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From May 24 until May 28, the international HeadRead literary festival will be held in various venues in central Tallinn. Five days will of...
Author archives: Annika
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Liis Sein began her writing career with plays that have been both staged, and awarded in playwriting competitions. She also co-wrote the sc...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Mehis Heinsaare’s second full-length novel The Lost Tribe whisks readers to a deserted bog island, where the author muses in his signature ...
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Winter
To Sandra
To live a winter,
your roots must rest
and the water freeze in your core.
Stay motionless, white, a...
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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...
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Lilli Luuk appeared on the Estonian literary scene like a glimmering comet from a faraway galaxy – coming out of nowhere but taking her rig...
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Tauno Vahter is a publisher, translator, and writer. A Good Russian is his second novel, following The 11 Escapes of Madis Jefferson (2021)...
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Carolina Pihelgas’s debut novel can be labeled as a “kinship book”. Composed with confidence, its plot extends from the recent- to the some...
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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...
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Estonian writer Tõnis Tootsen received one of the five special mentions for the European Union Prize for Literature with his wonderful nove...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Gili Haimovich and Mathura first met at a poetry festival in Romania seven years ago and have since enjoyed a long-standing collaborat...
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Writer Indrek Koff takes a look at literature’s borderlands and asks what peculiarities might arise there.
For some reason, I’ve always ...
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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...
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January 30 was the birthday of Estonian author Anton Hansen Tammsaare, the author of the "Truth and Justice" pentalogy, which is considere...
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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...
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Katja Novak’s overview of the 2022 Translators’ Seminar organized by the Estonian Literature Center in Käsmu, Estonia from June 10th to 15t...
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Kärt Hellerma (b. 1956) is an Estonian writer whose debut book, Alchemy, appeared in 1997. She has since published in a variety of genres, ...
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Natalja Nekramatnaja’s debut poetry collection Sinine pojeng (Blue Peonies) is severe, and truly exceptional in a year of otherwise pol...
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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 ...
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Tõnis Vilu is one of the most outstanding and significant Estonian poets today. He has published eight[1] works in less than a decade, ...
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The Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature was awarded to Estonian writer and poet Kai Aareleid for her novel "Pacific Ocean".
Deputy Head ...
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On October 8, 2022, the Estonian Writers' Union, which unites writers, translators of fiction, literary critics and researchers, will celeb...
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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...
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Estonian writer and translator Peeter Sauter’s first novel Indigo (1990) became an instant classic and an important work in Estonian litera...
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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...
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Katja Novak (Kateryna Botnar) has lived in Estonia for several years. She is completing a master’s degree in cultural organization at the U...
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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...
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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...
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Kertu Sillaste has already been a familiar name to fans of Estonian children’s literature for more than a decade. After initially illustrat...
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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...
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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...
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Rein Raud is an author, philosopher, and Asian Studies scholar whose works never go unnoticed. Raud’s numerous novels serve as a li...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Juta Kivimäe’s debut novel The Drawing Room shared first place in the 2021 novel-writing competition organized by the Estonian Writ...
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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...
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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...
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Ecological thinking lies at the core of Jaan Kaplinski’s (1941–2021) diverse catalogue. His poetry, prose, essays, and general outlook on l...
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When Juhani Püttsepp published his first children’s book in 1994, Johannes the Artist’s Strange Stories, critics didn’t quite know what to ...
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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...
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In Estonia, an interesting cultural discussion is underway, prompted by a call to celebrate Estonian Literature Day. The proposed date is J...
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Anja Esteri Salokannel (b. 1947) is a celebrated Finnish publisher, author, and translator who has received the Order of the White Rose...
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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...