‘Hovory,’ Ukrainian war call recordings, wins Czech Audiobook of the Year 2025

In the Czech Republic, the project “Hovory” (Speak) — based on real phone conversations between Ukrainians after the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale invasion — was named Audiobook of the Year 2025.

The project was created by Victoriia Kralko, a Ukrainian-born student at the Filmová a televizní fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). Although she grew up in Prague, her entire family remains in Ukraine, and her cousins are serving in the military.

“Hovory” won two awards — Winner for 2025 and Best Audiobook (all categories). A total of 124 audiobooks from 29 publishers competed in the contest.  The Czech Audiobook Publishers Association has been organizing it for the 14th consecutive year.

“‘Hovory’ presents people’s unfiltered stories in a powerful audio format. Phone calls, silence, and long pauses all have their significance here. The narrator’s voice connects individual stories, places them in context, and expands the scope of the messages and conversations. It is a document with the profound power of testimony,” a jury member said.

The audiobook was published by Audioteka. The Czech translation was narrated by 12 well-known Czech actors under the direction of Bela Schenková. The project’s co-screenwriter is Marie Topolová, the playwright is Tereza Nováková, the sound designer is Tomáš Zlámal, and the producer is Michal Sečkovský.

“‘It’s good we have phones and can call each other,’ my aunt told me a few days ago as we said goodbye over the phone to my cousin — her eldest son — who had joined the Ukrainian army. ‘Some Ukrainians have been talking like this for 3 (11) years now,’ Kralko wrote on her Facebook page on Feb. 24, 2025, when the first part of the audiobook was released.

The project features stories from people in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Kherson. The first part centers on Mila and Serhiy, who, as Kralko explains, were separated after Serhiy — Azovstal defender — was taken captive by Russians. Another story portrays a conversation between a grandmother who stayed in Prague with her grandson and her daughter, who returned to Ukraine to join the Armed Forces.

As noted by Radio Prague International, the impetus for the series came from the author’s meeting with the wife of a captured Azovstal defender at a support rally in Prague.

In her post from last year, Kralko named those who had shared their stories with her: Mila, Serhiy, Tetyana Omelchenko, Yulia Omelchenko, Daria Shulzhenko, Anatoliy, Tetyana Solomadina, Dmytro Duplyk, and Vyacheslav Husakov.

“Thank you to those who fight for every day of my freedom with their blood. I think of everyone who is no longer with us,” Kralko wrote.

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Image: Victoriia Kralko, naposlech.cz / Facebook