The Mushroom Gatherer [book launch]

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A literary evening marking the English release of The Mushroom Gatherer (2025), originally released in Czech as Houbařka (2018), the acclaimed novel by Viktorie Hanišová. Renowned for her psychologically precise prose and her exploration of difficult emotional and social themes, Hanišová will discuss a work that probes solitude, vulnerability, and the longing for human connection.

In conversation with translator Véronique Firkusny, the evening will address the novel itself, the contemporary Czech literary scene, and the process of bringing Czech literature to English-speaking readers. A moderated discussion will be followed by audience Q&A.

What hides in mycelium?

Hanišová debuted in 2015 with Anežka, a widely praised novel about a fraught relationship of a mother and her adopted daughter, about hidden racism and social prejudice. A family secret lies at the heart of her second novel as well—something the protagonist has carried since childhood and is trying to forget. But can one ever escape what has already happened?

Sára lives alone in an old cottage in the Bohemian Forest, earning a modest living by gathering mushrooms. Every morning she pulls on her worn boots, takes her basket and knife, and sets out along the same forest paths she has followed for seven years. From spring to autumn she collects mushrooms in the same places and sells them for a few hundred crowns.

A hermit by choice, she has no friends and rarely leaves her secluded world, except for occasional visits to a psychiatrist in Plzeň, whom she tries to convince of her mental stability. When she learns of her mother’s death, her carefully ordered life seems at first to remain unchanged. Yet what appears insignificant on the surface begins to gather dangerous force beneath it.

Viktorie Hanišová is a Czech novelist, translator, and teacher, widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation. She studied English and German at Charles University in Prague and debuted in 2015 with the novel Anežka. Her subsequent books include The Mushroom Gatherer (as Houbařka, 2018), Rekonstrukce (2019), the short story collection Dlouhá trať (2020), Beton a hlína (2021), and the novel Neděle odpoledne (2022). Her political novella Tvůj táta je v ohni is forthcoming in 2026.

Born in Switzerland to Czech parents, Véronique Firkusny grew up in a trilingual household that fostered a lifelong devotion to language and literature. A leading translator from Czech into English, her recent work includes Hanišová’s The Mushroom Gatherer(Seagull Books, 2025), Tučková’s Gerta(Amazon Crossing, 2021), and Hodrová’s City of Torment trilogy (Jantar Publishing, 2021). She is Executive Director of the Avery Fisher Artist Program at Lincoln Center and coaches opera singers in Czech diction. She lives in New York City.

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