Ieva Lesinska Editor & Translator

ANNA AUZINA was born in 1975 in Riga. Growing up in a family of writers, she began publishing her poetry as early as 1990. Auzina studied Fine Arts and has been exhibiting her paintings since 1994. Having spent five reluctant years in advertising, she has, so far, published two prize-winning volumes of poetry - 'Atskirtie darzi' (Opened Gardens / Riga: Uguns, 1995) and 'Slepotaji bucojas sniega' (Skiers Kissing in the Snow / Riga: Preses nams, 2001) - with her third, 'Es izskatijos laimiga' (I Looked Happy / Riga: Mansards, 2010), short-listed for the Annual Literature Prize. The poems in this anthology have been drawn from all three. INGMARA BALODE was born in 1981 in Auce and is a poet and translator currently working for ... Satori Culture and Philosophy Website. Having studied sculpture and applied arts in college, she also has experience in culture management. She has been publishing her poetry since 1997, and received the Prize for the Best Debut in Latvian Literature for her first collection 'Ledenes, ar kuram var sagriezt meli' (Bonbons That May Cut Your Tongue / Riga: ... Satori) in 2007. As a translator, Balode is mostly interested in twentieth- and twenty-first century Polish and American poets (e.e. cummings, Adam Zagayewski, J. Schuyler et al). The poems in this anthology include some from a yet-to-be-published volume of poetry. AGNESE KRIVADE was born in 1981 in Riga. She has worked in public relations and advertising and was also a journalist. She is currently employed as a translator from English and German by the E.U. Committee of the Regions in Brussels. Krivade's reviews, essays and articles on cultural issues have appeared in a number of Latvian magazines and newspapers. Her first, visually highly inventive, collection of poetry, Berniba (Childhood / Riga: Neputns), was published in 2007 and the majority of her poems in this anthology have been chosen from that volume. Krivade has also published short stories. MARTS PUJATS was born in 1982 in Ikskile. Having received a rigorous musical training at Riga's famous Dom Choir School where he was considered to be an exceptionally talented musician, he has been earning his living in advertising and working on his poetry. Pujats made his debut as a poet in 1988 and has since published two books of poetry 'Tuk tuk par sevi' (Knock Knock for Myself / Riga: Petergailis, 2000) and 'Musu dziesma' (Our Song / Riga: p-art, 2006). His poetry has also been translated into several languages, including a book Two-Star Churches published in Russian in 2005. MARIS SALEJA (real name Marians Rizijs) was born in 1971 in Riga. A poet, artist, and scholar, Salejs published his first collection of poetry and translations from Polish 'Mamin es redzeju dziesmu' (Mummy I Saw a Song / Riga: Enigma) in 1999. His second, award winning collection, 'Mana politika' (My Politics / Riga: Petergailis), followed in 2001 to general acclaim. A prolific book reviewer, Salejs is also the author of scholarly analyses of the poetry of such living Latvian classics as Uldis Berzins, Janis Rokpelnis, and Knuts Skujenieks. The poems in the present anthology are from his third, hitherto unpublished collection. KARLIS VERDINS was born in 1979 in Riga. With an M.A. in Cultural Theory and a Ph.D. in Philology, Verdins is the author of many academic papers (including a book on prose poetry, 'Bastarda forma', (2010)) and essays on literature, both Latvian and foreign, as well as a prolific literary critic. He has published four volumes of poetry 'Ledlauzi' (Icebreakers / Riga: Nordic, 2001, 2nd ed. 2009), 'Biezpiens ar krejumu' (Cottage Cheese with Sour Cream / Riga: Atena, 2004), 'Burtinu zupa' (Alphabet Soup, for children, 2007), and 'Es' (I / Riga: Neputns, 2008), all to a great critical and popular acclaim and fetching top literary awards. Verdins has also written librettos and song lyrics and has published translations of American Modernist poetry (T. S. Eliot, W. C. Williams, H.D., et al). His own poetry has been translated in many languages, including collections in Russian and Polish. IEVA LESINSKA (editor) Ieva Lesinska-Gaber (Ieva Lesinska) was born in 1958, attended secondary school in Riga and went on to study English at the University of Riga. From 1978 to 1987 she lived and worked in the USA, studying at Ohio State University and the University of Colorado, before moving to Sweden in 1987 to work as a freelance journalist and translator, at the same time as following the Master of Arts programme in Baltic Philology at the University of Stockholm. She now lives in Riga, working as chief translator at the Bank of Latvia, and as a free-lance journalist and translator. She has translated the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Robert Frost, D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, Dylan Thomas, T. S. Eliot and various American Beat Generation poets into Latvian, and has published numerous English translations of poems and prose by Latvian authors in periodicals and anthologies in the UK and the US. JURIS KRONBERGS (introducer) Juris Kronbergs (b. 1946) is one of the foremost Latvian poets writing also in Swedish. The author of twelve books of poetry, he is also a prolific translator, having rendered many of the most important twentieth- and twenty-first-century Latvian poets into Swedish. His translations from Swedish most notably include the collected poems of Thomas Transtromer, together with Guntars Godins (Riga: Mansards, 2011) and a novel by Ulf Eriksson, 'Varelser av glas' (Riga: Janis Roze, 2010). To the English reader, Kronbergs is probably best known from his cycle of poems 'Wolf One-Eye' translated by Mara Rozitis (Todmorden: Arc Publications, 2006), whose original Latvian won him the Latvian Writers' Union Prize of 1997, has been translated into several other languages and issued on CDs in Latvia and Sweden (musical accompaniment by Kristaps Grasis). Kronbergs' latest collection of poetry was published under the title 'Ik diena' (Every Day / Riga: Mansards, 2011).