Martina Kroa

Student of Journalism at Charles Uni & Prague University of Economics and Business

Brno Daily •

More About Comedy, Less About Poetry: Interview With Czech Slam Poet Anatol Svahilec

In his apartment and office on Prague’s Wenceslas Square, I spoke with the most prominent Czech poetry slammer, known under his artist name Anatol Svahilec. The first Czech to make a living from poetry slam, a genre of spoken word where the judges are randomly picked out from the audience. Along with another slammer, he also performed in front of an audience on Letná in 2019, the biggest demonstration in the country since 1989.


Audiences are captivated by his intricate texts and energetic per...
Meer •

Conversing with Anatol Svahilec

An interview with the most prominent proponent of slam poetry in Czechia

In his apartment and office on Wenceslas Square, I spoke with the most prominent Czech poetry slammer known under his artist name, Anatol Svahilec. The first Czech to make a living from slam poetry, a genre of spoken word where the judges are randomly picked from the audience. Along with another slammer, he also performed in front of an audience on Letná in 2019, the biggest demonstration in the country since 1989.

Audiences get captivated by his intricate texts or energetic performances. Throu...
Meer •

Feed your soul with pieces of love, maybes, and beauty

Pieces of poetry

As much as it is important to take in factual information, it also is to feed the soul with pieces of love, maybes, and beauty. Especially in a world filled with curt texts, schedules, deadlines, and threats. Let your eyes stumble upon the stairs of poetry, and your mind to wander upon its stairs like in a secret garden. Allow yourself to wander, look, observe, see, give yourself the gift to feel, to just be.

Three poems written in August 2018 in a small German town of Butzbach while I worked t...
Aktuálně.cz •

Kouř z požárů zasáhl Česko. Hodnoty znečištění jsou zvýšené jako v zimě, říká expert

Kouř z požárů v Českém Švýcarsku se roznesl po části republiky. Lesní požáry přitom produkují spoustu znečišťujících látek, které zhoršily kvalitu ovzduší zejména v severních, východních a středních Čechách. Podle vedoucího oddělení kvality ovzduší ČHMÚ v Brně Jáchyma Brzeziny nejde o ohrožující stav, v zimě by nás takové hodnoty vůbec nepřekvapily. "Ke zmírnění situace by pomohl déšť," říká.
Aktuálně.cz •

Manželka dala nejvíc mateřského mléka. Chtěl také rekord, našel 20 tisíc čtyřlístků

Jaroslav Kosina z jihomoravských Mikulčic již sebral 20 036 čtyřlístků a je v této "disciplíně" českým rekordmanem. Ve své sbírce má i desetilístek a jedenáctilístek. Nyní si navíc připsal další rekord, když v Pelhřimově vytvořil ze čtyřlístků 56metrovou stezku. Kosina věří, že čtyřlístky skutečně přináší štěstí. Tvrdí, že ho ochránily před loňským tornádem na jižní Moravě.
Radio Prague International •

Czechia boasts the biggest organic lavender field in Europe

Lavender fields are generally considered to be the hallmark of Provence. But you do not need to travel to southern France to delight in the wondrous sight and heady scent of endless rows of purple lavender bushes. Chodouň in Central Bohemia is a lavender haven and boasts the biggest organic lavender field in Europe.

Lavender Valley is nestled in the heart of the Barrandien Geopark, a geologically unique region between Prague and Plzen. It was here that Helena Neumannová decided to plant English
Radio Prague International •

Annual pottery and crafts market in Beroun pulls the crowds

The traditional pottery and crafts market in Beroun’s Hus square welcomed thousands of visitors in June. Ceramics-making has a long tradition in Beroun going all the way back to the 14th century and the market, which is now held three times a year, attracts visitors from near and far. Radio Prague’s contributor Martina Kroa went to check it out and spoke with Jolana Izbická, the market’s chief organizer, about how it emerged.
Bc. thesis •

Rozhlasový portrét (ne)obyčejného člověka Marie Burešové

The main part of this practical bachelor thesis is a radio portrait. In the practical part, I portray the life of an (un)ordinary person, Marie Burešová, into a radio documentary lasting 45 minutes. The eighty-year-old contemporary witness born to a Czech-German family was fundamentally influenced by the collectivization of agriculture in the 1950s, and her life was determined by her decision to take over the family farm, which she made at the age of eighteen. The document alternates the stateme
Radio Prague International •

Migration expert: Czechia will have to rethink its integration policy

In just six weeks, more than eleven million Ukrainians have fled their homes because of the Russian invasion. Over four million have left Ukraine, another seven million people are thought to be displaced inside the country. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees it is the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II. Martina Kroa spoke to migration expert and social geographer Tereza Freidingerová, about various aspects of the crisis and begun by asking her how this refugee exodus compares to previous migration crises.
Radio Prague International •

Ukrainian classes for refugee children now underway in Prague

Special school classes for Ukrainian children whose families have fled to the Czech Republic are now running in Prague, Brno and other places. In this report we visit the First Slavic Grammar School, the first such institution in the capital to welcome refugee children in this way.

Ukrainian children with their mothers are entering the building of the First Slavic Grammar School in downtown Prague. Here children that have fled Russia’s war on their country are attending special classes: they are made up of Ukrainian children of roughly the same age and are taught by Ukrainian teachers.
Radio Prague International •

Ukrainian refugees arriving by the thousands at Prague's main train station

Since the start of the Russian aggression in Ukraine close to two million people have fled the country. Close to 200,000 refugees, mainly old people, women and children, have found their way to the Czech Republic –on their own, with the help of volunteers or by getting on one of the humanitarian trains that the Czech government has been sending out to the Slovak and Polish borders daily. Our contributor Martina Kroa enlisted as a volunteer at Prague’s Main Railway Station to experience the humanitarian aid effort first hand.
Radio Prague International •

Russian student in Prague on the anguish of witnessing his country’s aggression in Ukraine

Martina Kroa talks to Georgij, a Russian student at the Prague University of Economics, about how the invasion of Ukraine impacted his life, his relationship with family members back home – and even the likelihood of him returning to Russia one day.

Emotions are running high in the Czech Republic in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. For many people the invasion of Ukraine is reminiscent of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia and many feel the need to take an active stand to it, be it by tak
Média IKSŽ •

„Necítím se v Česku chtěný.“ Zklamání z českého snu na pozadí česko-ruských vztahů

Vzdělání v Česku a odchod z autokratického režimu Jegorovi komplikuje klesající hodnota rublu, neustálá nejistota, ale i nepřijetí od lidí. „Zkusím to v Německu, nejprve na Erasmu, a pak asi i na magistra.“ Takhle uvažuje můj ruský kamarád Jegor Jerofeev, který na Vysoké škole ekonomické teď studuje ve třetím ročníku bakaláře. Rád mě po dlouhé době vidí, ale při promluvách o jeho pobytu v Praze je z jeho vyprávění cítit vyčerpání a zoufalost. Není to nic nového, tíhu jeho osudu pociťuji při každém našem setkání velmi silně. „Necítím se tady chtěný,“ vysvětluje, „ani ze strany vlády ani lidí“.
Bakala Foundation •

Food wasters

Taking a beautifully grown and also tasty carrot out of the soil while the last sun rays blind my eyes, learning it simply didn’t find a market. And there are rows of those in front of me. Food waste or nutrition for the soil? And who is to blame?

In the Czech Republic, DobroPolníci[9] is one of the few volunteer groups saving ‘lost’ crops in the farming sector. They glean fruits and vegetables that are left on the fields after harvest. Gleaning is the practice of collecting fruits and vegetables after commercial or profitable harvest, in the past by the poor, with mentions as far as the Bible.

https://journey2021.bakalafoundation.org/
Média IKSŽ •

RFE/RL journalist Bruce Pannier: “Dumb it down, sex it up, and put it to bed”

Just from our email correspondence I could tell he’s a really nice American vibe guy. We talk about the profession of a journalist: it’s quick pace, perks, beginnings, and value. Bruce also gives advice to future journalists and shares his own experience. In the full interview, Bruce tells the story of how he got from the U.S. to covering Central Asia in Prague, and what it is like working as a journalist with an academic background, and how useful it is to know Russian when covering Central Asia. We also get into more detail regarding the profession of a journalist, and its aspects.
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