Czech public television and radio in Prague say Ludvik Kundera, a poet and translator of German literature, has died at age 90.

Kundera, a cousin of Paris-based author Milan Kundera, died Tuesday in a hospital. Details were not given.

Born March 22, 1920, in Brno, Kundera was a co-founder of a surrealistic group Ra after the Second World War. His first book of poetry, Konstantina, was published in 1946.

Besides his literary work, Kundera became a respected translator of German-speaking authors, including Rainer Maria Rilke, Hans Arp and Bertolt Brecht. He was banned in Communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and '80s.

Former president Vaclav Havel said he held Kundera "in high esteem."

Kundera has received important Czech and German literary awards.