L I T E R A T U R E

Selections of their recent poetry are offered by Andris Alps, Zane Brūvere-Kvēpa, Sanita Dāboliņa, Kristīne Jučkoviča, Agnese Līcīte, Aija Rozena, Leons Jūlijs Strupītis and Viviāna Zariņa. Compositions in prose are by Džena Andersone, Lāsma Gaitniece, Lelde Jauja, Ilze Lāce, Uldis Ozolants and Dāvids Rubens.

T R A N S L A T I O N

Jacques De Decker’s (1945-2020) micro-novel Suzanne à la pomme, about life among contemporary artists, collectors and dealers in Belgium, is translated from the French language by Inese Pētersone.

V I S U A L   A R T

Art historian Dace Lamberga, retired curator of exhibits at the Latvian National Museum of Art, writes about the creative life of painter Ludolfs Liberts (1895-1959). Her article is accompanied by photographs of Liberts’ work throughout this issue. The cover design for this issue is based on a painting by Liberts.

T H E A T E R

The current theater season in Rīga features four new productions of classic plays by poet/dramatist Jānis Rainis (1865-1929). Theater critic Atis Rozentāls describes these productions and concludes that Rainis still has plenty of relevance in contemporary Latvian culture.

R E S E A R C H   S T U D Y

This recent (2020) study by Inge Annom of the Estonian Literary Museum uses material gathered in the 1930’s on the folk stories and fairytales told by Estonian-speaking Romani people in the environs of the Latvian town of Ludza. It is offered in Latvian translation by her colleague Hannes Korjus.

B O O K   R E V I E W S

• Kristīne Ilziņa reviews Latvju pacients (The Latvian Patient), a collection of short stories by Jana Egle.

• Jūlija Dibovska: Daina Tabūna’s Ragana (The Witch), a novel shaped like a collection of stories.

• Violeta Tilta: Evita Hofmane’s Simulacra, a novel about how blind faith complicates coping.

• Vija Laganovska: Gvido Drage’s Karma Sutra, stories involving the dynamics of binary opposites, laced with humor.

• Patrīcija Preisa: Autoru kolektīvs. Rakstniecības laboratorija (Laboratory of Writing, by a collective of fifteen authors) – a user’s manual on how to be a writer.

• Kristaps Vecgrāvis: Jānis Vādons’ collection of poems titled * * *, arranged in four themes – childhood, aging, love and hope.

• Ingus Barovskis: Kaspars Zalāns’ Telegrammas, poetry thematically organized around five poetic telegrams.

I N   M E M O R I A M

Lāsma Gaitniece: Inguna Bauere (7/23/1960-1/20/2024), a prolific writer of meticulously researched historical novels.

Imants Belogrīvs: Viktors Avotiņš (12/12/1947-12/16/2023), an influential editor and commentator during the chaotic time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Agija Ābiķe-Kondrāte: Andris Ogriņš (11/07/1975-17/12/2023), a poet of much acclaim and much forsaken promise.