J.A. Novotný was born on March 23, 1918 in Krocehlavy, Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer, known for A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Matous the Cobbler (1948) and A Week in the Quiet House (1947). He died on September 28, 2005 in Prague, Czech Republic.