Egon Hostovský (1908–1973)

Egon Hostovský was born to a Jewish family in Hronov, Czechoslovakia. He was the youngest of eight children of Bedřiška and Josef Hostovský, a factory owner. He graduated from gymnasium in Náchod, where he published his first writings in the student magazine, then studied philosophy at the Charles University in Prague. He published his debut novel in 1926. He briefly attended the University of Vienna in 1929, but returned to Prague in 1930, and worked as an editor for several publishing houses. With Otto František Babler and Rudolf Černý, he translated a novel by his cousin, Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. In 1937, Hostovský joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in 1939, went on a tour of the Benelux countries. When Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, he fled to the USA, where he worked at the consulate of the Czech government-in-exile in New York City. During World War II, his father, sisters, and their families all died in Nazi concentration camps. In 1946, he returned to his homeland and again worked at the Czech Foreign Ministry, but in 1948, following the Communist takeover, he began his second exile. He went to Norway as the Ministry's secretary of legation, but then returned to the USA. There he worked as a Czech language teacher, a journalist for American periodicals, and an editor at Radio Free Europe. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957. He wrote more than 20 novels and novellas, a few of which have been translated from Czech into English. In 1966, he published his autobiography, The Literary Adventure of a Czech Writer Abroad (Literární dobrodružství českého spisovatele v cizině). After his death, his wife Regina Weiss Hostovská founded the Egon Hostovský Literary Award (Cena Egona Hostovského) in his memory. It was awarded from 1974 to 1999.