Egon Hostovský (1908–1973) was one of the foremost Czech writers of the twentieth century. Related to Stefan Zweig and much admired by Graham Greene, he was awarded Czechoslovakia’s State Prize for Literature in 1936. He fled the Nazis and then the Communists, and eventually settled in New York, where he worked for Radio Free Europe. His books were banned in communist Czechoslovakia, but were published in the US to great acclaim.