Lilija Berzinska Author

Lilija Berzinska was born in 1978 in Riga, Latvia, and spent her childhood on the banks of the Daugava river, observing nature and animals. She is a children's author and illustrator, and also works as a translator, journalist, and teaches Theology at the University of Latvia. Her children's novel "Clumsy Clot is Looking for Clumsy Clot/Lamzaks meklē lamzaku" was nominated for the Latvian Literature of the Year Award in 2016, and her collection of fairytales "Skelets skapī/A Skeleton in the Cupboard" won the children's category of Latvian Literature of the Year Award in 2018. Žanete Vēvere Pasqualini works as a literary agent for the Latvian Literature platform and translates in her spare time. Her translation of Kristine Ulberga's "The Green Crow" was published by Peter Owen Publishers, and she translated the stories "The Birds of Ķīpsala Island" by Dace Rukšāne and "The Shakes" by Svens Kuzmins for "The Book of Riga", published by Comma Press in 2018, as well as "The Quarry" by Jana Egle (for Words Without Borders). Her other translations in English include: "The Noisy Classroom" by Ieva Flamingo (children's poetry, published by the Emma Press), "Dog Town" by Luīze Pastore (a children's book, published by Firefly) and the forthcoming Bicki-Books poetry series for children (Emma Press, 2019). Žanete is currently working on translating "The Room", novel by Laima Kota. Sara Smith studied Italian and Business at Edinburgh University, where she was awarded a Swiss Arts Council prize. She lives in Rome and works as a teacher and translator, and her work has been published by Guerra Editori, Artes Faveo and Compagnia Editoriale.