68 Publishers, also called Sixty-Eight Publishers, Sixtyeight Publishers, or even Nakladatelství 68 ('nakladatelství' is Czech for 'publishing house'), was a publishing house formed in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in 1971 by Czech

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

Josef Škvorecký and his wife Zdena Salivarová. The purpose of 68 Publishers was to publish books by Czech and Slovak writers whose works were banned in communist

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The name '68 Publishers' is in commemoration of the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Se ...

of 1968. Škvorecký and Salivarová began by publishing both Czech originals, and English translations, of Škvorecký's books. The first book, ''Tankový prapor'' (''The Republic of Whores'') was published in 1971 and was followed by others such as ''Prima sezóna'' (''The Swell Season''), '' Zbabělci'' (''The Cowards''), ''Konec nylonového věku'' (''End of the Nylon Age'').Josef Škvorecký Bibliography
/ref> These were followed by the books of Czech and Slovak authors that were banned in Czechoslovakia, and therefore accessible only to the Czech and Slovak community in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and elsewhere outside the communist bloc. From here the books traveled secretly to the communist homeland. Many Czech and Slovak writers had their books published by 68 Publishers in the following two decades. Apart from Škvorecký and Salivarová themselves, they were: Bohumil Hrabal, Jan Křesadlo, Alan Levy, and Erazim Kohák. In 1981, 68 Publishers issued a book by Jaroslav Seifert (the only Czech writer to win a

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 ...

), ''Všecky krásy světa'' (''All the Beauties of the World''). Expatriate Czech musician Karel Kryl had some albums released by 68 Publishers as well. Prior to 1989, 68 Publishers had published over 220 works of mostly original prose, poetry and memoir literature.

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himsel ...

's novel '' The Unbearable Lightness of Being'' was first published in Czech through 68 Publishers in 1985, though it had already been published in France in 1984.

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies of Canada Publishing in the Czech Republic Exilliteratur