Filip was born in Slezská Ostrava, in present-day Czech Republic. His novels have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Polish. During the communist era government of Czechoslovakia his works were banned or censored by the authorities, and after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact Armed Forces in 1968, he was sentenced for his dissident activities, and incarcerated from 1969–71. In 1974, he was forced to emigrate to what was then West Germany.