František Šmehlík’s novel Šelmo became the best domestic detective book. As part of the evening, at which the organizers of the Magnesia Litera book awards announced the winners of new genre categories, Vilma Kadlečková won the award for fantasy with the eighth volume of the Mycelium saga. Martin Mach Ondřej and Lela Geislerová received the literary award for a humorous book for a series of short comic stories about Zen women.
Traditionally, titles in the categories of prose, poetry, books for children and youth, non-fiction, publishing act, translated book, journalism and debut of the year compete in the competition, which aims to promote quality reading and help readers navigate the book market. Starting this year, the organizers have added three new categories.
The books that were awarded this Sunday evening in Prague’s Václav Havel Library could fall under the category of prose. According to Pavel Mandys from the organizing association Litera, the organizers decided to introduce new categories because part of the audience in the competition does not see the books they actually read. According to him, however, many famous Czech writers have devoted themselves to genre production, and it has a long tradition in Czech literature.
František Šmehlík’s book Šelmo is the first part of an upcoming trilogy and untangles threads leading not only to high politics, but also to the privacy of the two victims of the fictional story. Šmehlík created a Nordic-style detective story with elements of a political thriller, which, according to the jury, does not lose its pace from the beginning and progresses with several surprising revelations. After receiving the award, the author said that from his point of view, the main theme of the work is anxiety, the kind that ordinary people experience for various reasons. However, he also wanted to show that it can also apply to seemingly powerful people.
Vilma Kadlečková’s eight-part Mycelium saga has over 3,700 pages and offers readers an elaborate, complex fantastic fictional world. Initially dominated by the mycelial technology-wielding planet Össe, the unique universe features a far-future variant of Earth and humanity forced to resist the slowly spreading cultural and technological influence of the Össeans.
The genre of the work oscillates between science fiction and political thriller, but it includes many reflections on contemporary topics – among others, the role of the church and religion, the paradox of exceptionalism, which never comes for free, or the age-old struggle of power and the responsibility that this power carries. According to the jury, Kadlečková created a milestone in Czech fantasy. In terms of originality and complexity, it can be compared to the best foreign sagas of a similar style.
In Havel’s library, after reading an excerpt from the book, which was appreciated by all, the author stated that she has been writing the saga for 20 years. She originally planned only five episodes. “Mycelium means undergrowth, and it just thrives. I had the last scene written ten years ago. But there were things in between that I had to give space to,” she explained.
According to the jury, the humor of the comic book mini-stories Zen women by Martin Mach Ondřej and Lela Geislerová, originally published in magazines, lies in the humorous depiction of everyday rituals, partner and family, which are accompanied by disagreements and embarrassments, cynical glosses and idle musings, unwanted flights of children and psychologically precisely observed reactions of adults.
