Press Release, 24th May, 2012; Book launch for the collection of poems, A Harsh Ovation.
Irena Pavlásková, Roman Vojtek and Jiří Bartoška – stowaways aboard the Poetic Tram.
Without a valid ticket but with poems in hand, the invited guests met up at the tram depot in Prague-Střešovice on the evening of Thursday, 24th May. Accompanied by amazing weather, they set off in a self-styled poetic tram through the streets of historic Prague.
In this extravagant way, Sylva Lauerová, the Czech writer and poet, launched her new book; this time a collection of poems with the equivocal title of A Harsh Ovation.
And as it was a book of poems, it was launched with the drink of poets – absinthe. As per the Czech literary tradition, the book had its own godparents; these were the long-time friends of Sylva Lauerová, the film director Irena Pavlásková, the actor Roman Vojtek, while the famous and celebrated actor Jiří Bartoška obstinately insisted that he was merely a guest and admirer of the writer’s poetry. All, however, wished the book great success and the unswerving loyalty of its future readers.
The generally enthusiastic atmosphere in the poetic tram was accompanied by music from Jindřich Macek on the lute and Jitka Baštová on the accordion. Accompanying the refreshments, coffee and wine, were the poems and prints of the illustrations specifically created for A Harsh Ovation by Monika Sedlářová, a young Czech artist living in England.
Sylva Lauerová is a controversial personality from the Czech literary scene. She has written five titles, two of which were collections of poems. She has written commercially-successful novels (the erotic bestseller The Toy, the BDSM thriller The Slave, and the Amazonian mystery drama Jumaroro). She organizes artistic happenings (the Michael2007 project) and supports various activities in the field of literature (the anthology of love poetry The Queens of Blackberries and Tears) or fashion (the Impersoned project).
Originally from Brno and currently living between Prague and the Seychelles, Sylva Lauerová’s name is increasingly becoming well-known to the reading public. Besides the collection of poems A Harsh Ovation, she is also planning to publish a mystery novel, The Lurker, in November this year.
A Harsh Ovation, the new collection of poems by Sylva Lauerová, was officially launched with an author reading at the Svět Knihy international book fair in Prague and is currently available from all good booksellers.
