EPISODE · Sep 24, 2024 · 18 MIN
Writer Jana Prikryl on how her parents’ escape from Czechoslovakia shaped her life – and language
from Prague Talk
Jana Prikryl was five, and called Jana Přikrylová, when her parents fled communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s and built a new life in the West. She has since gone on to become a successful poet and a top editor at the highly respected New York Review of Books. But how much did initially speaking Czech shape the writer’s approach to language? I discussed that question and many more with Prikryl, who was speaking from her home in New York.
What this episode covers
Jana Prikryl was five, and called Jana Přikrylová, when her parents fled communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s and built a new life in the West. She has since gone on to become a successful poet and a top editor at the highly respected New York Review of Books. But how much did initially speaking Czech shape the writer’s approach to language? I discussed that question and many more with Prikryl, who was speaking from her home in New York.
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Writer Jana Prikryl on how her parents’ escape from Czechoslovakia shaped her life – and language
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