An Internship at the Prague Writers' Festival
By Eric Murdoch
It’s strange to spend time with a writer when you’re reading his book. Usually when I read a novel I speculate about the personality behind the words. But when I began reading Jeffery Eugenides’ "Middlesex," I never thought that I would be smoking cigars and drinking beers with the very author himself in a Prague restaurant overlooking the Vltava River in celebration of his recently-awarded Pulitzer Prize. Being an intern for “The Prague Writer’s Festival” I found myself attending dinners and galas at incredible venues with world-renowned authors to whom I could ask any questions I wanted- and whom I could even befriend.
- Eric Murdoch, NYU in Prague student
From April 6-10, 2003, NYU in Prague students had the opportunity to participate in the "Prague Writers’ Festival," an international literary event that brought influential writers from all over the world to Prague for a series of discussions, signings, readings and performances. This year's festival was dedicated to William S. Burroughs, the beat writer whose works included "The Soft Machine" and "The Naked Lunch."
Michael March, the President of the festival, also teaches a class on Central European Poetry at NYU in Prague. Two years ago, NYU in Prague started an internship at the Prague Writers’ Festival office. Since then, NYU in Prague students have became an integral part of the team, working with Professor March to create one of Central Europe’s leading cultural events. This semester, five students interned at the festival and were involved in all aspects of the organization - from early planning stages to the final closing party. During the festival, students had a long list of responsibilities, primarily scurrying around Prague and making sure that the oft-times oblivious "literary heroes" arrived safe and sound at each event. The interns also helped put together the festival catalogue and distributed them at performances-in sum: these five students provided the real backbone for the festival.
A host of "big name" writers gathered in Prague this spring, including Amos Oz (Israel), Edna O’Brien (UK), Irvine Welsh of Trainspotting fame, Yann Martel (Life of Pi), Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things), and Jeffery Eugenides (Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides). Each day, two or three writers were featured; one event of the Prague Writers' Festival was even held at NYU in Prague - thanks to the interns, five writers from the Balkans came to our university to discuss their own take on William Burrough's ideas. From morning to evening all of the festival events were teeming with Prague intellectuals and NYU students getting their novels signed, seeing their favorite writer debate contemporary world issues and discuss their writing styles, or listening to them read passages from one their works. Or, if they were lucky enough to be an NYU in Prague intern, some were even able to go to celebratory parties for a writer who had just won a Pulitzer....
--Eric Murdoch
