Czech writer Milan Kundera dies at 94

Prague:Czech writer Milan Kundera, the author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", has died aged 94, said Anna Mrazova, spokeswoman for the Milan Kundera Library in his native city of Brno.

"Unfortunately I can confirm that Mr Milan Kundera passed away yesterday (Tuesday) after a prolonged illness," she told AFP.

The novelist lived in France since his emigration from Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia in 1975.

Born on April 1, 1929 in the second Czech city of Brno, Kundera wrote poems and short stories before his breakthrough novel, "The Joke", was published in 1967.

A former Communist himself, Kundera fell out of favour with the authorities after the Prague Spring reform movement was crushed by Soviet-led armies in 1968.

Rarely speaking to the public, Kundera only regained his Czech nationality in 2019. AFP