The Engineer of Human Souls

Josef Škvorecký (1924–2012) was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher who spent half his life in Canada after fleeing the 1968 Soviet invasion, where he founded 68 Publishers to disseminate banned Czech literature while teaching at the University of Toronto. His notable works include The Engineer of Human Souls (Governor General's Award 1984), The Cowards, The Bass Saxophone, and Dvořák in Love. Among his major awards are the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1980), Czech State Prize for Literature (1999), and Order of the White Lion (1990), [NYT].