Bezruč's Opava

Bezruc's Opava held its first edition in 1958, the year poet Petr Bezruc, the pen name of native son Vladimir Vasek and author of the socially conscious collection Silesian Songs, died. Held every September since, the multi-genre festival organises film, theatre, music, art exhibitions, readings and lectures around a single chosen theme each year, making it one of the oldest continuously running festivals in the Czech Republic.

Bezruc's Opava held its first edition in 1958 and takes its name from Petr Bezruc, the pen name of Vladimir Vasek, the town's most celebrated native son and a poet whose collection Silesian Songs, built around themes of social protest, made him one of the defining literary voices of the Silesian region; Vasek died in 1958, the same year the festival honouring him began.