Koubová, Šimečka, Tallo: Resilient Society

What makes us a resilient society and how does resilience relate to hope? Three guests address these questions - philosopher Alice Koubová, writer and publicist Martin M. Šimečka, and poet and writer Michal Tallo. Moderated by Petr Fischer. The programme lasts 60 minutes and takes place in Czech and Slovak.

Alice Koubová is one of the leading Czech philosophers. She works in political psychology, ethics, subjectivity, and performative philosophy, collaborating with institutions such as Studio Alta, Alfréd ve dvoře, and the National Theatre. She is the author of more than fifty academic papers and five monographs. Her latest book "Resilient Society: Between Powerlessness and Tyranny" (2023), prepared together with Barbora Baronová, was nominated for the award for best documentary book of the year.

Martin M. Šimečka is a Slovak writer, publicist, and commentator. He grew up in the family of philosopher and dissident Milan Šimečka, participated in the literary dissident movement, and edited the samizdat journal Fragment K. After the Velvet Revolution, he founded the publishing house Archa, led the newspaper SME and the magazine Respekt. He made his debut with the novel "The Year of the Frogs", for which he received the Jiří Orten Prize in 1988 and, in English translation, also the Los Angeles Times award for debut prose. In 2024, he received the František Kriegl Prize for civic courage. In his latest book "State of Exception: How to Live Well in Bad Times" (in Czech 2025), he builds on his dissident experience and reflects on preserving personal freedom, friendship, and civic responsibility in a society turning away from democracy.

Michal Tallo is a Slovak writer, translator, and publicist. He has published poetry collections "Antimita" (2016), "Δ" (2018), and "Book of Darkness" (2022). In 2024, his prose book "Everything Is Fine, Love Is Everywhere" was published, awarded the Tatra Banka Foundation Prize for Art. For Danube Books Verlag, he compiled the anthology "Junge Lyrik aus der Slowakei. Young Poetry from Slovakia" (2025). His works have been published in German, Ukrainian, and Czech; from English, he has translated works by Andrew McMillan and Seán Hewitt, among others.