A 60-minute discussion with writer, journalist, and columnist Jan Němec followed by an immersive workshop that works with the Narrative 4 methodology focused on building empathy through story sharing and images from current exhibitions.

School groups have a unique opportunity to participate in discussions with selected Czech and foreign writers who will share how their own lives find echo in their work. The conversation with the writer will be followed by an educational workshop inspired by the methodology of the global project Narrative 4 - developing empathy through story exchange. Storytelling, as Narrative 4 and DOX’s educational programmes work with it, allows us to experience the sharing of stories with another person in a way that seems simple at first glance – listen and retell. And there is power in simplicity. Colum McCann, world-renowned Irish writer and founder of Narrative 4, has named this concept “radical empathy”. 

Participants are invited to share their own authentic stories (no more than five minutes long) on the topic of “light and darkness”. And because the story is meant to be shared, each participant can decide whether to choose a sad, happy, serious, or light-hearted story. Participants will prepare their stories in advance. 

The discussion will be hosted by Karolína Kočí. 

Jan Němec is a writer, journalist, and columnist. His biographical novel A History of Light (2025), about the life of photographer František Drtikol, won the European Union Prize for Literature, and his auto-fiction novel The Possibilities of the Romance Novel (Možnosti milostného románu, 2019) was nominated for a Magnesia Litera award. Together with Petr Vizina he compiled a book of interviews on spirituality titled Signs of the Unknown (Znamení neznámého, 2021). He has written numerous other books, and his work has been translated into fifteen languages. His most recent novel, The Apartment (Byt, 2024), was written in collaboration with award-winning Czech author Jana Šrámková. The book is an intimate dialogue about the space we inhabit, what the past leaves within us, and what we allow ourselves to say to each other. Němec has worked as a university lecturer, and he was the chairman of the Czech Writers Association. For many years he was an editor for the publishing house Host, and since 2022 he has been the editor-in-chief of the magazine of the same name.