Bohumil Hrabal

Born in Brno-Židenice, Moravia, he lived briefly in Polná, but was raised in the Nymburk brewery as the manager's stepson. Hrabal received a Law degree from Prague's Charles University, and lived in the city from the late 1940s on. He lived at 24 Na Hrázi Street in Prague - Libeň; the house does not exist any more. He worked as a manual laborer alongside Vladimír Boudník in the Kladno ironworks in the 1950s, an experience which inspired the "hyper-realist" texts he was writing at the time.