Anna writes about cultural and historical topics relating to the Czech Republic and Central Europe. She grew up in Los Angeles in a Czech-American family and speaks Czech fluently on account of her mother. She holds an M.A. in Oral History and Contemporary History from Charles University (Univerzita Karlova), where her dissertation focused on Czech immigration to California in the 1960s. Her research focuses on migration, identity expression, and transculturalism/transnationalism.

Anna also holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy and Analysis from Boston University. When she isn't writing, Anna can be found completing the latest New Yorker crossword or walking the cobblestoned streets of Prague with her Boston terrier, Charlee.

Selected Works

Book Reviews

• Between Nostalgia and Uncertainty: A Review of Libuše Moníková’s Transfigured Night (Apofenie Magazine, February 2024)

• Imagining Pragues of the past: A Review of Chad Bryant’s Prague: Belonging and the Modern City (CEU Review of Books, February 2024)

• Disparate and Distressed Dames: A Review of Ivana Dobrakovová’s Mothers and Truckers (Apofenie Magazine, November 2022)

• A Review of Bianca Bellová’s The Lake (Apofenie Magazine, October 2022)

• The Heavy Burden of Survivor’s Guilt: A Review of Alena Mornštajnová’s Hana (Apofenie Magazine, November 2021)

Personal Pieces

• When They Came For the Family Farms: The ongoing legacy of forced collectivisation in the Czech countryside (Are We Europe – print, July 2022)

• The Persian Rug (Contingent Magazine, December 2021)

• William West: “Again, I thought it was our turn. I thought it would be the end of us.” (Paměť národa archive, January 2021)

• Memories of Jewish Life in Carpathian Ruthenia 100 Years Ago (Radio Prague International, September 2020)

Cultural and Historical Reporting

• Letter From Zlín: the Czech town where capitalism and constructivism co-exist (The Calvert Journal, December 2020)

• Halabala hullabaloo: the 1930s Czech furniture designer vintage buyers can’t get enough of (The Calvert Journal, October 2020)

Academic Publications

• West, Anna. (2023). Going West: Czech Immigration to California (1960-1970). Diploma thesis, supervisor Wohlmuth Markupová, Jana. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta humanitních studií, Program Orální historie - soudobé dějiny.

• West, Anna Caroline. (2023). “Czech-ish”: Exploring Identity and Belonging in Exile Among Czechs in California. In J. Hlaváček, J. and M. Vrzgulová (Eds.), The Divided, Yet Together: Borders in Oral History Perspective: 8th International Conference of the Czech Oral History Association. Book of abstracts (pp. 50-51). Bratislava: Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS, Czech Oral History Association. ISBN 978-80-974434-2-9. DOI: 10.31577/2023.9788097443429

Workshops & Seminars

Oral history projects combine various skills, from empathetic interviewing to historical and archival research. Workshops and seminars in the oral history methodology and practice offer students of all ages a hands-on experience with what it means to be a modern-day historian.

Get in touch about collaborating on educational opportunities →