Jaunā Gaita nr. 308. pavasaris 2022

L I T E R A T U R E

Editors Vladis Spāre and Sandra Ratniece present selected works from poets Liāna Langa, Juris Helds, Valdis Rūmnieks, Sandra Marta Grudule, Elīna Līce and Rinalds Reineks. Short stories are by Ēriks Kūlis, Māra Svīre, Ilze Lāce, Sandra Vensko and Agnese Zarāne.

 

 

V I S U A L   A R T

Editor Linda Treija introduces Skuja Braden, a team of two artists, Ingūna Skuja and Melissa Braden, reflecting on a 20-year retrospective exhibition of their work, titled “Samsara”. Skuja and Braden have worked together collaboratively in the medium of ceramics since 1999, first on the U.S. West Coast and in Latvia since 2009. Photographs of their work are displayed throughout this issue, including its cover.

 

 

L I T E R A R Y   S C I E N C E

Editor Sandra Ratniece shares some extracts from her 2011 doctoral thesis Jugendstil Poetics in Latvian Literature from the Beginning of the 20th Century to World War I, focusing on nature as a motif in Jugendstil. She also offers three poems of her own, Three variants of motif in tones of literary Jugendstil: “Nature”, “Eros”, and “Dream”.

 

 

M U S I C

Composer, pedagogue and JG music editor Dace Aperāne introduces two Australian Latvian composers/conductors Sandra Birze and Aija Dragūna. Birze is the artistic director and principal conductor for “Veseris”, a men’s choir, and “Daina”, a mixed choir, both in Melbourne. Dragūna has, among other things, worked with the George Ellis Orchestra, creating musical arrangements for the productions of Queen Orchestrated and David Bowie Orchestrated.

 

 

H I S T O R Y

Ojārs Spārītis, vice president of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and professor at the Latvian Academy of Art, shares his preface to a Latvian translation of a memoir by Gisela Natalia Gradner (1926-2015), a Baltic German, titled Tanten mit Tick. Baltische Erzählungen (Aunties with Tics. Baltic Stories). Included in this issue is a short chapter titled “Inscription on a Gravestone”.

 

 

A B O U T   B O O K S

Svens Kuzmins’ Dizažio, a novelistic probe into the mysteries of artistic creation, is reviewed by Ingus Barovskis.
Lāsma Gaitniece reviews Debesis dimantos (Diamonds in Heaven) by Jūlija Jakovļeva, a crime novel translated from Russian.
Silvija Ģibiete evaluates and recommends Alfrēds Čepānis. Vaļsirdības, (... Sincerities), by Ēriks Hānbergs, a biography of the Latvian politician, Speaker of the Saeima from 1996 to 1998.

 

 

B R I E F L Y   N O T E D

Vita Gaiķe and Linda Treija report news from the domains of literature and art.

 

 

I N   M E M O R I A M

Juris K. Ubāns (1938-2021) was a painter, professor of art at the University of Southern Maine, and president of the American Latvian Artists’ Association (2002-2009).
Baiba Bičole (1931-2021) was a poet, teacher and social activist, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Laiks (1993-1997). A selection of her poems was recently published in English translation, To Taste the River.