Welcome to Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA)
PRESERVING CZECH AND SLOVAK CULTURE IN NEW YORK CITY SINCE 1891
PRESERVING CZECH AND SLOVAK CULTURE IN NEW YORK CITY SINCE 1891
BBLA member organizations host some of the best events in the city—concerts, festivals, lectures, and film screenings—at Manhattan’s Bohemian National Hall.
Vit Horejs and his guests will share their memories of Majales, a medieval student tradition celebrating spring, mocking professors, elections and officialdom in 1965 Prague, during which the American poet Allen Ginsberg found himself unexpectedly crowned as the King of May.
Slovakia’s premiere Yiddish klezmer group, the Pressburger Klezmer Band, is joined by New York’s rocking downtown polka ensemble, The Old Bohemians aka Polka Loca, to present an ecstatic concert and dance music celebrating multiple heritages.
Set in Ceausescu's Romania, Lowlands is both a memory play and surrealist vision animated from a child's perspective. It is with awe and love that we call on community to gather around this version of Herta Müller’s text on its 40th anniversary of a first publication. Together with her words we will celebrate the divine resistance that girls carry in their soul the world over for all of us.