Romani literary endeavours in the Czech Republic: A historical survey

This article offers a survey of writing by the Roma in former Czechoslovakia and current Czech Republic over a span of six decades. It traces the beginnings of Romani literature in two Romani journals published by the Union of Gypsies-Roma between 1969 and 1973, reveals some covert centres of activity in the relative silence of the Normalization years of the 1970s and 1980s, and highlights the milestones of development following the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Bringing developments up to present day, the essay shows the Czech Romani literary field as vibrant and ambitious and full of promise.