Poet Zbyněk Hejda dies aged 83

Poet, historian and translator Zbyněk Hejda died on Saturday morning at the age of 83, the news website lidovky.cz reported citing his publisher. Mr Hejda was considered one of the most significant contemporary Czech poets and his work has been described as a “pessimistic lyricism” with strong erotic undertones. Zbyněk Hejda, native of Hradec Králové, was a graduate of Charles University. He faced persecution by the communist regime after he signed the Charter 77 manifesto. His collected poems were published in 1996 under the title “Poems”.