Michal Hvorecký
- Dissident
- A passionate appeal against the shift to the right in Europe
- Literature
On December 10, 1989, Michal Hvorecký set foot in the “free world” for the first time. Decades later, he faces a prison sentence for criticizing the Minister of Culture of his homeland, the Slovak Republic. With a keen sense of the fissures in society, Hvorecký weaves his own experiences into a sharp analysis of the present. In doing so, he traces Europe’s path from the fall of the Iron Curtain to the resurgence of authoritarian ideologies—the euphoria of the Velvet Revolution, the hopeful dawn of a new Europe, and today: the struggle against far-right cultural policies.
A courageous text about the fragility of democracy, the power of civil society, the new dissidents of the 21st century, and the necessity of speaking out. And about the fact that our collective commitment to democracy is absolutely essential.
Michal Hvorecký, born in 1976, lives in Bratislava. He publishes in outlets such as the FAZ and Die Zeit. In his home country, he is actively involved in defending press freedom and opposing anti-democratic developments. His most recent book is *Tahiti Utopia* (2021).
In the series *And Now?*
