One of the most acclaimed and also most important Czech authors is Josef Skvorecky. Perhaps you have encountered his writings in school, but at first glance you may not have found them very interesting. However, it would be a shame not to know his writings.
This writer was born in Nachod. Here he graduated from the Gymnasium, but then, like many healthy and capable people of the time, instead of pleasant years at the university, he was forced to work in a German factory in Nachod with Nove Mesto Nad Metzi. After the war ended, he wanted to catch up somehow and began studying at the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University. He then moved to the Faculty of Letters, graduating in 1949 with a degree in English and Philosophy. He taught at a small school for a time, but later earned a doctorate and served in the military for two years. 19]
Upon his return, he worked in journalism, but after the publication of his first novel, The Coward, in 1958, he was forced to leave the editorial staff due to his disgust with the establishment. His lifelong partner became the Czech singer and novelist Zdena Salibarová. Because of Josef\’s studies, they went to the United States together and eventually decided to live there permanently. He went on to lecture at universities in the U.S. and Canada for a long time, and he and his wife founded the publishing house 68 Publishers, which quickly became Czechoslovakia\’s leading exile publishing house.
He received numerous awards and several medals for his work during his lifetime. He has received awards not only in the Czech Republic, but also in the United States. Perhaps the most significant is the Order of the White Lion, which he received with his wife for founding a publishing house.He died in Toronto in 2012. He and Zdena were stripped of their Czech citizenship in 1978. Therefore, he is never mentioned as a purely Czech writer, but Canada is mentioned along with his name.