Selfies, celebrity impersonation or sexuality as an object of consumerism… Swedish author Liv Strömquist, comics superstar and insightful glossator of the modern world, tackles these topics in her punk history of beauty called In the Hall of Mirrors.
The Scandinavian House in cooperation with the HYB4 Čítárna (Reading Room) and the Paseka Publishing House is organising a literary evening dedicated to the work of Liv Strömquist. Moderator Anežka Soukupová will talk to translator Maria Voslářová and Jakub Sedláček, editor-in-chief of Paseka, about her latest work in Czech, In the Mirror Hall, as well as about her older pieces – Fruit of Knowledge and The Reddest Rose: Romantic Love from the Ancient Greeks to Reality TV. Feminism, the specifics of translating comics and publishing them – this and much more will be discussed. The short comic Riots not Diets will also be available for reading at the venue exclusively.
Free admission
The debate will be in Czech only.
About the book In the Hall of Mirrors
We live in the realm of images. With a smartphone in hand, we talk, shop, date, fall asleep, and above all, spy on ourselves. But while taking care of our own appearance has become one of the most important parts of our lives – after all, who wouldn’t want to look good in a photo? -, beauty itself has come under threat as the capitalist market has hijacked it and turned it into a consumer product. Liv Strömquist explores the moment when we became the paparazzi of our own bodies.
About the author
Liv Strömquist (1978) studied political science and made a splash with her debut album One Hundred Percent Fat (2005). Her work Fruit of Knowledge (2014, Czech 2018), dedicated to the female genitalia, gained particular attention. She followed up her international success with comics about the (im)possibilities of love in the contemporary world The Reddest Rose: Romantic Love from the Ancient Greeks to Reality TV (2019, Czech, 2021) and the connection between love and appearance In the Hall of Mirrors (2021, Czech 2023). The author is a radio presenter and her work has been adapted for the stage and film.
Literary evenings in the HYB4 Čítárna (Reading Room) are generously supported by the City of Prague, the Ministry of Culture and the State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic. The event is organized by the Scandinavian House and the Paseka Publishing House.