Biography
Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997) was a Czech writer. He studied law at Charles University in Prague but did not practise, instead working in a variety of jobs including railway labourer, insurance agent, steelworker and stagehand before turning to writing in the early 1960s.
His best-known work is the novella Closely Watched Trains (1965), which he adapted as a screenplay for the 1966 film directed by Jiří Menzel. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Other notable works include the novels I Served the King of England (1971) and Cutting It Short (1976). Hrabal collaborated with Menzel on several film adaptations, including Larks on a String (1969).
His writings were frequently suppressed under the communist regime and many appeared first in samizdat or abroad. Hrabal died in Prague in 1997.
