Career
He has written in both German and Czechoslovakian. His novels have also been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Polish. This has been cited as the reason that he moved to Germany in 1974.
Ota Filip"s work is cited as focusing on the themes of the migrant or dislocated individual by critics such as Dorothea Uhle.
In 1976, he published a fairy tale called, Brief des Drachentöters (English version as "A Letter for the Dragon Slayer"), which is part of the children"s book Update on Rumpelstiltskin and other Fairy Tales by 43 Authors, which is compiled by Hans-Joachim Gelberg, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, and published by Beltz & Gelberg. He has been awarded the The Adelbert von Chamisso-Preis for German writing by a non-native German speaker.