Colin Stuart has been a fixture on the Prague music scene since the early 1990s, when he produced the Ecstasy of St. Theresa and several other local bands. He also worked with musicians from those groups on Colorfactory, a project that reached large audiences when the music was used in the era-defining film Šeptej (Whisper). I spoke to Stuart at his studio just around the corner from Prague’s Dancing Building.

US-born Katherine Kastner is co-owner of Hunt Kastner, an independent Prague gallery that has helped develop the international careers of many Czech artists. Kastner herself has deep Czech roots: Her grandmother was related to Karel and Josef Čapek and in the 1980s she regularly visited Prague, where she was introduced to the local art scene through relatives, and notable artists, Pavel Brázda and Věra Nováková. I spoke to Katherine Kastner, who is known to all as Kacha, at our Prague studios.

A relatively little known but highly distinctive Brno district is the subject of Kamenka Republic, a new book edited by writer and publisher Martin Reiner. Speaking from the Moravian capital, he explains what makes Kamenka special – and why it has survived for a century when other interwar workers’ housing “colonies” in Brno have long disappeared. Reiner also discusses why he is calling time on his successful publishing house Druhé město.

Max Diesing runs Maximum Underground, an alternative music shop located in Prague’s Old Town for many years. In fact the American says he is just about to mark his business’s “33 and a third” birthday as a fixture on the city’s alternative music scene. But what was it like setting up an independent store here just a couple of years after the Velvet Revolution? And what motivates him to keep running the business after all this time? We spoke at the store on Jílská St.

Lukáš Dolanský is a well-known journalist who until this year served as Czech Television’s correspondent in the United Kingdom. Dolanský underwent something of a baptism of fire in the posting, arriving just days before the news broke of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. That’s among many stories Dolanský recounts, and insights he shares, in a new book, The Colours of My London.  

Tomáš Koblížek is an expert on disinformation, a phenomenon that has grabbed many headlines in recent years. In a wide-ranging conversation, the philosopher says disinfo isn’t focused only on deceiving people but is also about “boring” them into losing interest in certain issues entirely. But, he argues, it is possible to combat it. I spoke to Koblížek in connection with the recent publication of the book Disinformation and Hate Speech from the Perspectives of Philosophy, Law and Security, which he co-authored.

One of Czechia’s most distinctive jewellery designers, Zdeněk Vacek currently has a sensational retrospective of his quarter-century career at Prague’s Museum of Decorative Arts. Vacek, a goldsmith by trade, was previously known for his work under the name Zorya with then life partner Daniel Pošta but now operates solo, mainly producing tailor-made pieces for often affluent clients. I spoke to him at the exhibition.

Zuzana Stivínová is a well-known Czech actress. She played one of the main roles in the stage version of Václav Havel’s Leaving in 2007 and today is most commonly to be found on the boards of the National Theatre in Prague. She has also worked with such screen directors as Věra Chytilová and Miloš Forman, and starred in the acclaimed TV drama Wasteland. Stivínová, who comes from an artistic background, also spent several years living in New York in the 2010s.

A new translation of one of the most important books in Czech literature, The Grandmother (Babička) by Božena Němcová, will be launched by the UK-based Jantar Publishing at the end of this month. It’s the work of Englishwoman Susan Reynolds, who previously produced an acclaimed translation of another Czech classic, Karel Jaromír Erben’s Kytice. I spoke to Reynolds about how she approached rendering The Grandmother in English, its author’s pioneering spirit and more.

Director Tereza Nvotová is enjoying one of the most successful moments in her career, with her film Father having competed at the recent Venice festival – and now greatly surpassing box office expectations. Nvotová, who is 37, is from Slovakia but moved to Prague two decades ago, and also spends a lot of time in New York. Our conversation takes in the genesis of the hard-hitting Father, her interactions with one-time strongman politician Vladimír Mečiar, and the current political situations in Slovakia and America.

David Mareček is the director general of the Czech Philharmonic, one of Czechia’s premier cultural institutions. The orchestra, launched in the 1890s with a concert conducted by Dvořák, is based at Prague’s magnificent Rudolfinum, a building that once housed the country’s parliament. And it was there that I spoke to Mr. Mareček about the selection of Jakub Hrůša as next music director – and much more besides.

Polls suggest outgoing Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, is one of Europe’s least popular leaders, but does his four-year term actually deserve opprobrium? And what is outlook for potential successor Andrej Babiš when it comes to forming a new government? Or could legal issues even block Mr. Babiš’s appointment? With general elections just two weeks away I discussed those questions and more with political scientist Otto Eibl of Brno’s Masaryk University.

Anna Shavit is one of Czechia’s top experts on political marketing and has herself worked on campaigns for the likes of Karel Schwarzenberg and Andrej Babiš’s ANO. So how does electioneering for October’s general elections compare to previous years? And – going by her personal experience of the billionaire politician – would Mr. Babiš have any qualms about forming a government with anti-system parties? I discussed those questions and more with the Charles University academic.

Barbora Baronová runs Wo-men, an independent publishing house based in Prague. Since 2012 the company has brought out works by such names as photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková and dancer Miřenka Čechová – and earned many admirers for its striking designs. As Baronová explains, she literally puts everything she has into Wo-men , which is a true labour of love.

Karel Kovář, who goes by the name Kovy, is one of Czechia’s biggest social media stars. He shot to fame through witty and entertainng YouTube videos over a decade ago and reached a million subscribers on the platform this year, when he was again named the country’s leading influencer. In this interview Kovář discusses a very broad range of subjects, from hosting the Czech equivalent of the Oscars to an online exchange with politician Andrej Babiš.

Martha Dodd was an American spy for the Soviet Union who spent her final decades in Prague. Dodd’s colourful life, and grim end, are the subject of the book Traitor’s Odyssey by Brendan McNally, a US journalist who himself lived in the Czech capital in the 1990s. And, as he explains, McNally first heard of the story of Martha Dodd from a woman who worked for Radio Prague International in the depths of the Cold War era.

CzechTek was a free techno music festival that drew many tens of thousands and culminated two decades ago in clashes between riot police and participants. The annual unauthorised gathering and the culture that spawned it are the subject of a new podcast by Šimon Šafránek, CzechTek: The Story of Czech Rave. I discussed the background to, and fallout of, the events of 2005 and much more with Šafránek, a successful documentary filmmaker whose work regularly explores alternative culture.

Michael Tate runs Jantar Publishing, a UK-based firm that issues works in translation, frequently from Czechia. Among the small publishing house’s best-selling titles are a handsome edition of the classic Kytice by Karel Jaromír Erben and, more recently, Winterberg’s Last Journey by Jaroslav Rudiš. I spoke to Tate about Jantar’s development since he founded it in 2011, but also about his own Czech roots and years in Prague.

Writer-director Dužan Duong made a big splash at this month’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with his debut Summer School, 2001. Dubbed the “first Czech-Viet” movie, it recreates aspects of the 34-year-old’s own childhood, much of which was spent around an outdoor market near the border with Germany. When we met recently the conversation took in the making of Duong’s breakout film, his own background and Czechia’s large and thriving Vietnamese community.

US academic Chad Bryant explores the recent history of Prague through the prism of diverse personalities in a book just launched in Czech. Prague: Belonging in the Modern City blends the stories of socialists, dissidents, Jews, Germans and Vietnamese with fascinating facts about the development of the metropolis from the late days of the Habsburg Empire to the present time. I spoke to Bryant when he was in town for the launch of the Czech translation.