POETRY AND PROSE, LITERARY COMMENTARY

• Imants Auziņš (1937-2013) was a prolific literary critic, translator, and, above all, a poet whose commitment to social responsibility and personal honesty inspired all Latvians. We mark his passing with eight poems selected from his life’s work.

• Dace Micāne Zālīte’s first collection of poetry was judged by Auziņš in our Spring 2012 issue to be equally rooted in her Latvian heritage as in her cultural milieu outside Latvia. We include two of her more recent poems.

• A young writer in Liepāja, Latvia, Sabīne Košeļeva conjures a sympathetic glimpse at the daily routine of an unexceptional working woman about town.

• Anda Kubuliņa compares and contrasts two poets, Māris Salējs, who made his literary debut in the mid-90’s, and Edvīns Raups, who came on the scene some ten years earlier.

• In her study of the creative life of Fricis Bārda (1880-1919), Una Alksne looks at some of the mythic “Imagined Worlds” projected through the romanticist poet’s verse.

VISUAL ART

• The artist responsible for the cover of this issue and of a somewhat surrealistic self-portrait on page 35 is Ilmārs Blumbergs. He was featured in an exhibit in Rīga last fall. Our art editor Linda Treija describes the exhibit, and characterizes the artist as painter, scenographer, graphic artist, illustrator, philosopher and more.

• Treija enumerates eleven important younger generation artists who have made their careers outside Latvia, and describes their individual artistic achievements. We sample three of them in color photos: Rita Grendze, Kārlis Rekevics, and Ilga Leimanis.

• Our contributing editor Māris Brancis continues his account of the career of Laimonis Mieriņš, focusing on how a trip to Latvia in 1973 resulted in censure and ostracism from some émigré circles.

• Brancis, who himself has never been an émigré, also explains why he chooses to research the work of Latvian artists pursuing their careers abroad.

HISTORY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY AND ACTUALITIES

• Mārtiņš Lasmanis continues commenting the diaries of Kārlis Egle (1887-1974) – his editorial work, his wide-ranging acquaintances in the literary community of his time, and his reactions to the historic upheavals he witnessed.

• In his continuing study of the history of witchcraft in Latvia, Sandis Laime delves ever more deeply into the etymology of the words applied to the practitioners of that tradition.

• Olga Procevska, a doctoral degree candidate in Communications Science at the University of Latvia, gives a thoughtful, cogent answer to the question “Who are the Intellectuals?”

• In the latest installment of his history of international Latvian-language radio broadcasting in the latter half of the 20^th century, Rolfs Ekmanis describes the work of some twelve freelancers at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany during the 70’s and 80’s. He highlights the contribution of Dagmāra Vallena (1928-2013).

• In “In a Few Words” our editors give the usual razor-sharp cultural overview, including a colorful look at last summer’s 25^th Latvian Song and 15^th Dance Festival through the camera of Indra Ekmane.

• “Kiberkambaris” (cyberchamber) features a freely digressing conversation on Facebook, triggered by a reader’s recommendation of Pāvils Klāns’ Riga Retour (1961), a book based on the tape-recorded experiences of two unnamed young émigré Latvians checking out the backside of the Iron Curtain in Rīga at a time when many in their community deemed it traitorous to go there.

BOOK REVIEWS

• Anna Velēda Žīgure. Viņi. Svešos pagalmos (The Others. In Foreign Quarters), about the exile experience, is reviewed by Valters Nollendorfs and Astrīda Straumane Ramrath.

• Ēriks Jēkabsons. Aizmirstie karavīri – ebreji Latvijas armijā 1918.-1940. gados (Forgotten Soldiers – Jews in the Latvian Army 1918-1940) is reviewed by Franks Gordons.

• Ieva Dāboliņa. LIETA LR2 (The Case of LR2), social criticism in verse (LR2 refers to the Russian-language program on Radio Latvia) is reviewed by Lāsma Ģibiete and Anete Braufmane.

• Arno Jundze. Gardo vistiņu nedēļa (The Week of Tasty Chicken), stories from the ‘90’s transition from soviet authoritarianism to “free capitalism”, is reviewed by Lāsma Ģibiete.

• Frensiss Skots Ficdžeralds. Skaistie un nolādētie (Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The Beautiful and Damned) translated by Dagnija Dreika, is reviewed by Lāsma Ģibiete.

• Ilmārs Rumpēters. Zīmējumu kolekcija (Ilmārs Rumpēters’ Collection of drawings) is reviewed by Voldemārs Avens.

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