Prague Readings

I've been involved with several of the readings in Prague since 1993. The first of them that had any legs was The BeefStew Poetry Readings, which ran from 1992 to 2002, a pretty heroic ten-year run.

Currently, Alchemy Readings and Performance Series is the place to be found in Prague, highlighting a featured reader at each twice-monthly session, usually someone who is passing through Prague and has a reputation elsewhere. Run by Ken Nash, the reading occurs at Tulip Cafe on the first and third Mondays of every month.

As The Prague Post's Kristin D'Agnostino puts it in a March 2003 article, the grandaddy of open-mic nights in Prague was Beefstew, which started in 1992 and ended in 2002. "It was held in the basement of Radost nightclub on Sunday nights," recalls Thomas Ward, a 36-year-old musician and writer. "I read at it almost every Sunday for most of those 10 years."

With Alchemy, Ken Nash is attempting to pick up where Beefstew left off, providing an outlet for new voices constantly appearing on the scene. Along with aspiring expats, he is booking established talent such as Myla Goldberg, the American author of Bee Season, slated to read Monday, March 17. Catch D'Agostino's full article in the Prague Post.

Among the featured readers, we've been privileged to hear at Alchemy:

• Taylor Mali

  Peter Orner (author of Esther's Stories)
• Christopher Cook (author of Robbers and Screen-Door Jesus)
• Ryan Mergen (award winning slam poet)
• Gene Dietch (Oscar winning animator; author, For the Love of Prague)
• Alan Levy (author of Nazi Hunter)
• Georgia Scott (activist author from Dansk, Poland)
• Joe Sherman (author of Rings of Saturn)
• Katrina Porteous (The Lost Music)
• Howard Hunt (The Bishop)
• Simone Felipe (Goodbye Amelia)
• Taylor Mali (multiple National Slam Championship winner)

In an interview with Prague Radio, Ken Nash told a bit about his reasons for conjuring up Alchemy: "There's been a history of English-language events- open mic - in Prague since 1992. And a friend of mine asked me if I too could get something together. I had this idea of changing the open mic to also include a feature segment in which people could perform for a longer period of time and we could bring performers to Prague, exposing the audience to new ideas and new works in progress. I think it was part of being part of this community here, something I just do for the fun of it, I don't get paid for it, but it's helping to nurture something for the community and it's important for me to be a part of that."