The Long Version, a book launch

Tuesday, October 27, 2026 6:00 PM EDT
The Writers Center, Walsh Street, Bethesda

Join us for a special evening with acclaimed Czech author Petra Hůlová and award-winning translator Alex Zucker celebrating the publication of The Long Version.

Moderated by Katherine E. Young

One of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Czech literature, Petra Hůlová joins her longtime translator Alex Zucker for a reading and conversation about her provocative new novel, The Long Version.

At once deeply personal and sharply attuned to contemporary cultural debates, The Long Version explores feminism, #MeToo, generational conflict, memory, and the changing ways we understand relationships between women and men. Through a conflict between a mother and daughter, Hůlová asks a difficult question: Can a woman say “#MeToo” twenty years after the fact—or does one generation understand the past in ways another cannot?

Hůlová and Zucker will read from the novel and discuss the ideas behind the book, contemporary Czech literature, and the unique relationship between an author and her translator. The conversation will be moderated by poet and translator Katherine E. Young.

Petra Hůlová is the recipient of several of Czechia’s most important literary honors, including the Magnesia Litera, Josef Škvorecký Award, and Jiří Orten Award. She lives in Prague and is a regular commentator on current events in the Czech press.

Alex Zucker is an award-winning translator of Czech literature whose translations include works by Zuzana Říhová, Magdaléna Platzová, Jáchym Topol, Bianca Bellová, Petra Hůlová, Tomáš Zmeškal, Patrik Ouředník, and others.

Katherine E. Young is an award-winning poet and literary translator and the author of the poetry collections Woman Drinking Absinthe and Day of the Border Guards. She translates writers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. In 2026, Young and Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli were jointly awarded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Literature Prize for her translation of Aylisli’s People and Trees.

The Long Version, translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker, was published by World Editions in September 2026.