The Engineer of Human Souls

Josef Škvorecký was a Czech-Canadian writer born in 1924 in Náchod, Czechoslovakia, who emigrated to Canada after the 1968 Soviet invasion and founded 68 Publishers to support banned Czech dissident literature. His works, often exploring totalitarianism, jazz, and the expatriate experience through the recurring character Danny Smirický, include notable novels like The Cowards and detective stories featuring Lieutenant Borůvka. He received major awards such as the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1980) and the Governor General's Award for The Engineer of Human Souls (1984), and died in 2012.