Czech-Canadian author Josef Skvorecky dies at 87

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Famous Czech-Canadian writer Josef Skvorecky, 87, passed away in Toronto. News of his death was confirmed by his widow, writer and actress Zdena Salivarova.

Skvorecky’s literary works include, “The Cowards,” “The Bass Saxophone” and “The Engineer of Human Souls” that won the Governor General’s Literary Award in 1984.

Skvorecky was born on Sept 27, 1924 in northern Czechoslovakia. He fled to Canada in 1968 after the Soviet invasion of his homeland. Together the couple founded 68 Publishers, which provided a home for dissident writers including Vaclav Havel and Milan Kundera.

In a tribute to the couple’s work prior to Czechoslovakia’s independence, Havel wrote: “Your publishing house (68 Publishers) is one of the oldest and most important Czech and Slovak exile publishers. I am well aware of the difficult circumstances in which you operate and appreciate the enormous importance of your work. By publishing in our own language books that cannot be published in our motherland, you are in fact helping to preserve the spiritual identity and continuity of our nation.”

University of Toronto English Professor Sam Z. Solecki, colleague of the deceased writer said Skvorecky was suffering with cancer. He said the author’s health was seriously deteriorating with time.

Skvorecky was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1986 and appointed to the Order of Canada in 1992. He is also an internationally recognized author of several short stories, essays and poetry, and has a number of film and television writing credits.

Most of Skvorecky’s writings focused on totalitarianism and repression, but he also wrote about the immigrant experience, often with humour.

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