Czech Romani girls record their own inspiring stories in more than one language, available now on Spotify

The girls all attend the children’s literary club “Notička” (Notepad), which is led by the author and lecturer Květoslava Podhradská. The stories are recorded in both Czech and Romani and are meant for listeners of all ages. 

Ostravská Nota has long supported literature by Romani writers. In 2021 the organization put together the first-ever literary reading in the locality of Ostrava-Poruba, where a higher concentration of Romani residents lives.

That reading by Romani authors Eva Danišová, Eva Kropiwnická and Květoslava Podhradská sparked interest among local residents in literature by Romani writers, especially among the children who attended. According to the NGO’s founders, such cultural activities led to the establishment of the children’s club for literature.

“Notička was intended from the start for children in primary and secondary school who want to master the basics of creative writing and try to write their own short stories. Thanks to this, they are able to develop their own language use in an entertaining format as well as their imaginations and expand their vocabularies,” says author Podhradská, who leads the club and has recently released her bilingual book Povídání u Povidel (Talking over Plum Spread) .

Podhradská is sharing her enthusiasm for literature and Romani culture by supporting the younger generation beyond the club as well. Thanks to her efforts, each of the four young authors were among the leading finalists in the Romano Suno (Romani Dream) literary competition and represent themselves with their original works during different literary events, celebrations of International Romani Day (8 April) and Romani Language Day (5 November).

“From the beginning it was necessary to intensively work with the girls and introduce them to the world of literature, show them the rules of the short story genre, how they can develop characters and the story itself,” Podhradská reveals. It was exactly through her regular, systematic work with pieces in both Czech and Romani during her meetings with the girls and their instructors that she aided the four primary school pupils, whose academic achievements are above average, with perfecting their style.

The audio versions were produced at the RMF Evolution Records studio under the direction of Robert Tokár. “The audio story series would never have happened without the pure enthusiasm of a group of people who are on fire for literature and without our collaboration with the ROMEA organization, which included the Notička club in its Romani Mentor project supporting recreational activities for children. We are pleased that our authors are gradually realizing their amobitions and that they want to continue with their creative writing,” Podhradská said.

“The authors themselves are naturally the best narrators of their own stories, they know how to imbue their characters not just with believability, but also with emotion and humor,” said Tokár. In his view, the story called “If You Don’t Listen, It Will Cost You!” (Neposlechneš a doplatíš na to!) by 13-year-old Lenka Janová was the most difficult to record and do postproduction for because of its length.

“I was reading into a microphone for the first time ever, and I have to admit that it’s one thing to write a story and something else entirely to present or record a reading of it in a studio. However, it ultimately succeeded thanks to the support of our instructor, Květa Podhradská, who led us through the entire recording session,” says Janová, who has written an exciting and perhaps even instructive short story about a girl who risks her life and later pays the price for her frivolity.

Taťána Růžičková, also 13, shared her personal childhood experience with racism through her short story “Apology Accepted” (Omluva přijata). “I looked forward to the studio work, it was a brilliant experience even though I had stage fright. However, I’m glad we ultimately managed it and that listeners will be able to hear our short stories,” she recalled of the recording session. 

The Czech-language versions of the short stories were supervised by Zuzana Podhradská. The musical accompaniment in the audio versions is by David Element.