Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera was a Czech-born writer who spent the second half of his life in France and became a French citizen. He was born on 1 April 1929 in Královo Pole, now part of Brno, and died on 11 July 2023. He first wrote poetry, plays and fiction in Czech, and his early novel The Joke made him known at home and abroad. After the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 his books were banned in Czechoslovakia, and he settled in France in 1975. In his later years he wrote in French as well. His novels mix story, reflection and playful commentary, and they return to memory, love, politics, laughter and the weight of private choices. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is his best-known book. He also wrote essays on the art of the novel and on European culture, and he remains an influential voice in modern literature.