Federation of BC Writers - Off the Page Program

Jan Drabek was born in Prague in 1935; he came to Canada in 1965, after 17 years in the U.S., India, Austria, and Germany. He received a B.A. in English literature from American University in Washington, D.C., taught high school in Vancouver for 10 years during the 1960s and 1970s, then wrote fiction and non-fiction until 1989.

Since 1990, Jan has been working for the Foreign Ministry of Czechoslovakia and then of the Czech Republic as an ambassador to Kenya, advisor to the Minister and Chief of Protocol. In the late 1990s he served as the Czech ambassador in Tirana, Albania, but has now returned to Vancouver where he devotes all his time to writing, both in English and Czech. He is a former President of the Federation of B.C. Writers.

Publications

His Doubtful Excellency: A Canadian Novelist's Adventures as President Havel's Ambassador in Prague. Ekstasis Editions, 2006.

HledaniStesti U Cizaku (Searching for Happiness with Aliens). Prague: Mlada Fronta, 2005.

Po Usi V Americe. Prague: Knizni Klub, 2003.

I Luff You B.C.. Vancouver: Self-published, 2002.

Po Usi V Postkomunismu. Prague: Knizni Klub, 2002.

Po Usi V Protektoratu. Prague: Knizni Klub, 2001.

Thirteen. Prince George: Caitlin Press, 1991.

The Exotic Canadians. Ottawa: Borealis, 1990.

The Golden Revolution. Toronto: Macmillan, 1989.

The Statement. Toronto: General Publishing, 1982.

The Lister Legacy. Toronto: General Publishing, 1980.

Report on the Deth of Rosenkavalier. McClelland & Stewart, 1977.

Melvin the Weathermoose. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1976.

Whatever Happened to Wenceslas? Toronto: Peter Martin, 1975.

Blackboard Odyssey. Vancouver: J.J. Douglas, 1973.