After spending nearly two decades in the political realm, former Czech president Vaclav Havel has returned to his previous vocation: writing plays.

Havel has finished a new play that could be his last, the former dissident playwright told Respekt, a weekly Czech Republic publication.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, seen here in Prague in June 2006, says he has finished his first new play in 18 years.
(CTK/Michal Krumphanzl/Associated Press)

"I have not written a single play over the last 18 years, and I am not sure whether this is not my last," Havel said.

Over the past decade, the former Czech leader has suffered several health scares, including a ruptured intestine and the removal of tumours in his lungs.

Though he didn't reveal many plot details about the new work, Havel did say that he drew from his political experience.

"Living in the world of political language was quite an inspiration" he said. "I try [in my play] to reflect the automatic political language, where you say one word to which other words are immediately added and the cluster [of words] then travels from one speech to another."

Havel has spent the last few years in the U.S., including as a guest at Columbia University in New York, where he received three Obie Awards in 2006 for his work as a playwright over the years. He also spent time at Washington's Library of Congress.

Havel said that he has yet to make a deal with a specific theatre to stage his new play.

As a dissident playwright in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, Havel was a leading voice criticizing the ruling Communist regime. He took part in the resistance movement and was, at times, imprisoned.

After Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution in 1989, Havel rose to become the country's leader, eventually also becoming the first president of the newly formed Czech Republic in 1993. He retired in 2003 following his second and final term.

In 2004, Havel was invested as an honorary companion of the Order of Canada.

With files from the Associated Press