Ivan Blatný emigrated to England in 1948. In Czechoslovakia, he was labelled a “traitor” and became a banned author. Later, the Czechoslovak Radio even falsely announced that Blatný had died in England. In 1968, during the era of the “Prague Spring”, the interest in Blatný and his poetry grew in Czechoslovakia. An example of this increasing interest, there was a programme dedicated to Blatný’s poetry called “The Smells of Brno”. This programme, advertised by a small poster from the Ivan Blatný Collection, was organised by the Czech director and artist Karel Fuksa in the Brno House of Arts. Blatný’s poems were recited by Czech actors Ladislav Lakomý and Helena Kružíková. According to Fuksa, the hall was full. In the same year, the Blok publishing house issued the second edition of Ivan Blatný’s “Melancholic Walks”, and Blatný’s poems sporadically appeared in Czechoslovak press or on the Radio. Then, Blatný’s texts could be officially published in Czechoslovakia only after 1989.
