Josef Skvorecky dies at 87

Josef Skvorecky has died in Toronto at age 87. A dissident writer in the former Czechoslovakia, he came to Canada after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed attempts at liberalizing Communism. He continued writing and was widely read and published. His novel "The Engineer of Human Souls," won the Governor-General's literary award in the 1980s. Through the publishing company in Toronto which he ran with his wife, Zdena Salivarova, Skvorecky printed works by authors such as Vaclav Havel and Milan Kundera – works that had been banned by communist authorities. The Skvoreckys' company, 68 Publishers Toronto, was founded in 1971 and named to commemorate the Prague Spring of 1968. A smuggling operation was launched, enabling the authors they published to be read in their native country. Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, for example, was first published in Czech through 68 Publishers in 1985. At the same time, writers who had remained at home had their own works smuggled out of Czechoslovakia, to be read by the exiled community around the world.

His obit in The Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/8992944/Josef-Skvorecky.html