Unknown Havel diaries to be published in October on occasion of what would have been late president’s 80th birthday

Diaries until now unknown which were kept by playwright and dissident Václav Havel when he was imprisoned by the Communist regime in 1977 will be published this year by the Václav Havel Library in Prague on the occasion of what would have been his 80th birthday. The entries were written over a period of several months in what has been described as one of the most dramatic perids of his life, when Mr Havel was jailed following the release of the Charter 77 manifesto in January 1977. The document was initially signed by some 242 people motivated in part by the arrest in the previous year of band members from the Plastic People of the Universe. The unknown writings were only uncovered recently.