Fiction. Czech-English Bilingual Edition. The author, Jan Kresadlo (1926-1995), after various tribulations ended up in Britain, where he became a budding author just before his retirement. His first book, which he wrote in less than a month, earned him the Egon Hostovsky award upon its publication in Canada in 1984. This is the first time the book is being published in translation, as GRAVELARKS. ...one of the most original, shocking, truthful and artistically very interesting works of contemporary Czech fiction - Josef Skvorecky. Illustrated by Jan J. Pinkava.