Live from Hotel Josef, Sunday
Prague Writers' Festival, J Haynes' blog, 3 June 2007

Up very early. Quick shower and head downstairs for a breakfast feast. See Gary Snyder and ask if I might join him. He says that he is almost finished, but I am welcome. We both talk about how much we are enjoying the Festival and Hotel Josef. We talk briefly about a number of friends we have in common including his London publisher in the 60s. Gary excuses himself and I sit and have a second coffee and some more delicious bread, cheese and ham.

Check e-mail and there is a message for me from Sanjeev Prakash in New Delhi, a friend in Paris and an order for a book from someone in Israel. The miracle of e-mail. I love it.

In the lobby encounter Edgar (E.L.) Doctorow and he is on his way to the Big Ben Bookshop to participate in a book-signing. I tell him that I know the way and am in fact on my way there myself. Outside we discover a newspaper photographer who has elected to show us the way to the bookshop. Edgar asks if there is a dinner in my atelier in Paris tonight. Yes, there is and a friend named Paul Allman is going to be “me” and his wife, Mary Bartlett, is cooking a Thai curry. It will be a feast. The dinners continue no matter if I am in Paris or not.

We discover a long queue at Big Ben. Edgar goes inside to be photographed and to await Gary Snyder who will also be signing books this morning. I stand outside and chat with a fellow named Mark Yates. He is from Iowa and has been living in Prague for four years. And with his limited Czech. He asks people in the queue to be patient until Gary Snyder arrives. Somehow talk turns to bookshops and I tell Mark that I used to own a bookshop, gallery and coffee house in Edinburgh in the late 50s, early 60s. He asks if I know Steven Gove. Yes I do! And we talk about the Edinburgh and Prague Fringe Theatre Festivals. I tell him that I organized the printing of the first Edinburgh Fringe program back in 1960 and that I founded The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Our conversation ends when we spot Michael March and Gary Snyder approaching. Michael asks me to come into the bookshop. He tells me that he has not received any blog from me. Damn. What has happened? I promise to investigate. Michael then introduces me to a woman named Alice Horackova who writes about literature for a newspaper entitled Young Front and that now has a further name, Today. We talk briefly. Outside it is beginning to rain. Talk with Gary Snyder’s Czech translator and he introduces me to an attractive woman. Rossano Maniscalchi greets us.

I feel I must get back to the hotel. Walk in a pack of Spanish-speaking tourists. I chat briefly with them in my Spanish and they want to know where I am from and why do I speak Spanish. I tell them about my youth in Venezuela and my many trips to Mexico, Cuba and Spain. I give one of the men a leaflet about my Sunday dinners and he promises to come soon to Paris and to cook a Sunday dinner for everyone. They are all from Barcelona and I tell them how much I love their city.

Inside the Hotel Josef, spot Hannah. Introduce her to Michal Prochazka. Then ask Hannah to come to the Media Center to try and discover why my messages failed to reach Michael and PJ, (the fellow who will put it up). We also learn that Paris did not receive my first blog and therefore it will all have to be re-written. Ah, the joys of computing.

The DADA EAST? exhibition is opening and it demands my immediate attention. A short taxi ride and I am there. Immediately see and embrace Vlasta Brtnikova. She has been involved with the exhibition and this is why we have not seen her yet. I turn around and recognize an attractive woman and suddenly realize that it is Larissa Vergou. We embrace and I begin to tell her how sad I am that her father is not here with us. She stops me to introduce her mother. I tell them both that I was a fan of Spyros, that I was so looking forward to spending time with him in Prague, that he had written me recently that he wished to visit me in Paris. Death is so shocking. It is truly the last tabou. Larissa and I talk about Edinburgh and the Festival. Her father asked me to get her a job in the Festival and I managed to do it. She and I saw each other almost everyday for three weeks in August 2002. She was a big success in the Assembly Rooms. Everyone loved her and many people thanked me for recommending her. And now we are meeting again some five years later. Happy as I am to see her, it is sad that her father is not alive and with us. We exchange e-mail addresses and promise to stay in touch. She flies to Athens tonight. Her sister is about to have a baby and could not make the trip to Prague. There will be a funeral ceremony in Athens very soon.

There are speeches to open the exhibition. Michael March declares that the exhibition and indeed the entire Prague Writers’ Festival is dedicated to Spyros and to his spirit. A number of other people speak including the young mayor of Prague, Pavel Ben. Tom Sandqvist also says a few words. Adrian Notz, from the Cabaret Voltaire, in Zurich, is also one of the organizers of the exhibition.

I slip out and walk slowly back to the Hotel Josef. Purchase a dozen postcards, something I almost never do, and when I am back in my room I write them all to friends in Paris.

In the evening it is the beginning of talks at the Theatre Minor. Almost the first person I encounter is the lovely Ivana Bozdechova. We embarce and catch each other up to date. Michael introduces me to PJ, the fellow who has put my blogs up on the Prague Writers’ Festival website. And we discuss the fact that I have to re-write Saturday’s blog and get it to him later tonight. Teri introduces me to Gordana who is from Bosnia and who is a radio journalist with Radio Free Europe. I also see Martin Belk from Edinburgh and we talk about the Edinburgh Festival and various events he has planned. Sit with Gordana and Teri.

There is a panel discussion about Non-Violence and Terrorism which oddly enough is a stimulating event. Abraham Yehoshua, Sasha Hemon, Edgar Doctorow, Gary Snyder all speak from a singular different and personal position, but the sum total produces an amazing cross section of views that add up to an amazing evening. One line that Sasha throws out is especially provocative: “Here we are a group of literary personalities discussing terrorism. When will a group of terrorists meet and discuss literature?”

Afterwards talk with lots of people in the theatre. Then slip out and walk back to the Hotel Josef and fall into bed. It has been a very full day...