Zdenka Josefa Skvorecky

Survived only by nieces Zdena, Zuzana, Barbora, Kvetoslava and nephew Pavel.

Zdena married Josef Škvorecký in Prague in 1958 and together they pursued parallel careers – he as a writer, editor and translator, and she as a singer, dancer, writer and actor, starring in several major films that were part of the Czechoslovak cinema “New Wave” of the '60s.

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, she and Josef emigrated and ultimately settled in Toronto in 1969, where they became pillars of the Czech and Slovak community in exile.

In 1971, Zdena and Josef founded one of the most important exile publishing houses, 68 Publishers, and for the next two decades they published over two hundred volumes written largely by banned Czech and Slovak authors. She also wrote three semi-autobiographical novels: Summer in Prague; Ahes, Ashes, All Fall Down (for which she received the Egon Hostovsky Award for the best Czech book published in exile in 1976) and Hnůj země (Manure of the Earth), a fictional account of her experiences as a publisher. She and her husband also co-authored six murder mysteries set in Canada and Prague.

In 1984 she received from Ontario’s then premier, Bill Davis, the Ontario Bi-centennial Medal for outstanding service to the community. In 1990, Václav Havel, then president of Czechoslovakia, awarded her the country’s highest honour – the Order of the White Lion for her service to Czech and Slovak literature. And in 1992 she received an honourary degree from the University of Toronto.

Special thanks to her caregiver Kedest Bekele, who lovingly cared for Zdena for over 13 years, and to the palliative team at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital, who looked after Zdena in the final months of her long and remarkable life.