The HeadRead literary festival features more than 90 writers 24.05.2023 ••• From May 24 until May 28, the international HeadRead literary festival will be held in various venues in central Tallinn. Five days will of...
Liis SeinMona's Dad Has Some Ideas by Kairi Look ••• Liis Sein began her writing career with plays that have been both staged, and awarded in playwriting competitions. She also co-wrote the sc...
Kadri Kiho, Stella Salumaa Endel and Kati by Jaanika Palm ••• The success of Endel and Kati, by Kadri Kiho and Stella Salumaa, began with winning first place in the Knee-High Book Competition for child...
Andris Feldmanis, Livia UlmanEric Stoneheart by Eva Kinkar ••• Erik Stoneheart is a story of grief, family ties, and budding friendship that centers around a lonely 11-year-old boy. Adapted from Ilmar R...
Andrus Kivirähk, Veiko TamjärvNovember by Mari Laaniste ••• At this point in time, an Estonian novel getting adapted into a graphic novel could be described as a phenomenon that’s only slightly m...
Andrus KivirähkFlight to the Moon by Karl-Martin Sinijärv ••• Andrus Kivirähk is one of the most popular and fascinating Estonian authors of the last quarter century (and no doubt of all time). His new...
Mehis Heinsaar The Lost Tribe by Jaan Sudak ELM 1/2023 ••• Mehis Heinsaare’s second full-length novel The Lost Tribe whisks readers to a deserted bog island, where the author muses in his signature ...
Sanna KartauI Vote for This War With My Body Translated by Adam Cullen ELM 1/2023 ••• Winter To Sandra To live a winter, your roots must rest and the water freeze in your core. Stay motionless, white, a...
Berlin’s Community Energy Transmuted into Estonian Poetry by Silvia Urgas ELM 1/2023 ••• Sanna Kartau (b. 1993) is an Estonian poet and journalist whose debut collection I Vote for This War With My Body won the 2022 Betti Alver...
Lilli Luuk My Brother's Body Miss Kolkhoz by Vilja Kiisler ELM 1/2023 ••• Lilli Luuk appeared on the Estonian literary scene like a glimmering comet from a faraway galaxy – coming out of nowhere but taking her rig...
Tauno Vahter A Good Russian by Annika A. Koppel ELM 1/2023 ••• Tauno Vahter is a publisher, translator, and writer. A Good Russian is his second novel, following The 11 Escapes of Madis Jefferson (2021)...
Carolina Pihelgas Watching the Night by Kärt Hellerma ELM 1/2023 ••• Carolina Pihelgas’s debut novel can be labeled as a “kinship book”. Composed with confidence, its plot extends from the recent- to the some...
Epp Annus Greetings, Aleksander by Ene-Reet Soovik ELM 1/2023 ••• Epp Annus’s Greetings, Aleksander is a tale told in an old farmhouse in the middle of a hayfield, among the dull yellow loneliness of grass...
Tõnis Tootsen received special mention for the European Union Prize for Literature by ELM 1.05.2023 ••• Estonian writer Tõnis Tootsen received one of the five special mentions for the European Union Prize for Literature with his wonderful nove...
Jaak Jõerüüt Seven Odysseys by Siim Lill ELM 1/2023 ••• The full extent of Jaak Jõerüüt’s writing is outstanding. Over just a handful of years, he has published short stories, a novel, an incred...
The Book That is a Beast of its Own by Andrei Liimets ELM 1/2023 ••• Pâté of the Apes by Tõnis Tootsen (b. 1988) is the story of Ergo, the first ape who has learned to write. As the title suggests, the s...
Tõnis Tootsen Pâté of the Apes Translated by Adam Cullen ELM 1/2023 ••• pp. 14–18 II I just wrote about Undo and Redo at considerable length, but barely added a word about Mom and Dad. As someone wro...
A Night to Remember by Maximilian Murmann ELM 1/2023 ••• On New Year’s Eve a man straggles his way through Stockholm. Although he has been living in the city for quite some time, the narrator...
3+3 Mathura and Gili Haimovich ELM 1/2023 ••• Gili Haimovich and Mathura first met at a poetry festival in Romania seven years ago and have since enjoyed a long-standing collaborat...
Now, That’s Certainly Not Literature by Indrek Koff ELM 1/2023 ••• Writer Indrek Koff takes a look at literature’s borderlands and asks what peculiarities might arise there. For some reason, I’ve always ...
Jaanus Vaiksoo Shoe #41 By Kadri Naanu ••• Shoe #41 by Jaanus Vaiksoo is a new addition to the series that follows the adventures of 12-year-old Paul Fifth and his best friends, Min...
January 30 will be celebrated as Estonian Literature Day by ELM ••• January 30 was the birthday of Estonian author Anton Hansen Tammsaare, the author of the "Truth and Justice" pentalogy, which is considere...
Kätlin Kaldmaa Lydia by Loone Ots ELM 2/2022 ••• Kaldmaa’s Lydia is the story of a little girl who grows up to become an esteemed poet. The author undertook the daring task of writing...
Translators: The Barn Swallows of Estonian Literature By Katja Novak ELM 2/2022 ••• Katja Novak’s overview of the 2022 Translators’ Seminar organized by the Estonian Literature Center in Käsmu, Estonia from June 10th to 15t...
Kärt HellermaThe Blue Mass By Eret Talviste ELM 2/2022 ••• Kärt Hellerma (b. 1956) is an Estonian writer whose debut book, Alchemy, appeared in 1997. She has since published in a variety of genres, ...
Natalja Nekramatnaja The Agony of the Imagined By Leo Luks ELM 2/2022 ••• Natalja Nekramatnaja’s debut poetry collection Sinine pojeng (Blue Peonies) is severe, and truly exceptional in a year of otherwise pol...
Tõnis Vilu A Gift to the Psychiatrist Translated by Adam Cullen ELM 2/2022 ••• pp. 51–56 Am I, after the whole course of treatment, a better person now? I’ve screwed up an unbelievable amount of shit over ...
I Am Nature, Too By Joosep Susi ELM 2/2022 ••• Tõnis Vilu is one of the most outstanding and significant Estonian poets today. He has published eight[1] works in less than a decade, ...
Baltic Assembly Literature Prize awarded to Estonian writer Kai Aareleid ERR News ••• The Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature was awarded to Estonian writer and poet Kai Aareleid for her novel "Pacific Ocean". Deputy Head ...
Estonian Writer's Union Celebrates its Centenary Annika A. Koppel ••• On October 8, 2022, the Estonian Writers' Union, which unites writers, translators of fiction, literary critics and researchers, will celeb...
Martin Algus, A Writer Not Bound by Borders By Heidi Aadma ELM 2/2022 ••• In 2007, Martin Algus had a dual victory: his problem play Janu (Thirst) and youth play Ise oled! (You Are!) received first and second plac...
Peeter Sauter: Living Matters More Than Writing By Merily Salura ELM 2/2022 ••• Estonian writer and translator Peeter Sauter’s first novel Indigo (1990) became an instant classic and an important work in Estonian litera...
Tiit Aleksejev: There’s Something Only Literature Can Provide By Annika A. Koppel ELM 2/2022 ••• Tiit Aleksejev is an Estonian writer and historian who has served as the head of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 2016. This autumn, the E...
Katja Novak: War Needs No Epithets By Doris Kareva ELM 2/2022 ••• Katja Novak (Kateryna Botnar) has lived in Estonia for several years. She is completing a master’s degree in cultural organization at the U...
War and the Impossibility of the Great Writer by Maarja Kangro ELM 2/2022 ••• On May 1st, not a single air-raid siren went off all day in Lviv. My colleague Ostap Slyvynskiy and I were sitting at a sidewalk table at K...
Anti Saar Anni’s Things Kairi Look ELM 1/2022 ••• Every new book Anti Saar writes holds a surprise in terms of both topic and style. He has published close to a dozen works; including young...
Kertu Sillaste Help! Jaanika Palm ELM 1/2022 ••• Kertu Sillaste has already been a familiar name to fans of Estonian children’s literature for more than a decade. After initially illustrat...
Piret Raud The Rooted Garden Jaanika Palm ELM 1/ 2022 ••• Although The Rooted Garden is a small book in a soft pink color palette, its message is tremendous and provides a feast of food for thought...
Kadri HinrikusThe Elephant Jaanika Palm ELM 1/2022 ••• Kadri Hinrikus’s books let the brighter side of life shine through, and are ideal for when dark clouds of worry crowd one’s thoughts or unf...
Rein RaudThe Sun Script Siim Lill ELM 1/2022 ••• Rein Raud is an author, philosopher, and Asian Studies scholar whose works never go unnoticed. Raud’s numerous novels serve as a li...
Eva KoffLucid Dreams Silvia Urgas ELM 1/ 2022 ••• Eva Koff’s second novel Lucid Dreams is true to its title, exploring a state of lucid dreaming that is so powerful it cannot be separat...
Kai AareleidPacific Ocean By Kärt Hellerma ELM 1/2022 ••• It’s easy to summarize Kai Aareleid’s novel Pacific Ocean in just a few words: Stella, the protagonist, is cheated on by her hu...
KiwaSources of Rubber Glue Helena Läks ELM 1/2022 ••• Kiwa (Jaanus Kivaste) dabbles in an array of creative fields: he is perhaps best known as an artist but is also a composer, curator, p...
Juta KivimäeThe Drawing Room Taavi Kangur ELM 1/ 2022 ••• Juta Kivimäe’s debut novel The Drawing Room shared first place in the 2021 novel-writing competition organized by the Estonian Writ...
Loone OtsLove in a Hopeless Place By Andrei Hvostov ELM 1/2022 ••• Loone Ots’s debut novel won first place in the Estonian Writers’ Union’s 2021 Fiction Contest. Reviewing Loone Ots’s novel, I must t...
Loone Ots Love Translated by Adam Cullen ELM 1/2022 ••• 5:07 a.m.SALME The snow has compacted into dense drifts. I have to lift my short legs high with every step and bring them down with full...
How Are We to Survive? With Jaan Kaplinski in the Anthropocene By Marek Tamm ELM 1/2022 ••• Ecological thinking lies at the core of Jaan Kaplinski’s (1941–2021) diverse catalogue. His poetry, prose, essays, and general outlook on l...
Juhani Püttsepp: A Storyteller for the Defenseless By Jaanika Palm ELM 1/2022 ••• When Juhani Püttsepp published his first children’s book in 1994, Johannes the Artist’s Strange Stories, critics didn’t quite know what to ...
Jaan Kaplinski: Questions, Answers, and Other Thought-Rhymes By Märt Väljataga ELM 1/2022 ••• Jaan Kaplinski wrote nearly 2,000 poems in several styles and languages over eighty years. The first in his official canon is a ballad titl...
On Life and Love, Continuously By Jan Kaus ELM 1/2022 ••• In Estonia, an interesting cultural discussion is underway, prompted by a call to celebrate Estonian Literature Day. The proposed date is J...
Anja Salokannel’s 30,000 Grains of Barley By Veronika Kivisilla ELM 1/2022 ••• Anja Esteri Salokannel (b. 1947) is a celebrated Finnish publisher, author, and translator who has received the Order of the White Rose...
Andrei Ivanov: Real Writing Is Disturbing By Ilona Martson ELM 1/2022 ••• Russian-Estonian writer Andrei Ivanov lives with his wife and son in a Soviet-era apartment block on the outskirts of Estonia’s capital. He...