Host foreign rights catalogue spring 2025 / Exportní katalog nakladatelství Host jaro 2025
Host — vydavatelství, s. r. o.
Radlas 5
602 00 Brno
Czechia
www.hostbrno.cz
foreign rights
Dana Blatná Literary Agency
tel.: +420 608 748 157
e-mail: blatna@dbagency.cz
www.dbagency.cz
At Host, one of the largest independent publishing houses in Czechia, we have focused on contemporary Czech and world writing for almost thirty years. The Host brand has become a guarantee of high-quality literature in many genres. We are renowned for the care we take with our editing and the excellence of our graphic design. Our primary aim is to find the right readers for the outstanding books we offer. We take pains to provide ongoing care for our books and their authors after publication.
We currently publish about 150 titles annually, in genres including the following: general fiction, SF and fantasy, crime fiction, the thriller, children’s literature, popular science, specialist literature, poetry.
Host is proud to publish many leading Czech authors. Their popularity with readers and the wealth of literary awards to come their way confirm us in our belief that painstaking care for a book — from manuscript stage through to the last detail — makes perfect sense. Our authors include Alena Mornštajnová and Kateřina Tučková, whose bestselling works account for hundreds of thousands of copies and have been translated into many languages. Our Czech literature programme comprises all the genres mentioned above.
Our literature in translation programme, too, has a great deal to offer. The various stories we take from all over the world are characterized by readability, literary excellence and — last but not least — careful translation. Thanks to us, Czech readers are acquainted with works by authors including Annie Ernaux, Olga Tokarczuk, Fredrik Backman, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nino Haratischwili and Muriel Barbery
Our crime fiction programme is an integral part of what we do. In their chosen setting of criminal investigation, our authors respond to topical issues — a matter of great
importance to us. We regard the publication of the first part of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series as a significant moment in our history, for it was this that launched the Nordic noir phenomenon on the Czech market. Our bestperforming authors in this genre currently include Lars Kepler, Jussi AdlerOlsen and Peter May. In recent years we have strengthened our list by adding SF and fantasy, young adult fiction and children’s literature programmes. As we have no fear of the unexplored, we delight in introducing new trends to the Czech market. The most interesting names on our SFintranslation list include R. F. Kuang, Ted Chiang, Anthony Ryan and Liu Cixin; our Czech SF authors, notably Pavel Bareš and Petra Stehlíková, have also performed very well. As for children’s literature, our titles include works by successful authors Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński, Marianne Dubuc, Emilia Dziubak, Oksana Bula, and Roberto Santiago. Another focus of ours is the high quality Czech book for children, by which we bring together an original story with great artwork.
In terms of society, politics and art, the world is changing in all kinds of ways. Fortunately, we will always have books to capture this change. Some of these you will find on our non-fiction list. In the Klimax series, Host publishes original works on issues of climate change.
The history of Host is associated with the literary review of the same name, which first appeared in 1985 as a samizdat anthology. The Host bookpublishing house was established in the 1990s for poetry and literary theory, genres to which it remains true. Since the Nineties, the publishing house has been owned by Miroslav Balaštík, Tomáš Reichel and Martin Stöhr.
You can view our books and meet our authors and team at regular events, including author’s readings, panel discussions and book fairs. We take part every year in the international book fairs in Frankfurt, London, Bologna and, of course, Prague, as well as fairs in other parts of Czechia.
Alena Mornštajnová
Wasp Time / Čas vos novel; 7
Petra Soukupová
Marta Doesn’t Want Children / Marta děti nechce novel; 8
Jana Šrámková, Jan Němec
The Apartment: A two hander novel / Byt. Román ve dvou short stories; 9
Petra Dvořáková
The Return / Návrat novel; 10
Jakuba Katalpa Úlice. Liebesroman / Úlice. Liebesroman novel; 11
Kateřina Tučková, Jakuba Katalpa, Jaroslav Rudiš and others
The Sudetenland. Paradise Lost / Sudety. Ztracený ráj short stories anthology; 12
František Voldřich
Heroes of Nothing / Hrdinové ničeho novel; 13
Michal Sýkora
No Good News / Žádné dobré zprávy detective novel; 14
Jiří Klečka Blackbird / Černý kos detective novel; 15
Highly recommended 16
Selected backlist 20
Alena Mornštajnová
Wasp
Maximintem qui dit in non nossed que del ma nati quissit emporrorepro ea elit int volo consecu lparum cum et pernatis eati ut et omnihil ma dollabo. Nemoluptat quaturi aturit plandip sanimi, cone sunt. Is sit o cim remporepero venis ab ipictis mos rati arum sint et aut odis es simenditi am apediatent auta est omnissimus explabo rehenderchit que vel inias es dolupta ectincid est, es eius nihicimi, omni con con eum quiat ut facest liqui te quias sum nihit voluptas magnis utem quia ilibuscime comniae dolupti conet, omnimet exeribus aborrovidus.
Alena Mornštajnová (b. 1963) is one of today’s most popular Czech writers. More than 850,000 copies of her books sold in Czechia alone. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages. The author’s best-known works include Hana / Hana and November Fall / Listopád. She has won or been shortlisted for many literary prizes at home and abroad (e. g. French edition of Hana – Prix des lycéens de littérature des pays de l’Union européenne 2022–2023; Vietnamese edition of the same novel – National Book Award 2024).
Cas
Revenge or forgiveness?
A novel
about the force of the past and the power of flowers
to be published in May
novel hardback
app 320 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2429-7
Bára and the Birdwatcher. Two people whose paths crossed long before they met. Bára is convinced that her life would have been much happier if someone hadn’t interfered with it and changed its course years ago. She can’t bring back the past, but she can try to rewrite it in people’s memories. She has thoughts of revenge. But for now, as she settles into her new home and plants her flowers, she waits.
Unlike Bára, the Birdwatcher has learned to live with his past. He doesn’t feel wronged. He doesn’t mind being considered an eccentric. He isn’t lonely. His freedom, the forest, and birdwatching are enough for him. But are they really?
Alena Mornštajnová’s new novel has everything that makes her books so popular: a deep story and believable heroes who, despite what fate has dealt them, are treading a path to a happier life.
‘If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I would say that this is a novel about a path to ordinary human happiness. Life gives away nothing for free. Not to anyone. Being happy or contented – to me, these words are synonyms – takes a lot of work,’ says the author about her book.
Alena Mornštajnová
Alena Mornštajnová
Cas vos
román Host
Petra Soukupová
Petra Soukupová (b. 1982) is one of today’s most successful Czech writers. She has published eight books for adults and four for children. She has won or been shortlisted for many prizes; her books appear regularly on the bestseller lists and have been published in sixteen languages. Petra Soukupová also works as a dramaturge and screenwriter. A feature film adaptation of her short story Short Cut / Na krátko from the volume To Disappear / Zmizet was premiered in 2018.
Marta Doesn’t Want Children / Marta děti nechce
Can the path to Santiago change a person’s life, or will it return them to where they came from?
368
There is nothing wrong with Marta’s life. She has a good job, is in a longterm relationship with Hynek, and is fond of the children from his previous marriage. She doesn’t want kids of her own and Hynek is in full agreement with her on this. So what is she trying to get to the bottom of? Why does she choose to go off on her own for ten days of discomfort and loneliness, when she could be with Hynek and the kids at the seaside? Are her loved ones right to think that this trip is nonsensical? More to the point, is Marta living the right life? Once again, Petra Soukupová presents a brilliant examination of a woman’s mind. Marta has reached a point where she must figure out what to do with her life while managing the expectations of those around her. The protagonist’s narrative is interlaced with the opinions and viewpoints of her loved ones, making us question how much our idea of happiness is formed under pressure from others. It also considers the point at which we lose the power to decide our own future, and wonders what in our decisionmaking is controlled by certainties of the past and social convention.
Jana Šrámková, Jan Němec
Jana Šrámková (b. 1982) is a prizewinning writer of fiction, children’s books, comics scripts, and animated films; she also writes for the stage.
Jan Němec (b. 1981) is also a prizewinning writer. His most successful novel A History of Light / Dějiny světla (2013) won an EU Prize for Literature. His books have been published in fourteen languages. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of Host, a prestigious literary monthly.
The Apartment. A two-hander novel / Byt. Román ve dvou
An experimental novel set in the present. The authors have discovered an unusual way to write a book together, yet separately.
A novel is like a oneperson household. When a second author moves in, a two hander novel emerges, with the tense coexistence of two stories that touch and pass each other by on every double page. Here, one story belongs to Daniel, whose father is dying, while the facing story belongs to Zuzana, who has left her partner. All that connects the two is the apartment they share, along with palindromes written on the back of messages. Can life be read from either side in the same way? Maybe it can. In any case, it’s up to you, the reader, which side to start with. Just remember that a game for one person may mean a fateful choice for Daniel and Zuzana.
to be published in March novel
hardback
336 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2201-9
The authors say about their work: ‘We wanted to write a book together, because no one has done such a thing for a long time, and to discover what it’s like when the perspectives of different characters aren’t simulated by a single author. We also wanted to give readers the chance to read a novel from two sides, so deciding how it begins and ends.’
Petra Dvořáková
The Return / Návrat
Od autorky
bestsellerů Chirurg, Vrány a Pláňata
Jana je přesvědčená, že její víru vůbec nic nezlomí. Zvlášť když k ní na prahu dospělosti přichází svoboda a ona konečně může žít v klášteře. Vstupuje mezi sestry plná nadějí, odhodlání, ale i iluzí. Ty se s každodenním řeholním životem začínají plíživě drolit. Jana musí znovu potěžkat svůj dřívější, nenaplněný a bolestně „nedořečený“ vztah k Viktorovi, ale především si odpovědět na otázky, které do jejího života vnáší záhadná a nespoutaná Karin, jež se jednoho dne objeví v klášteře. Janina představa o tom, jak vypadá skutečná láska, se dramaticky mění a rozostřuje. Stejně tak se společenství sester musí denně ptát, jak se může v proměněném světě navrátit ke svému původnímu poslání.
Petra Dvořáková (b. 1977) is the author of two books of non-fiction, three books for children and seven books of fiction for adults. She has won or been shortlisted for many prizes, having established herself as a best-selling author with the novel The Surgeon / Chirurg (2019) and the novella Crows / Vrány (2020), winning the Book of Year award in the Literary Prose category for the latter. Her books have been published in six languages. She is also a best-selling author in Poland.
Petra Dvořáková
Petra Dvořáková
Can love of God be stronger than human love?
NÁVRAT
Román, spletený z mnoha jemných vypravěčských vláken, čtenáři umožňuje nahlédnout do tajemného světa, který je mu běžně nepřístupný a jehož všednost naprosto neodpovídá obecně sdíleným představám. Jakkoli se takto zachycený obraz života v klášteře může místy jevit jako dost nelichotivý, nikoho nesoudí. Je to především portrét člověka se vším světlým i temným, co jeho bytí přináší. V neposlední řadě je tato kniha fascinujícím milostným příběhem. Protože lidská láska je jako nezkrotné, mnohočetné zvíře, které k sobě vytrvale hledá druha…
Jana is convinced that her faith is unbreakable. This conviction becomes stronger still in 1989, when, on the threshold of adulthood, she is granted her freedom with the change of regime in the former Czechoslovakia, and she can finally live in a convent. She joins the sisters full of hope and determination, but also under certain illusions. Everyday religious life will chip away at these illusions until they disintegrate, and Jana will find herself reassessing her unfulfilled, painful relationship with Viktor, in which much remained unsaid. First and foremost, however, she must answer questions put to her by the mysterious, unbridled young girl Karin, who one day appears at the convent among the old women. As for the society of sisters, it must ask itself daily how in a transformed world it can return to its original mission.
‘Although I lived in a convent for several years, this is not my story, nor that of any particular sister,’ says the author. ‘What is authentic is the experience and depiction of everyday life in a convent, where women of all ages, personalities and ways of thinking come together. The reality of such a life is never revealed in fleeting encounters with nuns. It can be glimpsed only when one lives among them for some time.’
Host
Jakuba Katalpa
Úlice.
Liebesroman / Úlice. Liebesroman
ú ú c e
Jakuba Katalpa (b.1979) is author of six books. Her novella Is Soil to Be Eaten? / Je hlína k snědku? was shortlisted for a Magnesia Litera award in the Newcomer of the Year category (2007) and the novel The Bitter Sea / Hořké moře for the Jiří Orten Prize (2009). Katalpa’s novel The Germans / Němci received the Czech Book Award (2013) and the Josef Škvorecký Award (2013), and was shortlisted for a Magnesia Litera in the Prose category (2013). Jakuba Katalpa’s books have been published in eight languages.
What are we willing to sacrifice in order to survive? And after that sacrifice, will we still be human?
app 320 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2294-1
jakuba katalpa
liebesroman
Úlice (Neston) is a town out of place, in terms of both space and time. Some maps of the CzechGerman borderlands fail to show it. Its inhabitants have been keeping bees since time immemorial, and their lives are filled with sweetness. But then a concentration camp is built in the city…
Anežka, Běla and Helena grew up in Úlice and have known each other since they were children. Each has had her own unexciting plans, which are changed dramatically by the presence of the camp and German soldiers. Their characters change along with their plans. Jakuba Katalpa has written a no holdsbarred, multilayered novel that is more than just another work of historical fiction set in the Second World War. It explores issues of freedom, moral responsibility and personal boundaries in an uncompromising way.
‘Every situation has its own charm and deserves to be described, as Goncharov and Proust knew well,’ says the author. ‘I like how a single situation can be seen from several viewpoints. Think of putting a glass prism to your eye and seeing the light break down into the colours of the spectrum.’
Petra Dvořáková, Marie Hajdová, Jakuba Katalpa, Petra Klabouchová, Michaela Klevisová, Leoš Kyša, Jaroslav Rudiš, Kateřina
Tučková, Michal Vrba, David Jan Žák
The Sudetenland. Paradise Lost / Sudety. Ztracený ráj
Jaromír 99
(b. 1963), real name Jaromír Švejdík, is a wellknown musician and artist. With writer Jaroslav Rudiš he is co author of the comics trilogy Alois Nebel, and he worked on the film of the same name. In 2022, he published Offseason / Mimosezóna, a collection of song lyrics and illustrations. His work includes pictures for a limited edition of the novel Bílá Voda by Kateřina Tučková.
Sudety: Ztracený ráj
Short
stories by leading Czech writers about life in the borderlands before the Second World War
to be published in April
short stories anthology hardback
app 312 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2386-3
Sudety: Ztracený ráj
Kateřina Tučková, Jakuba Katalpa, Jaroslav Rudiš, Petra Dvořáková, Marie Hajdová, David Jan Žák, Petra Klabouchová, Michal Vrba, Michaela Klevisová, Leoš Kyša
Host
The Sudetenland is still considered a problem region strongly marked by the expulsion of its German population. What happened before the train of events in the borderlands was irretrievably derailed? Set against a backdrop of great historical events, these stories tell of boys’ adventures, grotesque and fateful first loves, an unbreakable bond with the native landscape, but also of a burning hatred fuelled by madness. They capture the intricate fates of the people of the Sudetenland and paint a vivid picture of life in the multinational borderlands.
The authors of these ten stories, which are both thematically and stylistically diverse, include renowned names. The narratives are enriched by impressive illustrations by Jaromír 99 inspired by period photographs and a foreword by Michal Stehlík and Martin Groman, authors of the wellknown podcast Přepište dějiny [Rewriting History].
Not only is this anthology of short stories a literary testimony to the borderlands where Germans, Czechs, Jews and other nationalities lived side by side for generations, but it is also a challenge to reflect on the fragility of interpersonal coexistence in turbulent times.
(b. 1998) lives in Prague. A graduate of the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University, he now makes his living as a software engineer. He likes adventure, which he seeks mainly on his travels. The plot of his book unfolded on a hitchhiking trip to India. In addition to writing, he is interested in music, growing cacti, and sport, especially parkour.
Heroes of Nothing / Hrdinové ničeho
To truly live, they tempt death… This book is a powerful generational statement from today’s twentysomethings that raises a number of questions.
There are five of them. They were born into security and prosperity, but still something is missing. On the outside, each of them is an upstanding member of society. They all go to work, help turn the wheels of capitalism, weave threads of partnership. But on the inside, they are renegades for whom life is too easy and the stakes are negligible. They can do whatever they choose – and that is their curse.
In a time empty of real worry, they wish to experience something real and powerful. So they drink with abandon and take risks, because even bad emotion is better than no emotion. Facing up to their fears and looking death in the eye — that is their recipe for life. What ensues are fights, climbing cranes, jumping on trains, and dramatic chases with the police through the streets of Prague.
In another time, perhaps heroes. At a time of peace and prosperity, reprobates. They live fast, and it can only end in one way. Or can it?
‘Surely everyone knows the feeling that life is about more than the drudgery of building a career, with a hobby here and there to make it bearable,’ says the author. ‘Isn’t life supposed to be an epic journey full of adventure and danger? And what if it’s not just a feeling, but an inner identity?’
Michal Sýkora
No Good News / Žádné dobré zprávy
Michal Sýkora (b.1971) is the author of six detective books featuring the Superintendent Marie Výrová. The TV mini-series sequence Detectives of the Holy Trinity / Detektivové od Nejsvětější Trojice is based on Sýkora’s Výrová novels; popular with viewers and critics alike, it has also been shown abroad.
Michal Sýkora’s detective novels have been published in five languages and the author’s work also appears in the anthology Prague Noir (Akashic 2017, USA). He has written monographs on Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Roth.
Superintendent Výrová is on the trail of a heartless serial killer. Even though she has left the police, still she has all her abilities and indomitability.
to be published in May
detective novel hardback
app 312 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2423-5
The mugging of a student gone awry. The unpremeditated murder of a Ukrainian professor of history, who fled to Czechia to escape the war. A frenzied attack on the regional manager of a security agency. Did a conspiracy theorist really die of natural causes? Are these events connected, or is this just a series of coincidences? Are there more such crimes? After the tragic outcome of her last case, former police superintendent Marie Výrová has undertaken to devote herself to her family and her teaching at the law faculty, and to get involved in no more investigations. But then an old friend calls with a request…
The novel No Good News is an engaging, intimate social drama infused with love, jealousy, sex, manipulation and hatred. It retains the unmistakable atmosphere of Olomouc’s historic squares, narrow streets and old university buildings. It also features uninviting, deserted roads between frozen fields, and mysterious buildings inhabited by “men who hate women”. Ferocious dogs, too. And evil that breeds evil. But also justice, which, together with the strong arm of the law, just about wins out in the end.
HOST
Oblíbená komisařka Marie Výrová ze série Detektivové od Nejsvětější Trojice se vrací.
Jiří Klečka (b. 1983) comes from Ostrava. A graduate of the Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB), he now works as a quality control manager for a multinational company. Since 2018, he has performed as a speaker for Atmosféra Ostrava [Atmosphere Ostrava], an organization that brings together well-known and interesting people and embraces inspirational music and powerful spiritual words. He is the author of several novels with social and historical themes.
Blackbird / Černý kos
Jiří Klečka
Missing children, old crimes, and paths that cross again after many years
to be published in June
detective novel
paperback
app 400 pages
isbn 978-80-275-2531-7
2023. Leaves are flying outside, the Beatles are playing in the summerhouse, and Roman receives a message that brings back unhappy memories. His friend Tomáš, to whom he is connected by a dark event in their childhood, has had an accident. Shortly afterwards, a boy pupil of Roman’s disappears. Coincidence? Or repetition of the horror Roman and Tomáš survived as children? Roman must discover the truth at all costs. And he is not the only one with a special interest in the case. Alexander Patera, a former criminal investigator whose life was also marked by the disappearance of both children, cannot stand idly by. Old clues reemerge, leading to a perpetrator who should have ceased to exist long ago. Patera and Roman find themselves on the same path, as they seek to uncover the truth about an evil that is still around years after its last appearance.
By a series of unexpected twists, this suspensefilled thriller unravels the dramatic stories of its characters from horrific events of a dark past.
‘For me, Blackbird is principally a story about heroism that depends not on the darkness we have experienced but the light still left in us,’ explains the author.
Alena Mornštajnová 850,000 copies sold books published in twenty-four languages (Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish and Vietnamese), rights sold to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Denmark and Lithuania
Kateřina Tučková 450,000 copies sold books published in twenty-one languages (Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Ukrainian), rights sold to Finland and Taiwan (traditional Chinese)
Jan Němec
30,000 copies sold
books published in fourteen languages (Arabian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, English, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian and Spanish), rights sold to Armenia
Petra Soukupová
250,000 copies sold
books published in sixteen languages (Albanian, Arabian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian and Vietnamese), rights sold to Lithuania and Switzerland (French world rights)
Viktorie Hanišová
60,000 copies sold
books published in eleven languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, German, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Serbian and Spanish, rights sold to Greece and India / England (English world rights)
Jiří Hájíček
140,000 copies sold
books published in fourteen languages (Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Slovenian, Ukrainian), rights sold to Egypt and Korea
Selected backlist
Antonín Bajaja
Burying the Season / Na krásné modré Dřevnici novel; 2009
Patrik Banga
The Real Way Out / Skutečná cesta ven memoir; 2022
Pavel Bareš Jimmy the Sloth and His Backup Band / Lenochod Jimmy & jeho backup band fantasy novel; 2023
The Cronos Legacy / Kronův odkaz sci-fi novel; 2021
Meta / Meta fantasy thriller; 2020
Children of Cronos / Kronovy děti sci-fi novel; 2019
The Cronos Project / Projekt Kronos sci-fi novel; 2017, 2019
Petra Dvořáková Wild Cherry Trees / Pláňata novel; 2023
The Garden / Zahrada novel; 2022
Crows / Vrány novella; 2020
The Surgeon / Chirurg novel; 2019, 2020
The Village / Dědina novel; 2018, 2020
The Net / Sítě three short stories; 2016
I am Hunger / Já jsem hlad non-fiction; 2009, 2013
