With his second wife, Jana Žantovská, a photographer working under the nom de plume Jane Noseková, they have a son David (*2001) and daughter Rebeka (*2003).

During the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he was among the founding members of the Civic Forum, the umbrella organization coordinating the overthrow of the communist regime, and became its press spokesman.

In March 1997, he was elected leader of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA), a liberal conservative party, member of the governing coalition.

He translated more than fifty works of fiction, drama and poetry, of mostly contemporary American and British writers, including works by James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, E.L. Doctorow, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Tom Stoppard et al.

With his first wife he co-authored a play, The Poor Mouth (1985) based on a short novel by Myles na gCopaleen (Brian O'Nolan).

In 2014, his biography of Václav Havel has been published both in Czech and English (Atlantic Books) and subsequently in more than ten other languages.