Ludvik Vaculik, one of the Czech Republic's greatest living writers turned
80 on July 23. Born in Brumov, a small corner of southeast Moravia, in
1926, Ludvik Vaculik became an acclaimed writer—important enough for the
communists to ban after 1968—and his credentials have also included editor
of both Literarni Noviny and Rude Pravo, radio journalist, publisher of the
samizdat series Edice Petlice, essayist, and always an engaged citizen.