Ensuring Havel’s Legacy, at NYU

Following the May 7 Celebrate Havel event at Lincoln Center, The Foundation for a Civil Society, the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, the Czech Center New York, and the Havel Library in Prague held a seminar entitled “Ensuring Havel’s Legacy”at New York University.

The seminar brought together individuals whose lives were impacted by Havel’s legacy, capturing the many tales and writings of people in the room. The audience was by invitation only and had limited capacity of 70 attendees. Attendees included intellectuals, artists, writers, journalists, nonprofit personnel, and individuals who were involved with President Havel and/or the Czech Republic.

Panel 1: “The Lion and the Eagle – Czech-American Relations: Past, Present and Future” 
Panel Chairs: 
Sec. Madeleine Albright, Co-Chair of the VHLF Advisory Board
H.E. Michael Žantovský, Czech Ambassador to the U.K.

Panelists: 
H.E. William Luers, US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1983-1986)
Lise Stone, former Advisor on North America in Vaclav Havel’s Presidential Administration
Jiří Pehe, Director of NYU Prague & former Havel advisor
Jan Macháček, Journalist & Board Chairman, Havel Library in Prague

Panel 2: “Ensuring Vaclav Havel’s Legacy: The Role of the Havel Library” 
Panel Chair: 
H.E. John Shattuck, President of Central European University and US Ambassador to the Czech Republic

Panelists: 
H.E. Martin Palous, VHLF President
Paul Wilson, Havel’s Translator
Carol Rocamora, Author and NYU professor
Robert Silvers, Editor, NY Review of Books