Ivo Moravec is a former Ford employee who worked on the line at the St. Thomas Assembly Plant for twenty-one years, and who has since become a unique voice in Canadian literature. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, he obtained a Master of Economics from the Economics University in Prague, then worked for the Research Institute and for a Ministry of Industry think tank as a researcher and analyst. In 1983 he defected to Austria, then emigrated to Canada and settled in London. His writing career began with the publication of Tightrope Passage: Along the Refugee Route to Canada (McClelland & Stewart, 1997). Moravec retired from Ford in 2007. He has since dedicated more time to literature and has taken up a (winter) job as a ski instructor at Boler mountain. He lives in London, Ontario.