newly established Jiri Theiner Award addresses an area of Czech literary culture that has been too little acknowledged and will serve to raise the profile of the work of our compatriots and colleagues abroad.

Yours sincerely,

Dana Kalinová

Managing Director

Svět knihy, s.r.o. (Book World Ltd.)