Pavel Kohout was born in Prague in 1928. A leader of the Prague Spring of 1968, he was expelled from the Communist Party and his work suppressed for more than 20 years. With Vaclav Havel, he is responsible for the groundbreaking freedom document Charta 77. He is the author of I Am Snowing: The Confessions of a Woman of Prague, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Kohout divides his time between Vienna and Prague.