Penziopolis - Dva dopisy o jednom městě – Mano Petr (2018)

In a letter addressed to Josef Rybák, Jiří Vogl reminisces about Písek from his childhood and youth in the 1920s and 1930s. He paints a vivid picture of a city with quirky inhabitants and a unique atmosphere. His engaging and poetic style, spiced with irony and humor, transformed the letter of a witness – already a unique document – into a remarkable literary work. Nearly fifty years after its creation, Petr Mano was so enchanted by it that he decided to write back to Jiří Vogl and describe the same city as he had known it from the 1980s to the present. Jiří Vogl (1912–1993) was a native of Písek of Jewish descent, working as an optician. In 1939, he moved to Stockholm. In Sweden, he engaged in research, development, and education in the field of optics. In 1980, he received the Polhemspriset award. He had a daughter, Catherine, with his wife Jana. Petr Mano (born 1961 in Tábor) studied at the Faculty of Education in České Budějovice but left before completing his studies. He has devoted his life to visual arts and writing. He lives in Písek. He published a collection of short stories titled Šarlák (2014) and a diary called Kalužiny (2016).