BOOKS is a selection of the most competitive works of the Latvian literature presented every year in various international book fairs, offered to publishing agents and publishing houses. Here you can see our latest book catalogues: "A Modern Introverts reading list" - overview of the contemporary Latvian literature and "A Classy Introverts reading guide" - the classic authors of the Latvian literature from the past two centuries and Latvian children's book catalogue "The Little introvert's starter kit".
CHILDRENS LITERATURE 2020.pdf ADULT_CONTEMPORARY_2020.pdf ADULT_CLASSICS_2020.pdfARCHIVE
ADULT FICTION.pdf CHILDRENS LITERATURE.pdf WE LATVIA THE 20TH CENTURY.pdf CHILDRENS LITERATURE 2017.pdf ADULT FICTION 2017.pdf CHILDRENS LITERATURE 2016.pdf ADULT FICTION 2016.pdf
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The Fly Who Got a Tummy Ache
The Fly Who Got a Tummy Ache (Mušiņa, kurai sasāpējās vēders)
The story of three little flies who helped the bees collect honey.
Contact: apgads@zvaigzne.lv
Mušiņa, kurai sasāpējās vēders
Kristīne Neimane
Ieva Maurīte
Zvaigzne ABC
All languages available
A Boy and His Dog. The Story of an Untold Secret
A Boy and His Dog. The Story of an Untold Secret (Puika ar suni. Stāsts par nosargātu noslēpumu)
The novel 'The Boy and His Dog' is based on true events that took place in Rīga during World War II. Zigis is only eight years old when the war breaks out. He witnesses his father hiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of Latvia and the relationships people develop under these harsh circumstances. He can't yet fully comprehend the events and people's actions, but as he grows older, he takes an active role in his family's efforts to help these people. Complex questions often surface in young Zigis' mind.
Contacts: pasts@lielsmazs.lv
Puika ar suni. Stāsts par nosargātu noslēpumu
Inese Zandere
Reinis Pētersons
Rīga, Liels un mazs
A Walk in the City of Dead
A Walk in the City of Dead (Pastaiga mirušo pilsētā. Pārupes spoku stāsti )
Since the mid-1980s, Māris Rungulis has been collecting the scary stories children love to tell each other. Now, he has brought these together into a book about sixth-grade pupils working on a school project in which they have to collect and tell each other the local scary stories they know.
Illustrations by Kristiāns Brekte
Pastaiga mirušo pilsētā. Pārupes spoku stāsti
Māris Rungulis
And You Are Free
And You Are Free (Un Tu esi brīvs)
At the heart of this collection is nature – living creatures, birds, trees, plants and insignificant humans amongst them. There is a special place dedicated to world knowledge and the freedom of the human personality. The book includes both melodic rhymes and poems written in the tradition of classical poetry. The collection touches on the feelings of today's children in their busy daily lives. This book was published with the financial support of the State Culture Capital Foundation.
Contact: gunta.apse@latvijasmediji.lv
Un Tu esi brīvs
Uldis Auseklis
Signe Ērmane
Arrow, Star and Laï
Arrow, Star and Laï (Bulta, Zvaigzne un Laī)
Cover by Artūrs Bērziņš
Arrow, Star and Laee is a 29,000-word middle-grade fantasy novel. It is told from the perspective of three Stone Age adolescents: courageous, single-minded Castor; clever, scheming Neena and awkward, seemingly lazy Pelle, who—according to the tribe's witch, Golden Snake—is a fairy child, unfit to become an adult and posing a threat to the entire tribe.
Contacts: Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv
ArrowStarLaee_by_I.Melgalve.pdf
Bulta, Zvaigzne un Laī
Ieva Melgalve
Art Detectives
Art Detectives (Mākslas detektīvi)
Illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa
- International Baltic Sea Region Jānis Baltvilks Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art 2015
- Latvian Children's Jury Award 2016
The 'Art Detectives' series of detective stories for children invites them to explore behind-the-scenes of art and visit the adventure and mystery-filled world 'on the other side' of paintings. Can a work of art come alive? What would it be like to step inside paintings and experience the stories they tell? What are the mysteries that paintings hide? In this exciting series of adventure books, young detectives Theo, Button and Button's dog – a fat dachshund named Comma follow the trail of art, investigating the mysteries behind some of the works of the greatest Latvian painters.
Contacts: dace@neputns.lv, www.neputns.lv
TheMissingMonkey_by_L.Pastore.pdf
Mākslas detektīvi
Luīze Pastore
Neputns
At the Table (Pie galda)
Author: Irma Kalniņa
This book is meant for the whole family and serves as a guide to basic principles of etiquette and table manners. It introduces the history of etiquette and interesting facts about dining traditions in a way, which is relatable to children. It shares helpful tips for using cutlery, setting the table, eating different kinds of food as well as going to a restaurant or a party.
Pie galda
Rīga, Droši un Koši
Baking Pizza's Cousin
Baking Pizza's Cousin (Es picas brālēnu cepu)
Albert is Secret Agent 006, but nobody in his family or Riga suspects this. He can't wait to start school, hoping to get two pencil cases with Geronimo Stilton. He has a special way of looking at the world, filled with his mum's notes on the fridge, a magical biscuit box and children's party hats. Albert loves building things, going fishing and collecting European coins with his dad. Nothing escapes the boy's keen eyes – not even grandad's bad back, grandma's tea shelf, the worlds that she crochets and the food that she makes. And then there are the growth notes on the door jamb, and baking pizza's cousin!
Contact: kaspars.eizentals@petergailis.lv
Es picas brālēnu cepu
Inese Paklone
Vivianna Maria Stanislavska
Pētergailis
BICKI-BUCK BOOKS
BICKI-BUCK BOOKS (BIKIBUKS)
A series of 100 small picture books: a wide array of outstanding children's poetry, visually interpreted for children by artists working indifferent styles and genres: graphic artists, painters, stage designers, textile artists, animators, and so on. A marvellous school of diverse thinking, this series helps develop young readers' aesthetic taste.
Various authors and illustrators.
Contacts: pasts@lielsmazs.lv, www.lielsmazs.lv
BIKIBUKS
Brother Oak, Sister Linden
Brother Oak, Sister Linden (Brālis ozols, māsa liepa )
Author: Jānis Baltvilks
Jānis Baltvilks, a well-known Latvian children's writer, poet, and biologist, wrote this lovely story about Latvian trees back in 1985. The original illustrations by Edgars Folks have been updated by Tomass Folks using modern technological tools and reveal this Latvian natural resource in all its surreal, sparkling, brilliant detail.
Illustrations by Edgars Folks
Contacts: apgads@jr.lv
Brālis ozols, māsa liepa
Rīga, Jānis Roze
Can the Back Row Hear Me?
Can the Back Row Hear Me? (Vai otrā grupa mani dzird?)
— The Annual Latvian Literature Prize 2015 for Inga Gaile's poems
— A Special Mention to Anete Melece at the 2015 International Baltic Book Art Contest for her illustrations and book design
— International Baltic Sea Region Jānis Baltvilks Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art 2015 (the Jury's Special Mention)
The daily life of a family is like a point of intersection in which the daily events and relationships of children and adults meet up. This book is a similar point of intersection that can be read by adults as well as children of all ages. Alongside her witty illustrations, Anete Melece has created games, exercises and colouring pages.
CanTheBackRowHearMe_by_I.Gaile.pdf
Vai otrā grupa mani dzird?
Inga Gaile
Anete Melece
Liels un Mazs
Cat on Vacation
Cat on Vacation (Kaķis brīvdienās)
Illustrations by Aleksejs Naumovs
This collection of fairy tales is a wonderful collaboration between two artists much loved in Latvia. Observations of daily events turn into games, tales and contemporary legends in an easy and effortless way, broadening the child's horizons. The book will suit the whole family: from toddlers just learning to speak to teenagers who love to speculate about life. The book can almost be seen as an exhibition with paintings of a small town and a metropolis with its suburbs, a sea wind blowing over the roofs, summer houses, parks, a castle and an opera house – all these are the places where the eleven fairy tales in this the collection are set.
Cat_on_Vacation_by_I.Zandere.pdf
Kaķis brīvdienās
Cat's Supper
Cat's Supper (Runča vakariņas)
Illustrations by Dāvis Ozols
The adventures of a little girl named Baiba and her cat Muris begin at supper time when Baiba does not like her porridge. 'Come along, I will treat you to something MUCH tastier, to something VERY tasty – to something I offer only to my friends,' says the cat. Baiba follows the cat happily
because she is looking forward to the promised treats.
What are the delicious snacks offered by Muris?
Contacts: janis@apgadsmansards.lv, www.apgadsmansards.lv
Runča vakariņas
Ruta Svaža
Rīga, Mansards
Colourful Stories
Colourful Stories (Krāsainas pasakas )
Imants Ziedonis's Colourful Stories examines universal human values and fires up readers' imaginations by prompting them to explore and expand their own view of the world. These are light-hearted stories which speak about life's paradoxes and playfully engage with the reader just as the author himself plays with colours, words, and ideas. They contain great wisdom about life, but never cease being playful, bright, and fun. Ziedonis's writing is free-spirited and accessible, and the stories can be meditative and therapeutic, though always with lively plots and captivating characters. The stories do not contain any depictions of violence or evil; it is as if the author truly wanted to spread only joy and harmony, and to celebrate love. In the "White Story", everything is as white as on the first snowy day of the year. Even the ink turns white, and Ziedonis wonders if the reader will be able to read a thing now that everything has turned white. The "Yellow Story" features the sun, baby chicks, bees, flowers, and a sudden conclusion. One might expect Communist flames in the "Red Story", but in fact it just shows how dangerous ordinary flames can be. In the "Brown Story", little men secretly paint mushroom tops and acorns, and make sure that a person turns brown when they tan. The "Black Story" is about hell, which has seven doors and six antechambers, with a guard who searches those he finds suspicious and takes away any lamps they might be carrying, because of the ongoing battle against light. This book can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. Since its first publication, it has been reprinted more than ten times in Latvian as well as in several other languages including English, German, Russian, Italian, and French. Nearly every new edition of Colourful Stories includes illustrations from a new artist, because the images created by the author in his writing lend themselves so well to visual interpretations.
Contact: Baiba Ziedone-Jansone annabj@inbox.lv
Krāsainas pasakas
Liesma
Cucumber Elmar Who Worried A Lot
Cucumber Elmar Who Worried A Lot (Gurķis Elmārs, kas dikti kreņķējās)
Elmar the Cucumber looks different from other cucumbers in his plot — he's small and crooked, and can't stop obsessing about his looks. His cousin Renars is always making fun of him. Elmar feels more and more isolated and worried, which might turn his taste from sweet to bitter. His mum's soothing words don't seem to help, so it's up to the enthusiastic cucumber-girl Alina to save the day! Alina gathers all the cucumbers in the plot, and they come up with a plan to cheer Elmar up. Renars watches them in secret, wanting to take part, because making fun of everyone has left him feeling isolated as well. Will Renars be able to overcome his pride and show his true nature?
Contact: Kaspars Eizentāls, kaspars.eizentals@petergailis.lv
CucumberElmarWhoWorriedALot_by_S.Koseleva.pdf
Gurķis Elmārs, kas dikti kreņķējās
Sabīne Košeļeva
Anita Rupeika
Daddy (Tētis)
Kārlis Vērdiņš can sound both ironic and loving when he writes about a family's everyday life and he will definitely make people of all ages laugh. The main character of this poetry collection is Daddy, but which Daddy is it? The one who stays at home with his son while mom is out at work, or the aggressive driver? Vērdiņš challenges his readers to rethink traditional social roles.
K.Verdins_Daddy_Poems_for_children_ENG.pdf
Tētis
Kārlis Vērdiņš
Rights sold to Spanish
Danse Macabre (Trilogy): The Dance with Death
Danse Macabre (Trilogy): The Dance with Death (Danse Macabre (triloģija): Deja ar nāvi )
It is the first book in the fantasy-steampunk trilogy 'Danse Macabre'. London, 1869. Victoria Elligton's only chance to discover the truth about the death of her father, the Archimagus of Great Britain, is to enter the Royal Academy of Magic. As soon as she turns 18, the girl travels to Upper London – the glorious city in the sky. Soon she is sucked into a whirlwind of conspiracies and secrets. Death and betrayal, sweet promises and cold calculation walk the halls of the Academy. The second and third titles of the trilogy are 'Under Artificial Stars' and 'The Shards of Heaven'.
Contacts: Mrs. Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv, www.zvaigzne.lv
TheDanceWithDeath_by_L.Dreize.pdf
Danse Macabre (triloģija): Deja ar nāvi
Laura Dreiže
Everything will be OK, Maddy!
Everything will be OK, Maddy! (Viss būs labi, Made!)
A funny children's book about misunderstandings. Two stories about the good-hearted Maddy – a big, clumsy bumblebee. Maddy goes to the circus, learns to paint, and always gets herself into trouble.
Viss būs labi, Made!
Aija Lisovska
Agija Staka
Fairy tales (Pasakas)
Skalbe's fairy tales hold a similar place in Latvian literature as those of Hans Christian Andersen do in the literature of Denmark. Although frequently fantastical, with their kings, princesses, talking animals and enchanted trees, Skalbe's tales were not really aimed at children and often have dark endings. Despite the sadness and darkness that often prevails in Skalbe's stories, he promotes a fundamentally humanistic view of existence, showing a deep concern for ethical issues and the proper treatment of others.
He was a deceptively complex writer: although he was known as "the king of fairy tales", his stories differ from what most Western readers would consider to be "fairy tales". His most popular and famous tale, Kitty's Windmill is the story of a windmill-owning cat who is forced to pawn his windmill to pay for his daughters' dowry, before taking to the road. He encounters various misfortunes on his travels, eventually ending up at a palace where he is able to comfort a king who has fallen into a state of despair after the death of his wife. Skalbe's works remain popular with Latvians of all ages and backgrounds, as was confirmed in 2014 when Kaķīša dzirnavas was selected as the nation's best-loved book in a national survey.
Kārlis Skalbe
Dienas Grāmata
Free rights
Flower Stories (Pasakas par ziediem)
This book consists of the stories behind the origins of various types of flowers, such as daffodils, snowdrops and hyacinths. Compared to modern-day children's literature, Flower Stories distinguishes itself with its sorrowful and even tragic tone. So, for example, in the story about the water-arum (called a "pig's ear" in Latvian), she describes the life of Jānītis, who has lost his mother and is forced to herd pigs all day by his evil stepmother. His stepmother's children begin to call him Pig's Ear. Later in the summer, one of Jānītis's piglets wanders off in search of water, falls into a pool in the marsh, and begins to sink. The stepmother forces Jānītis to go after the piglet, and he manages to catch hold of it by its ears but then sinks into the bog himself. Only his fist remains above the water, and this transforms into a flower.
In the story about the peony, the main character is also a child
who has lost her mother. Peony is the oldest daughter in a family of six children and is in love with a boy named Simeons. However, due to all of her chores and the need to take care of her younger brothers and sisters, she can't leave to marry her beloved. Simeons goes off to seek his fortune in faraway lands and sends Peony a marriage proposal every two years,
but they are always forced to delay their wedding. In her old age, Peony writes to Simeons that she is ready at last to join him, but Death arrives first and refuses to wait for Peony to marry. Soon afterwards, we see Simeons standing at her grave with a peony, which he brings as a sign of his love.
Contact: info@akka-laa.lv
Pasakas par ziediem
Anna Sakse
AKKA/LAA
Four Paintbrushes
Four Paintbrushes (Četras otas)
A collection of poems by Uldis Auseklis about Latvia's nature and its perpetual changes – the four seasons. Each season has been illustrated by his close and dear friends, brilliant Latvian artists. The Spring paintbrush was given to Aleksejs Naumovs, the Summer to Signe Ērmane, the Autumn to Gundega Muzikante and the Winter to Ilze Dambe.
Četras otas
Aleksejs Naumovs
Gundega Muzikante
Ilze Dambe
Have a Nice Day! Almost a Love Story
Have a Nice Day! Almost a Love Story (Have a nice day! Gandrīz mīlas stāsts )
Illustrations by Elīna Brasliņa
— The National Book Art Contest Award 'Golden Apple Tree' 2015
The protagonist of the book is a boy who has lost his parents in a car accident. For four years he is tossed from one family of relatives to another like a football. The boy's relatives do not need such a 'retarded' and 'slow' child. The boy is sent to a specialised establishment, after that – to an ordinary school, where, following countless complications, he finds his classmate`s friendship and his first love.
Contacts: mara.uljanova@petergailis.lv, www.petergailis.lv
Have_a_Nice_Day_by_J.Zvirzgdins.pdf
Have a nice day! Gandrīz mīlas stāsts
Juris Zvirgzdiņš
Rīga, Pētergailis
Hello, Whale!
Hello, Whale! (Sveiks, Vali!)
A grandfather and granddaughter call each other by the nicknames they have given each other: Whale and Buzzfly. Whale takes care of Buzzfly while her parents are at work – which is almost always. They spend a lot of time together, but there is one question bugging Buzzfly: why does Whale never says hello to anybody? They have a long discussion about the importance of saying hello to other people and Whale has no choice but to agree. So Buzzfly has to teach Whale how to greet others, but this is no easy task. They start by greeting cats, cars, and houses before Whale builds up the courage to say hello to another person.
Contacts: pasts@lielsmazs.lv, www.lielsunmazs.lv
Sveiks, Vali!
Lauris Gundars
sold to German, Russian
Here I Come!
Here I Come! (Eju meklēt!)
Hide-and-seek is a game children love to play no matter where they live in the world. Imagination plays an active part in figuring out just the right hiding place and also knowing where to look when it's time to be the one searching. This book is about a little girl named Vilma
who plays hide-and-seek with her dad. On each page the reader can open little doors and see who's hiding behind them. The relatively large size of the book makes it possible to fully experience Vilma's imaginative world, full of many interesting things from the everyday reality of the apartment. The story is enriched by rhymes, which are useful when starting to play hide-and-seek.
Contact: pasts@lielsmazs.lv
Eju meklēt!
Līva Ozola
Foreign rights sold: Korean
How the Shammies Swapped the Toys
How the Shammies Swapped the Toys (Kā Lupatiņi mainījās )
The Shammies series is an animated cross-media project for pre-school children about discovering the world with games, fantasies, and wordplay. The Shammies are four curious little beings – Sockie, Mitten, Pillow, and Hankie – who live in a colourful textile house. They already know how to play, but many exciting things are still to be discovered and learned. Luckily, the dear wise Mr. Cat is always around to help. In 'How the Shammies Swapped the Toys', the first book of the series, as the little protagonists are swapping toys, they see Yarnball the dog, Button the baby, and a huge tiger appear in their room.
Kā Lupatiņi mainījās
sold to Estonian
Hush-Hush, the Slumber Mouse
Hush-Hush, the Slumber Mouse (Žū-žū. Miega pelēns)
A sweet story about Hush-Hush, the little mouse who discovers he was born black as coal, with no nails and a golden tuft on the end of his tail, because he is a slumber mouse – a helper for the slumber elf.
Žū-žū. Miega pelēns
Līga Rozentāle
I want to be a designer
I want to be a designer (Gribu būt dizainers)
Designer Daina Gāga Ēķe has produced a book that encourages children to step from the well-known world of fairy tales into the wider reality of knowledge. This well-designed book, with its artsy background, sparks children's imagination and sense of engagement. The spreads are linked together like train carriages moving forwards along rails the author has laid carefully leading towards stations awaiting discovery – Understanding, Knowledge, Ability ... and also Art, Style and Design.
Gribu būt dizainers
Daina Gāga Ēķe
Droši un Koši
Imago Master
Imago Master (Spēles meistars)
Christian is a 12 years old boy who lives an ordinary everyday life – until strange events start to happen. What is the matter with Mrs Folkmane, the nanny of Christian's little sister? Christian and Marth are following Mrs Folkmane. Unbelievable things are discovered, and the children end up travelling to Iceland!
Contacts: izdevnieciba@jumava.lv, www.jumava.lv
Imago master _by_S.Kvaskova.pdf
Spēles meistars
Signe Kvaskova
Rīga, Jumava
Kristofers and the Order of Shadows
Kristofers and the Order of Shadows (Kristofers un Ēnu ordenis)
Kristofers is a common fourteen year old boy who lives in Riga, in a little basement flat with an elderly relative. Nobody, including himself, thinks the boy is someone special. But on the very last day of an equally common school year strange events start to happen around Kristofers. First, the boy on a bus trip to school is addressed by a weird man who is holding something which reminds of a… sewing machine. "Whatever happens, keep calm," he advises. "The Order of Shadows will take care of you." Kristofers has no idea whatsoever what this mystical Order of Shadows is and what it wants from him; he just wants to be left alone. But then the unexpected happens: after an unpleasant but quite ordinary fight with his bossy classmates in school cellar an unfamiliar car picks Kristofers up and a mad chase begins which takes the boy out of the places he knows... and, surprisingly, also out of the time he knows. Kristofers will travel both Rome and Paris, be involved with superhuman future technologies, travel in time, discover secrets kept by strange historic places in his native Riga and, above all be forced to make friends with the unbearable red-headed know-it-all – his classmate Catherine.... But that is not nearly all – the real adventures are just about to begin!
KristofersAndTheOrderOfShadows_by_A.Jundze.pdf
Kristofers un Ēnu ordenis
Arno Jundze
Artūrs Bērziņš
Latvian Fairy Tales
Latvian Fairy Tales (Latviešu brīnumu pasakas )
Author: Gita Treice
Twelve Latvian fairy tales selected by Inga Karlsberga, annotated and with comments by researcher and folklore expert Guntis Pakalns, and translated into English by Kaija Marisandra Straumanis. Great added values of this book include its original illustrations and book design made by artist Gita Treice.
Illustrations by Gita Treice
Latviešu brīnumu pasakas
Sold to Armenian
Lilac broom drawings
Lilac broom drawings (Ceriņslotas zīmējumi)
Neat and tidy Anna, with blonde braids which look like tights dancing in the breeze, and the redhead Katrina, whose spiky thick hair resembles a red hedgehog, are the best of friends. One day, as they wander around the city, they notice that shadows have disappeared, the houses don't have all their walls – they are like decorations – and the adults have disappeared! But then someone drives into this ghost town on an asphalt roller, Karr... Karmen. He takes a dried lilac broom and draws a black swatch on the wall of a house, which slowly grows wider and darker and like a river or a ribbon flows out into the city, covering everything in a dark cloud of dust.
Ceriņslotas zīmējumi
Andra Manfelde
Maija and the Forest
Maija and the Forest (Meža meitene Maija)
The story is humane and sensitive without being sentimental. It is cliché-free and based on science. The author combines his own childhood memories with his knowledge and experience of being a biologist, creating exciting, believable scenes that can help families connect with nature. There is a QR code printed in the book which allows the reader to listen to the most common Latvian bird calls and songs.
Meža meitene Maija
Viesturs Ķerus
Didzis Upens
Medicine Maddy and Other Hospital Nursery Rhymes
Medicine Maddy and Other Hospital Nursery Rhymes (Līze Analīze un citi slimnīcas skaitāmpanti )
Illustrations by Reinis Pētersons
— The Annual Prize for Literature 2013 for Inese Zandere's poems
— Latvian Children's Jury Award 2013
The book offers a dose of positive 'art therapy': by looking at the pictures and reading or listening to the poems, young children can cope better with their fear of getting sick and medical treatments. The illustrations by Reins Pētersons create a colourful and lively atmosphere, emphasising the element of play and humour in the poems. The hospital, as seen by the artist, is a place where life goes on, a place where there is room for some adventures and friendship.
Medicine_Maddy_by_I.Zandere.pdf
Līze Analīze un citi slimnīcas skaitāmpanti
Sold to Estonia
Meeting in Time
Meeting in Time (Tikšanās laikā)
"Meeting in Time" is a tale of friendship, love, parting and growing up - and of the importance that an unexpected meeting might have. The story begins on a hot August day shortly before the heroine, Eleonora, is due to start her studies at the Krustpils High School. Together with her friends, she heads for the old stone wall of the church where they have a photo shoot and bid goodbye to the summer. The three friends notice a stranger sitting on the wall, watching them, and who remains completely dry and sunlit even when a sudden summer storm breaks out and drives the girls away.
Contacts: Ms.Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv, www.zvaigzne.lv
MeetingInTime_by_E.Eglite.pdf
Tikšanās laikā
Elizabete Eglīte
Messed Up Fairy Tales
Messed Up Fairy Tales (Sajauktās pasakas)
On a rainy day, strange things happened in little Baiba's beloved fairytales, as well as on the bookshelf. The fearful bunny, who became the ruler of the forest because of these strange events, asks Baiba for advice on restoring order to the world of fairytales.
Sajauktās pasakas
Gusts Linkevičs
Mincy Brincy
Mincy Brincy (Mincis Brincis)
Author: Rudīte Raudupe
Mincy Brincy is a delightful story featuring animal characters for children 3 to 6 years of age. Mincy Brincy is a cat who loves collecting things in his bag as he walks along the road, but soon finds that there is a serious downside to collecting rocks and birds' eggs, and chestnuts. The story can be read on several levels.
Illustrations by Zane Lūse
Contacts: skaidrite@madris.lv
Mincis Brincis
Rīga, Madris
All rights available except Estonian
Mommy Who Ate Children
Mommy Who Ate Children (Mamma, kas apēda bērnus)
Once upon a time there lived a mom who ate children... No, this isn't a horror story, but a funny picture book to read and enjoy together with your child. This book helps a child understand that eventually s/he will grow up and learn to be independent. After spending time together laughing and playing games ("I am going to eat you now!"), it's time to hug each other!
Contact: Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv
MommyWhoAteChildren_by_I.Melgalve.pdf
Mamma, kas apēda bērnus
Monica and the Forest
Monica and the Forest (Monika un mežs)
Monica is ten years old and her whole family is a never-talking grandpa and a grouchy grandma. Monica loves to take a bath – but one day as she has finished bathing, the bath hole is acting strange. Monica barely realizes what happens when she is not in her bathroom anymore... Instead she finds herself in a grassy meadow, surrounded by a forest. An old woman – Forest Granny – greets Monica and tells that this place is called the Forest. Forest Granny reveals that due to an interaction between the two worlds – the Earth and the Forest – Monica's grandma back home is not actually her real grandma. Instead her real grandma is lost somewhere in the Forest. Monica soon discovers that this Forest is not at all like the forests back home and is full of strange animals – like puffball creatures that look like huge puffballs and are dashing through the woods screaming in high-pitched voices. Soon they learn that there are three more grandmas wandering about the Forest. Forest Granny makes an amazing discovery – she realizes that Monica possesses a special power called "the Eye" – which allows the girl to see things and places just by thinking about them. Forest Granny is thrilled and hopes that this will help them find the grandmas.
Contacts: izdevnieciba@jumava.lv www.jumava.lv
MonicaAndTheForest_by_S.Kvaskova.pdf
Monika un mežs
Muffa: Story of the White Baby Rhinoceros
Muffa: Story of the White Baby Rhinoceros (Mufa)
— White Raven 2012
The amazing story of a baby rhino's travel from Northern Europe to Africa. Muffa is an orphan; zoo keeper Ibu assumes care for him. Soon Muffa learns to speak and read and hides from cold and heat by wrapping himself up in the newspapers he has read. Muffa speaks the HUMAN language: no matter which country the two friends end up in, Muffa understands everybody and everybody understands him. But when Muffa reaches Kenya where a huge variety of animals live on the lakeside, they are attacked by poachers.
Muffa_by_J.Zvirgzdins.pdf
My French Grandma's Sweet Recipes
My French Grandma's Sweet Recipes (Manas franču vecmāmiņas saldās receptes)
A collection of 15 illustrated French dessert recipes that are easy enough for kids to make together with their parents. In the rush of everyday life, it is especially important
to slow down and spend quality time together. Inviting children into the kitchen and getting them involved in cooking helps them to learn new skills and to develop independence and confidence. Bon Appetit!
Contact: drosikosi@gmail.com
Manas franču vecmāmiņas saldās receptes
Maša Zurikova
Noisy Classroom
Noisy Classroom (Skaļā klase)
This poetry collection will appeal to students of all ages. Anyone who has been through school will find something they can relate to, or a nuance they have forgotten. This collection covers the most important topics encountered in school: love, hatred, friendship, loneliness, success and failure in studies.
Contacts: mara.uljanova@petergailis.lv
Skaļā klase
Ieva Flamingo
Rights sold to English
Pigtail and Mr. Sleeplessness
Pigtail and Mr. Sleeplessness (Bize un Neguļa)
Based on an animated film by Edmunds Jansons
During her winter holidays, the greatest wish of Pigtail, a five-year-old girl, is to learn how to ice-skate . However, shortly before Christmas the arrival of Pigtail's new-born baby brother turns her world upside down. Grandma comes from the countryside to help, but is a poor substitute for teaching Pigtail how to ice-skate or reading her bedtime stories. So, Pigtail and her imaginary friend Mr. Sleeplessness come up with a plan to send Grandma and Pigtail's baby brother to the Moon. The book is based on an animated short film with the same title.
Bize un Neguļa
Rīga, Liels un mazs, Atom Art, 2017
Plastic Hooligans
Plastic Hooligans (Plastmasas huligāni)
The plastic bag confides in the brothers Klāvs and Intars, admitting that plastic bags get up to all sorts of mischief: getting tangled round tree branches, floating down rivers, blowing down streets. Then the plastic bag tells them its sad story: it was thrown away, unable to fulfil its main mission in life, namely carrying home someone's shopping. The brothers feel sorry for the plastic bag and resolve to help it. They name him Angerbag and decide not only to keep it for good but also to collect all the other discarded plastic bags they can find for recycling.
Contact: apgads@jr.lv
PlasticHooligans_by_A.Vanaga.pdf
Plastmasas huligāni
Agnese Vanaga
Jāņa Rozes apgāds
Rasa's Summer
Rasa's Summer (Rasas vasara)
Maybe you had read about a girl named Rasa, her Mom, her teddy bear Tobias and her dog Zorro from "The Lion's Roar"? In the autumn, Rasa will go to school. Her dog Zorro has grown up too, and her teddy bear Tobias claims to have reached a respectable age for teddy bears. Tobias announces that it's time to continue the story of their summer adventures. When they go to Grandma's home in the country, they all will read their favorite books for rainy days, and they will also have to visit Rasa's stupid cousins (Tobias says "stupid" very quietly.) And the adventures begin for new friends too – full of danger and fear. And courage and wisdom.
Rasas vasara
Lina Dūdaitė
Foreign rights sold: Finnish
Rawrrr! or The Lion's Roar
Rawrrr! or The Lion's Roar (Rrrr! jeb Lauvas rūciens )
Ilustrations by Lina Dudaite
This book by the popular Latvian writer Juris Zvirgzdiņš was intended as a children's story about animals, flowers and toys, speaking about serious matters like compassion, putting oneself into someone else's shoes, solidarity and working together towards solving problems in an easy and lighthearted manner. The author does not instruct his reader or try to teach him a lesson – nor does the illustrator of the book, the renowned artist Lina Dudaite. It was her ideas that inspired the writer to create this book.
LionsRoar_by_J.Zvirgzdins.pdf
Rrrr! jeb Lauvas rūciens
Riding High (Zirgā)
Ilustrations by Anna Vaivare
This imaginative picture book tells a story of a boy learning to play the piano. One may think this is a long and boring journey, but it turns out to be the most exciting adventure in the world, because this little boy's fantasy runs wild like a horse.
Zirgā
Salty Pancakes
Salty Pancakes (Sāļās pankūkas)
A spooky adventure story for school-aged children, set in the 1960s. If someone is as adventurous as Mārtiņš, trouble is never far away even in today's world. However, at the time when the events described in the book took place, books held a more esteemed place in people's lives – even when it came to choosing a life's profession.
Salty_Pancakes_by_M.Rungulis.pdf
Sāļās pankūkas
Sealville: Story of the Swamp
Sealville: Story of the Swamp (Roņpils. Purva stāsts)
One day at school twin sisters Teena and Beena meet Juhan – the boy from swamp. Strangely enough, no one except them can see him. At their new friend's invitation, girls go with him to discover the world of marsh which holds many secrets. Will the twins meet some unknown relatives, is it really possible to live in the underbelly of swamp and what is threatening Sealville's mirror town?
Roņpils. Purva stāsts
Dāvids Vikmanis
Marina Heniņa
Seven Winged Insights in a Little Purse
Seven Winged Insights in a Little Purse (Septiņas spārnotas atziņas mazā somiņā)
The titmouse couple's youngest child Tils is born last in the nest and therefore is at once different from the other children. Additionally, in the beginning he has problems with the most important skill for a bird – flying. With the love and patience of his parents, however, this apparent inability is not a barrier, but rather a steppingstone to growth.
Septiņas spārnotas atziņas mazā somiņā
Sniffsnuff and the Underground Frights
Sniffsnuff and the Underground Frights ( Šušnirks un pazemes bubuļi)
The story of a land of unusual creatures called Totland, where the aristocratic Shushnirk is unexpectedly left to care for a playful little kid whose parents have vanished unexpectedly in a tornado. Exhausted by the kid's antics, Shushnirk sets out with his ward on a journey full of adventure to find his parents.
Contact: Zvaigzne ABC, apgads@zvaigzne.lv
SniffsnuffAndTheUndergroundFrights_by_A.Jundze.pdf
Šušnirks un pazemes bubuļi
Kristīne Martinova
Tales of the Woods. The forest dormouse, the ants, the she-wolf and the owlet
Tales of the Woods. The forest dormouse, the ants, the she-wolf and the owlet (Mežpasakas. Par Meža Susuri, skudrām, Vilceni un Pūces Bērnu)
This book contains three imaginative stories about the creatures of the forest, their journeys and those of others, about forgiveness and courage, friendship and acceptance.
Mežpasakas. Par Meža Susuri, skudrām, Vilceni un Pūces Bērnu
Laura Vinogradova
Ieva Ozola
Tales of the Woods. The grass snake and the deer
Tales of the Woods. The grass snake and the deer (Mežpasakas. Par Zalktēnu un stirnu meitenēm)
This book holds two stories about the creatures of the forest that reveal the most important values in life. In "The Story of Acceptance", the beautiful and nimble Grass Snake discovers, with the help of the Old Badger, that he can do so many things specifically because he is a snake – a reptile – and not a four-legged or two- legged creature. In "The Story of Love", two deer named Louise and Moona realize that knowing how to forgive is more important than knowing how to dance, and that love has neither rules nor boundaries.
Mežpasakas. Par Zalktēnu un stirnu meitenēm
The Book About the Little Blue Horse
The Book About the Little Blue Horse (Grāmata par zilo zirdziņu)
The story of an unusual little horse – small, round and sky blue. The little horse is sad and sets out to find happiness. It turns out he can find happiness in making other people happy.
Grāmata par zilo zirdziņu
Laima Bikše
The Book of Clouds
The Book of Clouds (Mākoņu grāmata)
A cloud watcher's notes – poems for children up to and including middle school age. The habits, character, behaviour, and thoughts of clouds. While their thoughts, habits, character and behaviour are somewhat different, they are still very similar to those of human society. What you see in the sky depends on how you see yourself.
The Book Of Clouds_by_J.Kronbergs.pdf
Mākoņu grāmata
Juris Kronbergs
Sold to English (UK), Korean, Russian
The Boy Who Drew Cats. A Japanese Fairy Tale
The Boy Who Drew Cats. A Japanese Fairy Tale (Puisēns, kas zīmēja kaķus. Japāņu tautas pasaka )
Illustrations by Anita Kreituse
Inspired by a Japanese fairy tale published in the late 19th century by the European- born American writer and researcher Lafcadio Hearn, Latvian artist Anita Kreituse has created wonderful illustrations that persuade readers of all ages that beauty and art can save us from all evil.
Contacts: renate.punka@jr.lv
Puisēns, kas zīmēja kaķus. Japāņu tautas pasaka
The child who didn't fall
The child who didn't fall (Bērns, kas neiekrita)
This poetry collection is inspired by the Odyssey – a journey where monsters look on as children avoid treacherous traps and the wickedness of wizards. In the end, the children make it home safe and sound, bringing their parents the only gift they care about – having them home again. Who are these monsters? They are various common dangers that children need to learn to avoid.
Bērns, kas neiekrita
The Discovery that Never Was
The Discovery that Never Was (Nenotikušais atklājums)
Illustrations by Author
— the International Baltic Sea Region Jānis Baltvilks Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art
— the Jaunaudze Award for the best debut
— the 2016 Latvian Children's Jury Award
Naturalist Karl Darwing is on his way to the letterbox where he hopes to find the latest issue of a scientific magazine, this time dedicated to the magical three-legged raven. For a moment, he is forced to hop on one leg: a snake has been hiding in his boot. On his way back Karl notices the footprints of a one-legged creature in the snow. As the naturalist attempts to follow the trail and make a discovery, he is surprised to find the number of footmarks increasing.
By the time Karl's guesses go as far as a ten-legged space alien or five bandits, he decides that the potential discovery is best given up for now. The reader can have all the pleasure of getting to the bottom of things.
Nenotikušais atklājums
The Dog Who Found Sorrow
The Dog Who Found Sorrow (Suns, kurš atrada skumjas)
Black smoke and clouds suddenly take over the city causing sadness for its inhabitants. Every colour and scent has disappeared. A brave dog takes a ladder and climbs up to the sky to see what's wrong. It turns out the clouds are filled with very sad beings called Sorrows. The dog takes out his harmonica and starts playing it to lighten the mood.
Suns, kurš atrada skumjas
Rūta Briede
Foreign rights sold: Korean, Simplified Chinese (magazine rights only), Chinese (Complex Chinese characters only)
The Graffiti Secret
The Graffiti Secret (Grafiti noslēpums)
Every night, new words, scribbles and drawings appear on the city walls. Recently strange and colorful creatures have been spotted in the streets. The little tiger detectives Iago and Rix start investigating. In the process, they meet graffiti characters who come alive at night... In the final pages of the book, there's a glossary of street art terms as well as Rix's little French dictionary.
The illustrations have been inspired by the graffiti and street artworks found in the streets of Riga. This is the second book in the series "The Little Tiger Detectives".
Contact: izdevnieciba@sapnuspalva.lv
Grafiti noslēpums
Lelde Braķe-Klaverī
Nils Klaverī
Sapņu spalva
The Hedgehog's Fur Coat
The Hedgehog's Fur Coat (Eža kažociņš)
In this classic work of Latvian literature, Vilis Plūdons' poem tells the tale of the brave and resourceful hedgehog who married a princess and transformed into a gallant prince.
Eža kažociņš
Vilis Plūdons
The Kiosk (Kiosks)
International Jānis Baltvilks Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art 2019 for illustrations
For years now, the kiosk has been Olga's workplace and home. She feels like she can't leave it anymore. To distract herself, she reads travel magazines and dreams of being far away. One day something strange happens that sets her off on her journey. The Kiosk is a book about human nature and all its hopes and glories, dreams and disappointments. In 2013 Anete Melece created a 7-minute long animated short film The Kiosk which gained international recognition and received more than 20 awards. It is possible to watch The Kiosk on Vimeo.
Foreign rights sold: English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Korean, Simplified Chinese (Mainland China only), Complex Chinese (excluding Mainland China), Spanish, Catalan, Czech, Estonian, Slovenian, Croatian
The Ocean and the Desert
The Ocean and the Desert (Okeāns un tuksnesis)
Author: mara.uljanova@petergailis.lv
'The Ocean and the Desert' is Inese Paklone's third children's book. The idea for the book came to the author after two long trips to Chile. Along with the tiny knitted finger doll that Paklone brought back as a souvenir, the story includes her smiling llama Atacama, Humboldt Humboldt the crafty penguin, Zorro the fox, the lizard brothers, a highly intelligent squid, and a flower bug waiting for the beginning of spring.
Illustrations by Alise Mediņa
Okeāns un tuksnesis
The Piggy Princess Berta Bertoline
The Piggy Princess Berta Bertoline (Sivēnu princese Berta Bertolīne)
The story of Berta, the little piggy who decides to find out how to become a real princess. The result is surprising, as it turns out the essence of a princess is her heart, not her costume, crown or court.
Sivēnu princese Berta Bertolīne
Zane Raičenoka-Raišonoka
The Poet and the Smell
The Poet and the Smell (Dzejnieks un smarža)
One fine day a poem sneaks into the little Poet's nose! No, it's a cloud! Or perhaps it's rain? In any case, at this moment the Poet discovers the bountiful and multidimensional world of smells, which inspires him to write poetry and share his discoveries with others. This book encourages children (and adults) to pay more attention to the smells, odors and aromas which are all around us – in the pantry, on the bus, on the street and in the park. Can you imagine the smells of a sea breeze, a barn, picking berries off a blackcurrant bush, or really screwing up? There is also a special surprise hidden in the book for little readers' noses, which can not only be smelled in their imaginations, but also in real life!
Contact: dace@aminori.lv
Dzejnieks un smarža
Lote Vilma Vītiņa
Aminori
The Queen of Seagulls
The Queen of Seagulls (Kaiju karalienes noslēpums)
Renata lives in a city where seagulls disturb the quiet life she longs for. To ruin the life of these birds she hates, she picks up a gull's food in the yard and eats it for lunch. She spends mornings writing complaint letters to the city council, but never receives any answer. And then a new neighbour with a fondness for seagulls arrives in Renata's difficult life. Why does she have to suffer so much? The truth is found on a rocky island, far out in the open sea, where the sun never sets.
Kaiju karalienes noslēpums
Sold to United Kingdom
The Republic of Bears
The Republic of Bears (Lāču republika)
Minister of Strategic Planning gets up on the wrong side of the bed and is late for the Cabinet Ministers' meeting. He blames it on a little bear cub, causing him to miss his ride. At the meeting he suddenly remembers: The bear! Now, that is the real issue! The Minister exclaims in a booming voice: "Respected colleagues! We have a terrible situation in our capital city! There are bears wandering the streets!" Ministers are concerned about violating private property and offer to buy the bears. The Cabinet agrees to request co-financing from the EU to relocate the bears and form a working group.
Lāču republika
The School of Living Wrong
The School of Living Wrong (Nepareizas dzīves skola)
Illustrations by Anete Melece
— The Annual Latvian Literature Award 2009
— Diploma for illustrations at the 3rd Tallinn Illustration Triennial in 2009
The book comprises nine stories dealing with the tiny daily catastrophe-filled life of a teenage girl named Mētra and her road to getting to know herself. Mētra lives in the real world, in a real environment. This is not a book of imaginary problems and pink princesses – rather a story of life in the Latvian countryside.
School of Living Wrong_by_M.Dobele.pdf
Nepareizas dzīves skola
Maira Dobele
sold to Lithuania
The Secret Celebration
The Secret Celebration (Slepenie svētki)
It's the birthday of the big wardrobe closet. He celebrates his birthday at night when the guests bring him gifts and they have a wild party. So the parents shouldn't be upset if the room is in a mess in the morning – it's not the children's fault! Jānis Joņevs and Reinis Pētersons' work is marked by cheerful irony and a sense for the grotesque. The celebrations of the furniture mirror the daily rituals of adults as imagined
and acted out by children.
TheSecretCelebration_by_J.Jonevs.pdf
Slepenie svētki
Jānis Joņevs
The Shammie's Town
The Shammie's Town (Lupatiņu pilsēta)
The Shammies series is an animated cross-media project for pre-school children about discovering the world. The project consists of short films, web episodes and published books. The Shammies are four little curious beings – Sockie, Mitten, Pillow, and Hankie – who already know how to play, but many exciting things are still to be learned: how to share their toys with others, how to behave at the table, and how to take a bath. Luckily, the dear, wise Mr Cat is always around to help.
The series, How the Shammies Learned, will feature five interactive picture books that children can explore with
a special assistant – a talking pen. The pen is a digital device that makes a book not only readable and interactive, but also audible. The Shammies at the Table and The Shammies' Town look like normal books but are not! When you touch the talking pen to the interactive points on the book's pages, you hear the voice of Mr Cat, Sockie or Mitten. The talking pen sings the songs from the animation film series Shammies, recites the poems of Inese Zandere, and prompts reader with questions and tasks. The tasks were created by Maira Dobele following the suggestions of educational researchers at the University of Latvia and the University of Tartu.
Lupatiņu pilsēta
The Shammies at the Table
The Shammies at the Table (Lupatiņi pie galda )
Lupatiņi pie galda
The Shammies' Morning
The Shammies' Morning (Lupatiņu rīts)
— The 'Shammies' project has received several awards in China, Latvia and USA. Films about the Shammies have been selected for 40 festivals all over the world
The Shammies are four little curious beings – Sockie, Mitten, Pillow and Hankie – who live in a colourful textile house. They already know how to play, but many exciting things are still to be discovered: how to share their toys with others, how to behave at the table and how to take a bath. Luckily the dear wise Mr Cat is always around to help.
The project features a series of short films and books. 'The Shammies' Morning' is the story of the difficult jobs that the Shammies have to face every morning: how do you wake up yourself and awake the light? How do you sit down by the table if the chairs feel like galloping and twirling around? Is it better to behave like a sparrow or like a little goat? The story can be published like three separate picture books: 'How the Shammies Woke Up', 'How the Shammies Behaved' and 'How the Shammies Sat Down by the Table'.
The first book published in the series is 'How the Shammies Swapped' (2011).
Contacts: pasts@lielsmazs.lv, www.lielsmazs.lv www.theshammies.com
Shammiesu0027 Morning_by_I.Zandere.pdf
Lupatiņu rīts
Rīga, Liels un mazs, Atom Art
The Tale of the Maskatchka District
The Tale of the Maskatchka District (Maskačkas stāsts)
"The Tale of the Maskatchka District" is a 20,000 word, early-grade adventure story. It is told from the perspective of a young boy, Jacob Bird, who unexpectedly ends up living in Maskatchka, a notorious district of Riga steeped in legend. There, Jacob meets his uncle, an unemployed ex-sailor named Eagle, his unbearable cousin, Mimi and makes friends with the Boss of Maskatchka himself – a talking dog. Together, they set about saving Maskatchka from being transformed into a slab of concrete like hundreds of other city districts full of shopping centres and skyscrapers. To save the district, they must overcome the evil Grand Master, Imant Scraper.
Contacts: dace@neputns.lv www.neputns.lv
TheTaleOfTheMaskatchkaDistrict_by_L.Pastore.pdf
Maskačkas stāsts
The Talking Dogs
The Talking Dogs (Runājošie suņi)
The talking dogs live in part of Riga called Maskachka. They watch over it, so are quick to notice the arrival of Jacob Bird, a boy from uptown. Jacob has to spend a week with his relatives, but his assertive cousin Mimmi isn't thrilled about it. The dogs start to follow Jacob around, but then something unexpected happens – Snowy, one of the talking dogs, disappears. On top of that, Maskachka is about to change forever – Manny Pie, a real estate developer, is planning to turn this part of town into a soulless skyscraper district. The two children team up with the pack of talking dogs to take on Manny Pie – and to find Snowy.
Runājošie suņi
Elīna Brasliņa
Foreign rights sold: French (World)
The Toad Likes all the Colours
The Toad Likes all the Colours (Krupim patīk visas krāsas)
Book design by Elīna Bērziņa
Illustrations by Sarmīte Māliņa and Kristaps Kalns, Raimonds Staprāns, Edvards Grūbe, Rudīte Dreimane, Paulis Liepa, Rūdolfs Pinnis, Laila Bogustova
Baby's First Art Book series featuring artworks by outstanding Latvian artists inspires to recognize different objects and learn the names of colours. Each spread is devoted to one colour whose character is revealed in the artwork. The book's small size is especially handy for the little readers.
Contacts: inga@mula.lv,www.mula.lv
Krupim patīk visas krāsas
Baiba Grīnberga
The Wild Pierogi
The Wild Pierogi (Mežonīgie pīrāgi)
Ilustrations by Māris Putniņš
— Nominated for Annual German Youth Literature Prize 2013
It is a strange world, inhabited by unusual folks: muffins, buns, biscuits, cookies, sausages, tortellini, croissants, hams and lot of other nations. But the best known among them are the wild pierogi with bacon stuffing, lead by their captain Mordan. Four books have been published in the series: 'The Wild Pierogi and the Dumpling Pot' (2004); 'The Wild Pierogi and Henry the Great' (2005); The Wild Pierogi and the Stuffed Peppers' (2007); 'The Wild Pierogi and the Emperor' (2015). The Wild Pierogi travel seas, explore countries and fight for their homeland; a number of new characters appear, including the Burritos; the Tacos; the Carrot Mummy, etc.
Contacts: kristine.kirkila@valtersunrapa.lv, www.valtersunrapa.lv
Mežonīgie pīrāgi
Māris Putniņš
Rīga, Valters un Rapa
sold to Germany, Lithuania, Russia
Three Friends on the Coast of the Same River
Three Friends on the Coast of the Same River (Trīs draugi vienas upes krastā)
Three friends – a Swedish horse, a German lobster and a Russian crow – decide to build a house together to live with their whole families. However, it turns out that they have a very different idea of the perfect house.
The illustrations help develop the child's artistic taste; they are childish, playful and joyful, but never simple.
Trīs draugi vienas upes krastā
Juris Petraškevičs
Time's Trousers
Time's Trousers (Laika bikses)
In this poetry collection for school-age children, Juris Kronbergs presents a witty game of observation, research, and scientific classification, a technique which he already used to great effect in his first children's poetry book "The Book of Clouds". In this work, he focuses his attention on time, portraying it as a living being, which has various habits and characteristics, just like a person.
TimesTrousers_by_J.Kronbergs.pdf
Laika bikses
Toby, Charlie, and the Invisible Ghost Dog
Toby, Charlie, and the Invisible Ghost Dog (Tobiass, Čārlijs un neredzamais spoks )
Out of pure curiosity and recklessness, two bears - Tobias and his friend Charley – embark on a series of mischievous adventures. Responding to an advert they find impossible to resist they go to a flat at 13, Fog Monkeys Boulevard; the home of an unusual and not altogether pleasant family. There they meet an invisible creature who changes their lives entirely – a creature who makes them experience a wide range of feelings from shyness and fear to interest and compassion. The bears are very good-natured and always eager to help - it is these personal qualities which ensure the story has a happy ending.
The story has a wealth of comic episodes interwoven with sadder, more serious nuances – encouraging the reader to reflect upon the qualities of responsibility, compassion and honesty while at the same time enjoying an adventurous, fast-paced plot.
Tobias,Charly and the Invisible_Ghost__excerpt+synopsis_ENG-converted.pdf
Tobiass, Čārlijs un neredzamais spoks
Tyrannosaurus Has a Problem
Tyrannosaurus Has a Problem (Tiranozauram plāni klājas )
Author: Veronika Veldze
'Tyrannosaurus Has a Problem' is the first book written and illustrated by artist Veronika Veldze. This is a witty tale told through poetry about Tyrannosaurus having a problem – his hands are too short, which means there are many things he is not able to do. This book has been published as part of the project 'Artists write and draw for children' inviting popular illustrators to create new children's books with their own text and illustrations.
Tiranozauram plāni klājas
Rīga, Zvaigzne ABC
Ucipuci Is Looking for Home
Ucipuci Is Looking for Home (Ucipuci meklē mājas)
Ilustrations by Evija Timma – Novika
Ucipuci the Owl is a sweet, friendly and interesting character. The adventure itself is exciting and even a little dangerous, with a fascinating intrigue about the ending. The book is interactive - the ending contains an integrated puppet theatre.
Contacts: ucipuci@ucipuci.lv, www.ucipuci.lv
UciPuci_by_Z.Zusta.pdf
Ucipuci meklē mājas
Zane Zusta
Ucipuci Thinks Outside the Box
Ucipuci Thinks Outside the Box (Ucipuci domā ārpus kastes)
The Ucipuci series of interactive books tells the story of a sweet, friendly character: Ucipuci the Owl. Her adventures are exciting and even a little dangerous, with a fascinating twist at the end. The ending of the first book of the series 'Ucipuci Is Looking for Home' contains an integrated puppet theatre, while the second book 'Ucipuci Thinks Outside the Box' has a whole section with optical illusions, reinforcing the idea that anything can be looked at from various perspectives.
Illustrations by Evija Timma-Novika.
UciPuci_thinks_outside_the_box_sample_by_Z.Zusta.pdf
Ucipuci domā ārpus kastes
Rīga, Ucipuci izdevniecība
Whale's Vote
Whale's Vote (Vaļa balss)
This is the second book about Whale and Buzzfly. Tomorrow is election day and Buzzfly is worried that her parents aren't taking this seriously enough. She locks the family inside their apartment and throws the only key out the window. Now her parents have to vote for the one who can get them out of this difficult situation and the only way they can do that is if they put their trust in each other like they would in a real government. Thrilling and dangerous events unfold as they try to get back the key, but they all learn some important lessons along the way.
Vaļa balss
sold to Korean
White Bear's Cooking Adventures
White Bear's Cooking Adventures (Baltais lācis. Pasaku pavārgrāmata)
Author: Uldis Daugaviņš, recipes by Mārtiņš Sirmais
The main character of this book is a polar bear with six paws. Eventually he finds out that his six paws are perfect for trying out all of his colourful ideas in the kitchen as a cook. On each spread of the book, the story is complemented by a simple yet interesting recipe that kids can prepare on their own.
Baltais lācis. Pasaku pavārgrāmata
Uldis Daugaviņš
Māra Viška
Sold to German, Lithuanian
Epiphanies
Epiphanies (Epifānijas)
Epiphanies is full of moments of insight, flashes that combine essay-like meditations, journalism, irony, and philosophical conclusions. The author himself has said of Epiphanies: "They're impulses, little flashes whose light illuminates a few moments in life especially brightly. Sometimes these impulses can seem contradictory; sometimes, as impulses tend to be, that's exactly what they are. Yet as all the book's impulses come together, they show us what life is, from birth until our journey into the afterlife." The motif of the road, the idea of an individual's and nation's independence, the creation of self-confidence,
a tendency to seek intellectual freedom, and endless growth all appear in Epiphanies as they do throughout all of Ziedonis' writing. In his initial works, we can sense discontent with alleged truths; this is why he challenges the world of dogma and its limitations. Over time, the author's efforts to break apart and reshape the world develop into a longing to understand it thoroughly and to try to live in accordance with cosmic rhythms. Ziedonis was also deeply influenced by Latvian folklore and the Upanishads.
Contacts: info@akka-laa.lv
I.Ziedonis_Epiphanies_ENG.pdf
Epifānijas
Rīga, Zvaigzne ABC (Originally published by Liesma, 1971)
Sold to Italian and English
It is autumn 1918. The war is supposed to be over (the truce between Germany and the Entente was signed on 11 November), but it is not. On 18 November 1918, Riga and Courland are under the Germans. Amongst all this chaos, destruction, hopelessness and mortal danger, a small group of Latvians got together in the middle of an occupied city and founded their own national state, something which would have seemed impossible even a year earlier. "Every year, on the 18th of November, we fly the Latvian flag, solemn official events take place and people celebrate with their families and friends – perhaps less solemnly but certainly with more true feeling. It's not surprising that nowadays the date 18 November, 1918 seems to have been a great celebration of the birth of the Latvian nation. And it hardly occurs to anyone that at that time there were hardly very many celebrants. (..) The diary form became a natural medium in the novel: one writer is an eyewitness of the events of 1917–1918, whereas the other is our contemporary. One of them can only guess not just at what the next day will bring but even at the events taking place around him, whereas the other encounters not knowing as he tries to understand the past and its relation to today's reality." (From the afterword by the author).
Contacts: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
18_by_P.Bankovskis.pdf
Pauls Bankovskis
A Cool Mind
A Cool Mind (Vēsais prāts)
In the novel The Cool Mind (2018), the body of Helen – a transhumanist, computer scientist and military drone programmer – is found with her head severed. The investigation is quickly entangled in the issues of cutting-edge technology and the opportunities it can give to both ending and saving lives. Soon enough, the investigator faces a question the legal system is not equipped to satisfactorily answer: namely, is Helen really dead, and how does one determine that? Is immortality something to be sought, or avoided? The issues
of transhumanist technologies and bioethics and the ongoing investigation flows parallel to the story of Satu, Helen's genderqueer lover, who struggles to cope with the death of Helen, as well as their own identity in a society where language itself allows little room for anything but a strictly binary gender expression.
ACoolMind_by_I.Melgalve.pdf
Vēsais prāts
A Man's Heart
A Man's Heart (Vīrieša sirds)
A Man's Heart meets the criteria of "historical novel", however, like other novels by Lejiņš, it has multiple layers, making it more than just a formal portrayal of the period. In the novel, author Jānis Lejiņš turns to the history of 20th-century Latvia. At the centre of the tale is a modest and to some extent comic Švejklike character Ludis Šteinbergs, who shows up at a Latvian small town secondary school in spring 1939 to teach boys how to become real men and is naively overconfident in his own infallibility. Soon enough the unexpected occurs: into the perfect man's carefully cultivated bachelor world, a femme fatale enters. Yet along the way the ominous mill of fate of the mid-20th century has already begun to turn, ready to annihilate anyone who may get caught between the millstones. Since the novel begins in 1949 with authorities erecting a monument to Šteinbergs as a hero who fell in "the struggle against Fascism", the reader must guess the answer to the question: who is this person really – an insignificant pawn in the great games of the 20th century, or someone whose essential nature is easy to overlook? The novel follows the life of Šteinbergs for several decades: he is the leading figure against a background of two major wars and the interwar period, which features other characters as well, starting with the General Secretary of the Soviet Union and ending with a meticulously crafted network of spies in several countries. A Man's Heart offers the reader a psychologically realistic story rich in documentary fact in which there is witty humour as well, and the author, with a smile, often pokes fun at the stronger or weaker aspects of human nature.
Vīrieša sirds
Jānis Lejiņš
Aija
Aija (Aija)
Jaunsudrabiņš' trilogy Aija (1911–1924) follows the life of a man named Jānis. In the first novel, he is a fifteen-year-old servant boy working as a cowherd at a wealthy farm, who falls in love with the slightly older Aija, a maid at the main house. Aija flirts with Jānis but is more interested in an advantageous marriage than in this cowherd's love and marries a wealthy, middle-aged cobbler. Jānis is crushed and sets out for Rīga, where he works in various factories so that – in the second part of the trilogy – he is able to return to his childhood home by the time he is thirty, to help out on the farm. Jānis falls in love with Ieva, who was just a little girl in the first book but has grown into a beautiful young woman and is also working as a maid. Jānis tries to use this new love to get over his earlier infatuation with Aija, whose husband has since died. He is not successful, and is thrown into an existential crisis, though this crisis is ultimately resolved when Jānis marries Aija.
The final volume of the trilogy focuses on their life together and reveals that Aija isn't even close to being the woman he had envisioned. She is a pragmatic egotist who is also disloyal and lazy, but Jānis is unable to leave her. This makes his life even more miserable than it was before his marriage, when Aija was constantly on his mind. And so, because of this, he commits suicide at the end of the novel.
When describing this work – which has also been added to the Latvian Culture Canon – Latvian literature specialist Viesturs Vecgrāvis says: "with respect to the qualities of its psychological portrayals, it can be counted among the best European realist novels of the first half of the 20th century." Along with other critics, he also highlights Jaunsudrabiņš' vivid language and ability to reveal his characters' inner experiences and feelings.
Aija_by_J.Jaunsudrabins.pdf
Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš
Prometejs
All the Trees Have Gone
All the Trees Have Gone (Visi koki aizgājuši)
The common theme throughout the short-story collection All the Trees Have Gone is the life stories of people who used to be (or still are) children. They all need to decide how they should approach life. Do they do it alone, or alongside someone else? Which is more important, their calling and the quests it requires (either inspired or clouded by childish imagination), or actual social relationships?
The collection's protagonists try to make sense of themselves and the world around them and try to find their place in it and master the rules of life. Yet the key to achieving this is always missing—a result of their childish selfishness. But they are also thwarted by and at the point when mental and physical existence meet, when love is shattered and lies out of reach. Childhood can be broken, but doesn't end. No one noticeably grows up. Loneliness seeps into the foundation of relationships. Some characters get pushed to life's sidelines by their defeats, and waste away like dried-out flowers. Others keep on trying to grow up.
The collection culminates in the last story, which describes the basic desire for something indefinably vast. And what is this vast thing? Becoming one with the Universe itself. For that to work, do you need another human being around? And does that person need to be someone whose existence causes deep emotions that open your eyes to the invisible world, and let you experience moments of epiphany? Or can you become one with the Universe on your own, once you're all grown up?
Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
AllTheTreesHaveGone_by_M.Pervenecka.pdf
Visi koki aizgājuši
Margarita Perveņecka
Along the Azanda River
Along the Azanda River (Pie Azandas upes)
In the novel Along the Azanda River, Aīda Niedra describes the experience of the Latvian National Awakening among peasants in the 1860s and 1870s. To emphasise the harmonious nature of the countryside and contrast it with the negative impact of the city on individual development, the author tells the story of many colourful characters as they go about their daily lives along the Azanda River in Niedra's home region of Tirza. The central character is Maija, a young, happy-go-lucky woman who falls in love with a young man from a different region, leading to the disintegration of her planned marriage to a local man. However, the true core of this novel is its depiction of country life and the gradual awakening of Latvian peasants to a deeper inner world. The novel provides an incisive view into Latvian peasant life and the difficulties these people experienced through different historical periods, all set against
the backdrop of nature. The activists and intellectuals of the Latvian National Awakening are portrayed as noble examples, to be followed when developing one's own national awareness and strengthening one's patriotic feelings. With the publication of this book, Aīda Niedra pioneered a positivist direction in Latvian writing, which was characteristic of a large part of Latvian prose in the 1930s.
Contact: info@latvianliterature.lv
Pie Azandas upes
Aīda Niedra
A. Gulbja apgāds
Bergs, The Relics hunters
Bergs, The Relics hunters (Bergs & relikviju mednieki)
The main character, Ronalds Bergs, returns at long last to his native Riga. His life to date has been spent firstly as a professional basketball player and then as bodyguard to a Russian oligarch; he was shot in the line of duty and is still recovering from his injury. It's high time for him to embark on a more peaceful life! In a department store, he runs into a former schoolmate. The two of them used to be inseparable and decide their chance encounter deserves a celebratory drink. Bergs learns that his old friend is now a professor and research scientist, working on an international, European project investigating old maps and researching ancient castle mounds and buildings.
BergsTheRelicsHunters_by_A.Jundze.pdf
Bergs & relikviju mednieki
Beyond the Seventh Bridge
Beyond the Seventh Bridge (Aiz septītā tilta)
Ilze Šķipsna's first novel Beyond the Seventh Bridge generated more interest among Latvian refugees than her first collection of essays. Literary critic Jānis Rudzītis described this work as the first modern Latvian novel, and its publication as an important event in Latvian refugee community literature. It signalled the arrival of a new generation of authors, and a movement towards the incorporation of existential and surreal elements into Latvian literary works. At the centre of this novel lies an inner or psychological conflict, with a rich subtext of connections. There are few actual events in the novel and their role is insignificant: it is the author's ruminations which are important, and these appear in the conversations of Edīte, Solvīta, and a few other characters. The chapters where Edīte's opinion is most important begin with the letter E, while those where Solvīta's opinion holds more sway begin with the letter S. Both characters speak in the first person and, ultimately, the reader comes to understand that they are the same. Edīte is introverted and finds it difficult to make real connections in life, whereas Solvīta – outwardly attractive and interested in life's pleasures – has already married a rich American Southerner called Gerald Melvy. The plot of the novel grows primarily out of a string of various memories, moments of reflection, and emotions. The tension and dynamic of this work is generated by the constant back and forth between Edīte and Solvīta's opposing perceptions of the world.
Contact: lelde@shaw.ca
Aiz septītā tilta
Ilze Šķipsna
Grāmatu Draugs
Bille (Bille)
The first volume of Bille was published in 1992, with Bille Lives On (Bille dzīvo tālāk) and Bille's Wonderful Youth (Billes skaistā jaunība) published in 1996 and 1999 respectively. The entire trilogy was released in a single volume in 2004. Bille is the nickname of the novel's main character, Sibilla Gūtmane, who observes an era filled with tragic events, and much of which was hard to understand, even for adults. Bille, unlike most other children portrayed in Latvian literature, is a city girl. The author avoids any nostalgia about the lost paradise of childhood and, using her actual memories, shows life in the workers' district of Grīziņkalns and the life of the Gūtmanis family during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The result is 75 separate stories told in chronological order. Bille goes to school and visits her country relatives; as the regimes change, Bille grows up and, with the adults, she must endure periods of starvation, she helps people imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto, and she visits the countryside to exchange what things they do have for food. Each episode represents a moment stuck in her mind forever. Bille has been published in Swedish and Russian translation, while selections of her poetry have been published in translation in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
Bille_by_V.Belsevica.pdf
Vizma Belševica
Mansards (originally published by Mežābele in 1992)
Foreign right sold in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland.
Birds of Paradise (Paradīzes putni)
Birds of Paradise is the sequel to the novel Five Fingers. Its tightly woven drama and precise poetic details clearly and uncompromisingly describe the 1960s – the only time and place in which ten-year-old Laura can grow, mature, and find the truth. The plot unfolds in the beginning of the 1960s when the main character, Laura, is ten years old and is forced to face all the realities of Soviet life – joining the pioneers, Communist political education, work on collective farm brigades. Laura's thoughts are occupied not only by her readiness to fight for the Communist party's ideals, but also by the beautiful vision of Pavlik Morozov and the secrets in the school's attic. Her luck turns sour when she takes chewing gum to school for the first time, and also when she is forced to be on duty with Grigorijs, called the "Goliath Gorilla" in secret, the son of Communist Party organiser Smirnovs. As Laura begins to grow up, she comes into contact with good and bad, with the baggage she inherited from her parents and grandparents echoing their bitter experiences in Siberia nearly always somewhere in the background.
BirdsOfParadise_by_M.Zalite.pdf
Paradīzes putni
Māra Zālīte
Rīga, Dienas Grāmata
Birthday (Dzimšanas diena)
This book brings together eight stories about the different stages of women's lives at moments when they are painfully affected by circumstances beyond their control. They are about longing and loss, about values, desire, loneliness, fear of death, attachment, and love – and also how these experiences transform over the course of a lifetime, how they affect a woman's journey through life, forcing her to face various external and internal struggles.
Contact: Eva Jansone, eva.jansone@la.lv
Birthday_by_J.Egle.pdf
Jana Egle
Bogene
Bogene (Bogene)
In this novel, Gundega Repše sheds light on events that until now had received only pointed silence. Therein lies the symbolic gesture of Bogene: to address the subject instantly, directly, and first-hand. Only then does the author let her readers regain their footing and gather up the threads of information.This is how we can come to understand the inner workings of silence. There's no single answer – just like with speech, silence is both a strength and a weakness. The opposing side consist of the victim and salvation. One of the main purposes is to articulate and express feelings that have been repressed for so long – and to reveal the violence and suffering for what they were: visceral, corporeal, immediate and in shocking contrast to the clear vision and soaring spirit always looking to the future.
Lote is on a train headed east in the sweltering summer of 1941. She remembers the past, but forbids herself to think about it, much less talk about it. Lote spirals into silence, shifting the trajectory of her life from a future where she experiences new love, hopes and dreams, to the present, the now, inwardly – to life, existence, expressing herself only in the simple and basic phrases she needs to survive. The minimalism of living, keeping your mouth shut and helping others – this is the world according to Lote, a mute and broken existence, an unlikely victim. Repše has portrayed her protagonist with subdued compassion, refraining from exaggeration and drama, yet still articulating the long-silenced suffering by giving it greater meaning.
Bogene_by_G.Repse.pdf
Gundega Repše
Bride Hunters
Bride Hunters (Līgavu mednieki)
Bride Hunters was the novel which first
brought Anšlavs Eglītis, the giant of Latvian literature, his considerable popularity. Its key qualities include exceptionally witty writing and excellent descriptions of its characters and settings. At the centre of the novel are the different paths taken by three friends – Eplats, Ķurzēns, and Dušeļs
– as they struggle to achieve happiness. Eglītis refers to these three fortune-seekers as "bride hunters" because they believe the quickest way to become rich is to marry well. The author gives a wry description of the Latvian elite of the 1930s – shop owners, consuls, bank employees, student fraternity members – and takes the reader through the restaurants and cafés that abounded in Rīga at that time. Bride Hunters is a living testament of Rīga, its people, their lives, mores, relationships, ways of thinking, language, approach to life, desires, and longings.
Bride_Hunters_by_Anslavs_Eglitis.pdf
Līgavu mednieki
Anšlavs Eglītis
Grāmatu Zieds
Burial At State Expense
Burial At State Expense (Apglabāt uz valsts rēķina)
This crime thriller is set in modern Latvia, where people still think in two different languages. The Russian speakers nostalgic for Soviet times, when they ruled over the country for half-a-century. Meanwhile, those who had to fight to re-gain their independence, will never forget.
Tensions between the two sides are stirred up again, when a Latvian national party MP is murdered. The suspect is Russian: the son of a man who actively and openly denies Latvia's independence.
The case is given to a detective who is forced to confront her own origins – the dreams and desires of both sides flow in her blood. The scandalous murder uproots the political scene in Latvia, uncovering truths that have been buried for decades. People of all ages and class are still looking for ways to co-exist with each other in a world that doesn't have straightforward rules. The people of Latvia are embarking on a new future in the European Union, which promises to build the most humane society in the world. But shaped by a past as violent as Latvia's, are they even capable of living up to this ideal? And what will it take for them to realise that we're all the same?
BurialAtStateExpense_by_L.Gundars.pdf
Apglabāt uz valsts rēķina
Celebrating Life (Dzīves svinēšana)
In Celebrating Life, a peculiar woman named Eleonora has invited seven colorful characters to her own funeral. Eleonora is peacefully laid to rest, but in the evening following the funeral, these seven people, seven ghosts from the past, share their memories of Eleonora, with the stories serving as the book's "celebration of life." In sharing their memories, the storytellers wander about in space and time, embarking upon expeditions to distant metaphysical places. Reading the novel is, first and foremost, an aesthetic experience. Its tone is serious, nostalgic, strangely unreal, and beautifully wise.
CelebratingLife_by_N.Ikstena.pdf
Dzīves svinēšana
Nora Ikstena
Dienas Grāmata (Originally published by Atēna, 1998)
Sold to Sweden, Estonia, Georgia and Denmark
Dance on a Tightrope
Dance on a Tightrope (Dancis uz Virves)
The significance in Latvian history of the years described in Zvirgzdiņš' novel Dance on a Tightrope has not yet been fully understood. The narrative of the novel takes place in a Riga apartment in 1939, a short while before the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by Germany and USSR, which divided the world as if the countries were toy building blocks. The protagonists in the novel are not heroes of their era but the most average of everyday people – each with their own story, fated to be lived through in the pages of the book under circumstances dictated by war. The protagonists are of various ethnic origins, besides Latvians there are also Germans, Russians, Jews and Poles in the narrative. Zvirgzdiņš shows how, with the change of regimes, people also change. Their lives become a true dance on a tightrope or finding oneself on the edge of a knife blade. Haralds, the ever helpful Mrs. Olga, Miss Stege the dentist, the efficient Amēlia or Amītis, the artist and free-thinker Kalnavārna, Eidis, who is able to adjust to any time-period, including wartime, the Jewish girl Ida, whom the author has provided with the opportunity in the novel's epilogue to unite with Eidis and to return to a once-more-independent Latvia in the 1990s from their home of many years, New York. The author develops the plot of the novel unusually swiftly for Latvian literature. One scene quickly follows another; the many dialogues virtually allow the reader to take part in conversations. And, as is characteristic for Zvirgzdiņš – throughout so much that is tragic, from the many years of Soviet occupation, the arrival of the Nazis in Riga, the fleeing to exile from one's homeland – the author's characteristic humour permeates this work. In describing the novel, one can call it grotesque, farcical, or sentimental, but it doesn't speak of what is most significant, which is that the unique style of Zvirgzdins is unlike any other in European literature.
Contacts: Kaspars Eizentāls, kaspars.eizentals@petergailis.lv
DanceOnATightRope_by_J.Zvirgzdins.pdf
Dancis uz Virves
Don't Call Me, Don't Look for Me
Don't Call Me, Don't Look for Me (Meklējiet sievieti)
Don't Call Me, Don't Look for Me begins with the murder of Natālija Nolle, the assistant of a member of the Latvian parliament. However, the plot soon branches off into several directions, encompassing a vast array of issues affecting every social class across many decades. This includes parliamentary corruption, links between business, politics, the Mafia and Russian intelligence services, and other criminal matters.
The novel explores the political situation in Rīga and Latvia immediately after the restoration of independence in 1990. It transpires that Natālija Nolle was actually a talented Soviet spy, and a portion of the novel is written from her perspective. When Natālija's beloved son joins the protests to fight for a democratic Latvia, their interests clash as the popular struggle over the formation of the new state rages on. They each come into contact with the nouveau riche and the criminal underworld, learning about the close links between the two in the new Latvia.
At the end of the novel, the investigator discovers that Natālija was murdered by the same member of parliament for whom she was working, but it is impossible to prove his guilt due to his high status. A repeat offender nicknamed Psychopath is blamed instead, and the investigator sees the parliament member's name among candidates for the Latvian presidency.
Contact: Aīda Kolberga, madara.junga@gmail.com
Meklējiet sievieti
Andris Kolbergs
Dienas Grāmata (originally published by NC, 1996)
Dukts
Dukts (Dukts)
Dukts is the only book-length publication of Aivars Ozoliņš. It is an exemplary work of postmodernism, in which influences as wide ranging as Kharms, Kafka, Barthelme and Latvian nonsense poet Ņurbulis intermingle to create a unique blend of literature about nothing. Perhaps fittingly, after Dukts was published, which was soon followed by the short story Pasaka Nr. 13 [Fairy Tale No. 13], the author has not published any other work since, and has abstained from talking publicly about his writing. However, Dukts is one of the very few books with staying power from that heady era in Latvian literature when authors immersed themselves in all that had been previously forbidden or unwelcome. In 2014 the book was republished, and it is being enthusiastically discussed yet again at universities and dorm rooms all over Latvia. The book offers a kaleidoscopic mixture of characters, ideas and wordplay, mostly centred on the concept of "Dukts" – a word with no real meaning in Latvian. As the narrator explains in the book: "The essence of Dukts (although as of yet we're not sure what it actually is) can be best portrayed by a single infinitely long, over-exposed film, which has to be seen instantaneously to be understood." The book then details all the futile historical attempts to define or comprehend Dukts before showing the concept in practice with a brilliant series of surreal short stories.
Dukts_by_A.Ozolins.pdf
Aivars Ozoliņš
Jumava (originally published by Liesma in 1991)
Dust in the Hourglass
Dust in the Hourglass (Putekļu smilšu pulkstenī)
This is a story about a naive young man who dreams of a romantic future and an open door to endless possibilities. Instead,
he ends up in Afghanistan in the hellscape of war, where he is forced to do almost anything to salvage any semblance of a future. In this future, however, it will be easier to kill than to love. A Lutheran minister and Gulag survivor serves only God, because the villagers often avoid even saying hello to him. A talented researcher at the turn of the millennium dreams about a career in science, but in order to support his family, he ends up selling tractors. A once famous journalist, now an addict, is excited about getting the scoop of his career without realizing that he is being played by the secret service. There are echoes from witch trials, death and love in Paris, a walk into the realm of silence, and fragments of overheard phone conversations, secretly copied letters and text messages that the reader must put together like pieces of a puzzle. Dust in the Hourglass was shortlisted for the 2014 Annual Latvian Literature Award.
DustInTheHourglass_by_A.Jundze.pdf
Putekļu smilšu pulkstenī
Rights sold to Mexico
Early Rust
Early Rust (Agrā rūsa)
Early Rust – Elīna Zālīte's only novel – depicts life in 1930s Latvia. Elza Ķikule, a poor country girl, arrives in Rīga in search of work, but has no luck. She receives an unexpected marriage proposal from a rich businessman, the old factory owner Ķikulis. This marriage of convenience runs into difficulties, not least when Elza falls in love with her husband's son Italo, though this never develops beyond an affair. Elza's search for happiness comes to an end when she is accused of her husband's murder. The novel is written as Elza's life story and as a lesson to her daughter. Zālīte portrays her main character unflinchingly as an empty
and shallow woman, which was rather uncharacteristic of novels at that time. All of the events that befall Elza illustrate her philosophy of life, which involves a simple motto: find money, because it makes life easier. Money
is the only reason to study, because without study the only way a woman can advance herself is through marriage. Elza also thinks that there is no reason to deny one's body the pleasure it can receive from another body. At the end of the novel, however, the author punishes her main character for living according to these principles.
Agrā rūsa
Elīna Zālīte
J. Kadiļa apgāds
Farewell, Atlantis!
Farewell, Atlantis! (Ardievu, Atlantīda!)
Farewell to Atlantis was the winner of the 2010 Annual Latvian Literature Award.
In her memoir, film scholar Valentīna Freimane (together with Gunta Strautmane) talks
about pre-war Paris and Berlin, about legendary film stars she has seen close up, and about regular trips as a teenager from Riga to Berlin and back. Going back to her childhood and early youth memories, the author describes the various environments in which she grew up: the high-finance bourgeoisie and artists' milieu of Paris and Berlin, and particularly their film world with personalities well known from the history of cinema; the Riga Jewish, Baltic German and Belarusian circles and their lifestyles, as well as schools in Berlin and Riga. It is then she depicts the collapse, destruction and annihilation of all of this during the years 1940–1945, along with the particular culture that was characteristic of people in this part of the world. She has endeavored to provide her outlook as a child and a teenager without projecting an analysis of events that comes in the latter stages of one's life, and to memorialize those people who, endangering their own lives, helped her and gave her shelter during the Holocaust in German-occupied Latvia. Her memoir encompasses an unusual variety of national, social, geographical and cultural milieus in the 1920s and 1930s up to 1945, which marks the end of the war and the beginning of the long-term Soviet occupation of Latvia.
Contacts: Stefan Diezman, s.diezmann@wallstein-verlag.de
www.wallstein-verlag.de
Ardievu, Atlantīda!
Valentīna Freimane
Rīga, Atēna
Sold to Germany and Lithuania
Fiery Oxen with Golden Horns
Fiery Oxen with Golden Horns (Ugunīgi vērši ar zelta ragiem)
The novel is set in present-day Latvia.
There are two separate story lines that are nonetheless linked conceptually and metaphorically. The two stories converge in the final pages of the book, when its two protagonists cross paths. The "Writer's story" is centered on literary historian named (coincidentally) Guntis Berelis, who is the embodiment of both a pedantically analytical mind and narrow-mindedness. Berelis the historian has made the "discovery of the century": a hitherto unknown and brilliant poet, Eduards Bīskaps, who wrote in the 1930s and managed to publish a single small volume. Bīskaps, in contrast to the boring and conservative Berelis, is the embodiment of creative passion. The rest of the story involves the relationship between Berelis and Bīskaps. Finally, after one of their conflicts, Bīskaps turns out to have vanished along with his brilliant poetry.
FieryOxenWithGoldenHorns_by_G.Berelis.pdf
Ugunīgi vērši ar zelta ragiem
Guntis Berelis
Five Fingers (Pieci pirksti)
Five Fingers was the winner of the 2013 Annual Latvian Literature Award for Best Prose. It is a fictionalised childhood memoir in which the author describes her family's return from Siberia in the 1950s and life in Latvia in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
"Up to now, Zālīte has been best known as a poet and playwright. [.. ] Poetry and drama are present in Five Fingers as well; the best of the writing in the book involves a combination of precise poetic details and dramatic purposefulness up to the very end where the protagonist Laura promises to fulfil the wish expressed by her grandfather before his death – to give his wedding ring to his son Reinis who has disappeared without a trace after being deported to Siberia "once he returns." That means that she takes on the task to remember. The five fingers is a metaphor for the apple tree, in the branches of which Laura sets up a perch, and a metaphor for God's hand; it is also the fingers of Jewish opera singer Asia broken during an interrogation by the Cheka [..]. The repressive instrument, the ubiquitous Cheka, has been generalized as an absolute evil in the character of the Ogre, at the same time not paying much heed to political correctness, which is that other enemy of freedom." (Egīls Zirnis, Kdiena)
FiveFingers_by_M.Zalite.pdf
Pieci pirksti
Sold to Germany, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, United States of America, Ukraine, Georgia, Albania
Flesh-Coloured Dominos
Flesh-Coloured Dominos (Miesas krāsas domino)
The narrative of the novel Flesh-Coloured Dominos is split into two parallel stories. On the one hand we have a story of 18th-century Baltic German gentry, within the framework of Tsarist Russia: Baroness Waltraut von Bruegen, with the help of the famous Count Cagliostro, is searching for her husband who has disappeared during the Turkish wars. With great difficulty she learns that her husband was torn in two during a battle, and that his lower half was stitched onto the upper half of the local captain Ulste, a man of humble origins. After finding the lower half of her husband, she conceives a child with it and is in the lengthy process of contemplating who should be considered the father of her child when her husband returns – in one piece. On the other hand, we have the life story of the author himself, travelling through the turmoil of 20th-century Latvia. The story is a rich tapestry of detail, with nationalities intertwined in an inseparable mix
– Latvians, Germans, Jews, and Japanese, among many others. The connection between the two narratives gradually becomes clear: they click together through details mentioned as if in passing. The novel is also a moving story of the experience of one person's life during turbulent times.
Contact: Jānis Oga, janis@apgadsmansards.lv
FleshColouredDominos_by_Z.Skujins.pdf
Miesas krāsas domino
Zigmunds Skujiņš
Mansards (originally published by Preses nams in 1999)
Foreign rights sold to Italy, United Kingdom, Macedonia, Sweden
Gaetano's Krematos
Gaetano's Krematos (Gaetāno Krematoss)
Gaetano's Krematos is a novel about a tired and shadowed soul's journey
in the footsteps of lost gods. The main protagonist, Gaetano, interacts with divinely beautiful beings—wise superhumans who can create not only works of art, but
whole worlds. He idolizes them, but his interaction with them is fleeting, like sunlight briefly reflecting off water in cupped hands. Unsuccessful attempts to repeat this interaction cause Gaetano to lose trust in his own abilities, which mentally paralyzes him. The only thing keeping him alive burns out in the dark. His comatose existence is sustained by memories of light, which once again awaken his longing to become one with absolute beauty and magnificence. Gaetano's journey ends with the creation of a culminating work of art—he finally breaks into a different state of consciousness and a different reality; a self-transformation into a higher plane: divinity.
The novel's language and structure are microscopically subtle and macroscopically detailed at the same time. Though it is frequently poetic, it is essentially an impassively technical description of episodes observed in the present. A verbalized manifesto of the characters' inner thoughts and emotions appears at the very end of the novel, taking the form of monologue poems. What appears as an objective description reveals the inner experiences and moods of the apparently indifferent characters. In this way, the novel becomes a biopsy of the soul and a projection of the consciousness.
GaetanosKrematos_by_M.Pervenecka.pdf
Gaetāno Krematoss
God. Nature. Work
God. Nature. Work (Dievs. Daba. Darbs)
The first part of Anna Brigadere's autobiographical trilogy 'God. Nature. Work' is a psychologically nuanced portrayal of a servant girl named Annele and the way her character develops as she comes to understand the world around her. This story reflects the author's own childhood memories, of when she first learned about the word of God, the natural world around her, and everyday work. Annele comes from a servant family. Each year on Jurģi (St. George's Day) they move to a new home and therefore also into a new world. The people she encounters leave a considerable impression on Annele. As she comes to understand life's truths and encounters injustice, so she begins to grow up. She learns about holiday traditions and the patterns – as well as, in her opinion, the oddities – of adult life.
Brigadere's memories reveal a small child's innocent view of life, which can, at times, bring both tears of joy and sadness to the eyes of the reader. For example, Annele is out on a visit and is given a slice of bread and honey – a food seen as a great treat. However, Annele doesn't like the taste of it and leaves the bread by a fence. When she returns, she tells the lady of the house that a dog snatched the bread out of her hands. The lady comforts the little girl and, as a consolation, gives her a new slice of bread and honey.
Along with its realistic and gripping portrayals of country life at
the turn of the twentieth century, modern-day readers enjoy Brigadere's expressive language in Dievs. Daba. Darbs, in which Annele describes everything she sees and hears simply, without pretension, and in a heartfelt way.
Contacts: info@latvianliterature.lv
God_Nature_Work_by_Anna_Brigadere.pdf
Dievs. Daba. Darbs
Anna Brigadere
Valters un Rapa
Gold (Zelts)
Gold was serialised in periodicals in 1914 and published as a novel in 1921. This book, like most of Upīts' writing,
contains a notable analysis of contemporary social issues. Several artistic techniques, symbols and motifs characteristic of Upīts – also present
in his later works – appear throughout this novel. For example, the title embodies a symbol which becomes a leitmotif of the book. In this case, gold (or money) is a convenient literary device, used in a manner similar
to its appearance in the works of Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and other nineteenth-century authors, demonstrating that wealth can fundamentally test a person's fundamental humanity. Augusts Sveilis Jr., the oldest son of a poor small- town tailor, is at the centre of the story in Gold. He and his family are tested suddenly and unexpectedly when Augusts, working as a servant, receives an inheritance from his mistress. The inheritance leads him (and his family) into a completely unfamiliar environment, one they had previously only seen from a distance. In this world, commercialism, intrigue, and the excesses of Rīga's Latvian bourgeois inhabitants are everywhere. Here the slogan "Gold is life, gold is freedom, gold is everything" rules. Symbols of the era – shops or many types of goods, a car, and the bourgeois social circles of big-city Latvia – reveal the magical power of money, against which their country / small-town morals turn out to be powerless.
Gold_by_A.Upits.pdf
Andrejs Upīts
Atēna (originally published by Augusta Golta apgāds in 1921)
All rights available except English
Golden Girl (Zeltenīte)
The main character, Anna Zeltenīte, is a seamstress living on the outskirts of the city. The novel describes the tragic events in the final year of her life, as she falls hopelessly in love with an undeserving lad working at a factory. Anna is not dissimilar to Don Quixote in her role as a "good character" struggling against the evil world. The novel is filled with images of everyday material poverty, as well as the intellectual emptiness of the lives of the workers and other common folk with their cynicism and broken dreams – all of it commonplace in the world in which the author lived.
Is the novel's sweet-sounding name meant to serve as a contrast to the harsh realities depicted within its pages? Or does it instead suggest the destiny of the less powerful? This novel is the story of Zeltenīte and people who lived lives like those of Deglavs's contemporaries: individuals who were not powerful, but struggled to be on the same level as those "up top".
As an observant publicist and emerging writer, Deglavs was troubled by what he saw when he moved from the countryside to Rīga. He depicts with unvarnished detail the vices he encounters – drinking, violence, general moral decay. His contemporaries acknowledged the author's skill in writing honestly about his time without holding back and considered this to be Deglavs's best work and one of the most lasting works of Latvian literature (A. Upīts, Ritums, 1922), while also highlighting the focused and dynamic language he employs in his prose (H. Lejiņš, Jaunā Gaita, 1969).
Zeltenīte
Augusts Deglavs
D. Seltiņa apgādība
Green Crow
Green Crow (Zaļā vārna )
The Green Crow is a novel that explores the relationship between a human being and a bird, and is based on the assumption that such a bird, symbolizing profoundly experienced, true freedom, lives within us all. The green crow – a rare, conceited, boisterous creature – is that of the novel's protagonist. She first meets the bird early in her childhood when the Green Crow emerges from her imaginary forest, a place to which the protagonist habitually runs to hide from the daily hurt and injustices she suffers, where she finds consolation in the tree house she has made herself. Searching for shelter and solace, she befriends the Green Crow. The main character's family is very well-off and she wants for nothing. However, one day she finds herself in a psychiatric clinic following a spate of peculiar behavior, culminating in her telling her family about the Green Crow. The novel has two plotlines. One follows the protagonist's adventures with the Green Crow, the other her search for some meaning to her life along the corridors of a mental institution, following her realization that family life has failed to confirm that life is beautiful and that anything more is needed.
GreenCrow_by_K.Ulberga.pdf
Zaļā vārna
Kristīne Ulberga
Rights sold to Russia and United Kingdom
Gutenmorgen. Once
Gutenmorgen. Once (Gūtenmorgens (pirm'reiz))
The stories are independent of one another, but all have one thing in common: the titular character, a man named Gutenmorgen. He appears to be a completely ordinary citizen, with a wife and children, with his TV, friends, and bottle of beer. He's sometimes indecisive and passive. As such things often go, however, appearance
and behavior can be deceiving. Gutenmorgen is a hero at heart. Almost everything he thinks about or does is meant to make the world a better place, and to improve his
own life. He doesn't forget about others, either. Gutenmorgen raises a monument to
his friend the writer. He reconciles a couple who divorced twenty years ago. He even handles developments in geopolitical events, along with the unity of the Baltic States. Gutenmorgen is also never afraid to get his hands dirty. He shoots at opposing hockey players who beat his team, kills the entire Cabinet of Ministers at least three times a week, and scares other bad people, including his neighbor. Gutenmorgen will never lay a hand on his neighbor's dog, though; he loves animals.
GutenmorgenOnce_by_M.Berzins.pdf
Gūtenmorgens (pirm'reiz)
Māris Bērziņš
Hearing the Mole-Cricket
Hearing the Mole-Cricket (Zemesvēzi dzirdēt )
The novel Hearing the Mole-Cricket is a psychosocial portrait of the Dravnieks family across several generations, with a focus on Donāts, an old man with a vibrant and colourful personality. His memories, thoughts and dreams reveal the difficult lot of Latvian farmers as experienced by a single individual over the course of his long life. Through depictions of collective farm work and detailed, precise descriptions of even the most mundane tasks, Indrāne paints a vivid picture of the realities of life in Soviet-occupied Latvia as reflected by Donāts' memories. All of this is expressed in the author's characteristic emotionally-expressive style, combined with a rich layer of metaphor. At its core, the novel tells the story of the passing of the old generation of farmers (as personified by Donāts) and the arrival of a
new generation along with a new set of values.
Zemesvēzi dzirdēt
Ilze Indrāne
High Tide (Paisums)
The novel High Tide addresses the question of why we are so dependent on the past, even when it has turned us into someone else. In the beginning, they were two. They have no values, no horizontals or verticals, and have to create their own. They joke that if something bad happens, they'll help each other end it all. And then something bad does happen. The boy gets sick, and the girl has to kill him. This "killing" turns out to be completely different from what you might see in movies or on stage. Everything turns out to be false, awkward, and horrible. Time goes on. One day, the middle-aged woman realizes she no longer knows whether what happened a long time ago really happened. Who were those two people who once lived together? Who was that girl who killed her boyfriend? Did he even exist if she only remembers him a couple times a year? She has nobody to talk to about it. So she writes, searching for an answer to the question: How many lives do we live in a single lifetime? By writing, she searches for the path to her former self. There is a high tide and a low tide: when you are in one, then you can understand the other. The plot of the novel is both real and imagined. The crime is also a symbol of the suicide we commit after each stage of our lives, in search of an answer to the question: What is it that continues to live?
HighTide_by_I.Abele.pdf
Paisums
Inga Ābele
Sold to Egypt, Switzerland, United States of America, Italy, Sweden, Albania, Switzerland
Hokhmah
Hokhmah (Hohma)
Kuzmins' first novel unfolds in Hokhmah, a small, quiet coastal resort town in western Latvia. Hokhmah's seemingly calm day-to-day life, history, and mythology intertwine with the life stories of its residents, revealing their inner conflicts, complex relationships, and long-held secrets. Hokhmah's stories are comical, tragic and at times surreal, though they are bound together by a conflict known to anyone who grew up in the countryside: a longing for one's hometown and a simultaneous wish to break off any connections with it forever, regardless of whether or not that is actually possible.
Contact: Sven Kuzmins, sven.kuzmins@gmail.com
Hokhmah_by_S.Kuzmins.pdf
Hohma
Sven Kuzmins
Homo novus (Homo novus)
Anšlavs Eglītis wrote his novel Homo novus in the early 1940s, and the author hoped it would encourage the movement of Latvian painting onto a new path. In the novel, Eglītis shows the Rīga art world in the 1930s as seen through the eyes of a "homo novus": the new arrival Juris Upenājs. The plot is moved along by coincidences, engaging events, the bohemian lifestyle, and the artistic creation process. The novel portrays the entire arc of the artist's career, from a humble debut to the later accolades. The work also depicts the emergence and development of a new generation, encountering everyday difficulties. Eglītis does an excellent job in characterising the "gallery" of painters/artists in the story, skilfully detailing their outward appearance, their clothing, and their behaviour.
Latvian literature specialist Viktors Hausmanis has written that "in this novel you can read a perfect description of the bohemian life of Rīga artists, with all of their drinking, arguments, conversations, while also being taken on a walk through all of Rīga's pubs and restaurants, wiling away several days planted next to a glass. Eglītis has been able to depict all of this with his characteristically attractive style, which is filled with life, vitality, and wit."
Contact: ino@akka-laa.lv
Houses Without Doors
Houses Without Doors (Mājas bez durvīm)
Houses Without Doors is Ieva Melgalve's sequel to her fantasy novel The Dead Don't Forgive, but it can be read without having read the first. It is enough to know that the story is set in the same world, where emotions are magic, and this magic can either save you or kill you. In the Bruoni city of Graa, many young commonfolk women and even a young magician have been mysteriously killed. Who is to blame? Rem, the wizard from the capital city, or the stranger Vega who has arrived in Graa in an attempt to keep to herself? The head wizards do not care for justice – it is enough if their suspect survives. Thus, Vega and Rem will have to fight a silent and cruel mental battle while secluded in prison, at every moment risking the worst fate the mages can be forced to confront – loneliness. Will Vega be able to maintain common sense as the events of her recent past – a friendship that ended in murder, a spell that ended in humiliation, and a love that ended in separation – come rushing back to her?
Mājas bez durvīm
Ice Orange
Ice Orange (Ledus apelsīns)
Psychologically nuanced and dense with detail, the stories in her debut collection Ice Orange are mostly about women whose lives were shaped by the 20th century, a time when people learned to understand each other more from what was unsaid, when each step seemed to be both more difficult and more meaningful than it is now. These sketches of lives, from childhood through adulthood – both the minor as well as significant dramas – are full of familiar emotions, nostalgic details, and unspoken secrets. The stories in this short collection offer quick reads that will nonetheless leave a tangible impression, allowing insight into life through the prism of Vīgante's marvelous and delicate prose.
IceOrange_by_D.Vigante.pdf
Ledus apelsīns
Dace Vīgante
In the Shadow of Rooster Hill
In the Shadow of Rooster Hill (Gaiļu kalna ēnā)
Winner of the 2017 European Union Prize for Literature and a nominee
for the 2014 Annual Latvian Literature Award, this novel is a about the birth of the national consciousness of the Latvian nation, one generation of the nation's teachers, the courage to oppose the insanity of violence and the consequences of failing to prevail over personal fear. It is 1905 in Riga, a city rocked by workers' riots, violence, and pogroms during the waning days of the Russian Empire, when the Tsar is gradually losing his grip over his vast domain. Revolution is in the air – brother pitted against brother, social unrest and turmoil force people to choose sides. Amid this upheaval, a former schoolteacher becomes involved in the revolution, but soon realizes that the impending war is bound to require more of him than he is willing to give.
InTheShadowOfRoosterHill_by_O.Zebris.pdf
Gaiļu kalna ēnā
Osvalds Zebris
Rights sold to France, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria
Insomnia (Bezmiegs)
The novel Insomnia takes place in a block of flats in 1960s Soviet Latvia, revolving around the main character Eduards Dārziņš and a woman named Dina whom he spots running outside his building one night. She is visibly shaken so he invites her into his flat, where she promptly falls asleep and remains as such for some time. When she wakes up, they begin to talk and he finds out more about
her, leading him on a journey through her often difficult life, which only raises more questions for Dārziņš. The story then switches to the 13th century, at a time when the Teutonic Knights were vying for control of the Baltic. Soldiers and ordinary people who can be understood to be the beginnings of the Latvian nation are forced to decide on their fate: whether to fight for their freedom against the knights, or to assimilate with their aggressors. The novel continues to oscillate between these two parallel plots, weaving a tale of humanity in the face of almost impossible odds, about the desire to control one's destiny amidst the most oppressive of regimes.
Insomnia_by_A.Bels.pdf
Bezmiegs
Alberts Bels
Jelgava 94
Jelgava 94 (Jelgava 94)
Jelgava '94 proved to be a real hit and bestseller in Latvia. The story takes place in the Latvian town of Jelgava and centers around the rather short-lived craze for heavy metal music in the 1990s. The reader is given a view into this world from the inside – the text is both an intimate diary of a youngster trying to find himself by joining a subculture, as well as a skillful, detailed, and almost documentary depiction of recent history, i.e. the beginnings of a Latvia that had just regained its independence. The story seems even more captivating to the generation that shares the same perception and experience of the world – Joņevs is the first among this generation who has managed to stir its memories by transforming these images and that period into a full-fledged work of literature.
The novel garnered acclaim from critics and readers alike, and received numerous awards: the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Best Debut; the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature; and the 2014 Kilogram of Culture Award presented by Latvian Television. It was also named among the 100 favorite Latvian books of all time on the television show Great Reading, and the Children's Jury.
Contacts: Jānis Joņevs, janisjonevs@gmail.com
Jelgava94_by_J.Jonevs.pdf
Mansards
Rights sold to United Kingdom, France, Norway, Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland and Slovenia.
Magnus, the Danish Prince
Magnus, the Danish Prince (Magnus, dāņu princis)
The novel Magnus, the Danish Prince is an account of the Livonian War that took place in the second half of the XVI century. It was a complicated and tragic period in history and one that defined the fate of the Baltic region, North West Europe and Russia for the centuries to follow. The author has chosen an untraditionally free and innovative form of writing allowing him to combine the historical facts, taken from old chronicles – testimonials of German, Latvian and Russian historians, with the lives and destinies of his fictional characters. He succeeds in blending both light-hearted, amusing episodes and real drama with undisputed historical records. This untraditional revisiting of the first and last King of Livonia – Magnus – resonates directly with the most current issues of modern life, thus through his exploration of a remote past, R. Dobrovenskij has written a book of relevance today.
Contact: izdevnieciba@jumava.lv www.jumava.lv
Magnus, dāņu princis
Roalds Dobrovenskis
Māra (Māra)
Māra is a novel about a group of sixteen-year olds. It tells of their first encounter with pivotal choices and decisions. Māra, the protagonist, has been close friends with three classmates—Edgar, Paul, and Mārtiņš—since first grade. In high school, she is forced to deal with problems resulting from two new classmates, and with her friends' betrayal. Then, the long-cherished friendship suddenly shatters. When even her own home isn't safe anymore, when the old foundations have disappeared but she doesn't yet have new ones underfoot, Māra ends up making a desperate move...
This is a story about courage—about Māra's journey from self-awareness to her acceptance and manifestation of that awareness. In the four parts of the novel, Māra deals with what she believes are mistakes, inadequacies, and the fact that she doesn't fit in—issues that are all so significant in adolescence. Sometimes these issues remain significant throughout someone's life. That's why this isn't stereotypical "YA literature." Rather, it's literature that explores the process of growing up.
Mara_by_O.Zebris.pdf
March of the Clowns in the Market of Horrors
March of the Clowns in the Market of Horrors (Klaunu maršs šausmu tirgū)
March of the Clowns in the Market of Horrors (2011) – which can be also read as a standalone work, this book is the sequel to the wonderful yet gripping historical detective novel Time in Reverse. Twenty years have passed, the Second World War is raging, and Latvia's independence has been extinguished. The same heroes – grey-haired jeweler Mendels Davidsons
and his children, rifleman Ēriks Vāls and his beloved Hanna languishing in distant Germany, the refugee Alma and the skillful merchant Izraels Šermanis appear along with many others once more on a stage set by historical events. The Nazis rule Latvia, the Jews have been driven into the
ghetto, and everyone is desperate to stay alive. The heavy burden of the last years has pushed Latvia's people to a breaking point, exposing and bringing their true qualities into clearer focus – qualities which in more peaceful times would have stayed hidden. A time of chaos and destruction
when jealousy, hatred, lust, and a thirst for glory go hand in hand with true sacrifice and love.
Klaunu maršs šausmu tirgū
Marked by Fire
Marked by Fire (Ugunszīme)
The book describes a time before both the author and the novel's narrator, Erika, were born; its historical foundation is rooted in the post-war life of the Latvian intelligentsia, in the tragic fate of the so-called "French Group" and their search for intellectual nobility. The story is told from the point of view of Erika, born to Kārlis and Magda during the exile of Kārlis's wife Dagmāra. Just as the French Group's members were exiled to Siberia, the novel's heroine Dagmāra too suffers the horrors of deportation, as did Kārlis's mother before her. Their lives are destroyed by the age in which they live – Kārlis stops painting because his work isn't being recognized, and he undergoes treatment for alcoholism. Dagmāra dies early, her translations unpublished. Marked by Fire's ringlike composition ends in 1987, when, rereading what she wrote thirteen years prior, Erika marvels at the self-righteous tone of her memories. Taking into account that these notes were written when she was eighteen, the narrator's impatience with the vagueness of historical events is an understandable youthful ardour. At the end of the novel, Erika is working in the library of a seaside village, where she becomes certain that the passage of time is no excuse, and where better than in a world of valuable books, like an eternal flame – a place of remembrance that never burns out.
MarkedByFire_by_G.Repse.pdf
Ugunszīme
Master of Lies
Master of Lies (Melu meistars)
The novel Master of Lies is a fast-paced tale in which a classic thriller and crime plot are used to create a more profound theme, that of a person's path to self-awareness during a period of historic complexity, and the dilemma of balancing the desire for survival with a clear conscience. The engrossing story of love, crime and a search for the meaning of life unfolds against a vividly depicted background of recent Latvian history. Alise and Aleksandrs grow up in late Soviet period Riga – in the same period of history, but in different worlds. Alise is a child in the family of a well-to-do party functionary, while Aleksandrs, having arrived in the capital city from the country, ends up in a communal apartment and hanging out with street gangs. The grown-up Alise spends most of her time in her own world of dreams and feelings – living in a bubble which gently sweeps her through the times of change, while Aleksandrs flees the USSR and becomes part of an international mafia dealing in gemstones. Alise and Aleksandrs don't know each other, however, they are linked by a mysterious person who calls himself the Master of Lies and who holds in his hands the threads of the silent instrument of power so popular in the USSR: a web of secret agents, informers and denouncers. The paths of Aleksandrs and Alise gradually move closer until they cross, and in now independent Latvia they, of course, fall romantically for each other. However, there is an obstacle to their happiness, a betrayal that took place in the past: one that they would like to believe had been forced upon them by the prevailing situation, yet the question remains of just how far a ruling power can manipulate the conscience of person who on the inside remains free.
MasterOfLies_by_B.Zile.pdf
Melu meistars
Baiba Zīle
Materia Botanica
Materia Botanica (Materia botanica)
Materia Botanica was written as a sequel to the novel Warm Earth, picking up exactly where Warm Earth left off—just after its protagonist Daniel is in an accident. In Materia Botanica, Daniel wakes up in the hospital after the accident
and finds a letter from his ex-girlfriend, Kira, and their son. He decides to return to them. He leaves his family home once again, a decision with which the rest of his family—especially his current partner, Voo, and his sister, Nelly, to whom he is tied with strange and intimate strings—are not happy. Nevertheless, he goes back to Kira and their son, and their reunion renews their bonds. But their new idyllic life is interrupted, first by Kira's pregnancy with their second child, and then by the arrival of Nelly, who is too dependent on Daniel. The strange intimacy between brother and sister flourishes once more, threatening to ruin his newly rebuilt family life. However, Daniel searches for a way out, often finding refuge in nature as he immerses himself in botany, but at times his immersion is too deep, as Daniel starts to think of himself as truly one with nature. He embodies the metaphor of a family tree, with its roots, branches, fruit, and seeds. Captivating are the unusual plants and their manifestation in the novel, both within Žolude's language and in the mind of Daniel.
Materia Botanica manages to resolve the conflicts in Daniel's family, who were the main focus in Warm Earth, and turns the spotlight on Daniel's life in a continuation of his personal and intimate path of existential pursuit. But the narrative does give voice to the other characters, as they reflect on events in their diary entries, giving readers a close and intimate view into each of their minds.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dienasgramata.lv
MateriaBotanica_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Inga Žolude
Miracle Herb
Miracle Herb (Brīnuma zālīte)
Whereas Blaumanis's novellas are dramatic and focus on a number of ethical questions, his stories are relatively light-hearted. At times they recall a free-spirited, well-written traditional folklore, rich with humour and captivating plots, focusing
on popular country folk character types. These stories are sometimes dominated by the grotesque, for example, in this story the wealthy farmer Jānis goes off in search of a bride and pretends to be deaf to learn about his future wife.
Brīnuma zālīte
Rūdolfs Blaumanis
VAPP Daiļliteratūras apgādniecība
Moon Theatre
Moon Theatre (Mēness teātris)
In an enormous theatre on many stages there are theatre performances all happening at the same time. The actors don't have their own identity outside of their stage lives, and no other objective than just to get the chance for a better part and try to not get on the playrights' blacklists. Who are these playwrights, who is the audience, and do they really exist? No one knows (although a few of them – the inquisitive young Lapsa, for example – tries to find out). One of the book's central roles – an Actor who doesn't have his own name – desperately tries to take part in the scenarios presented to him, but each time he tries to play his role honestly, it becomes more and more bizarre, tearing down the border between performance and truth. Similarly, the Mime – one of the androids equipped with artificial intelligence who maintains order in the theatre world – tries to play the role of guardian for the actors. However, as the Mime gradually awakens to a consciousness that becomes his own, he can no longer react to what is happening in the theatre without emotion. Perhaps they could continue to play their parts if the planned performances weren't shaken by a resistance movement trying to realise the Actor's identity behind the scenes and possibly even do away with the theatre's power altogether. Yet their road isn't easy – the idealistic Malda, who's expecting a child, can no longer separate true love from performed love, and the tricky Gurds, sensing imminent danger to the movement, tries to make a scapegoat out of the egotistical Vladi, who in turn has landed himself a good part, no longer wanting to resist the existing order…
MoonTheater_by_I.Melgalve.pdf
Mēness teātris
Mother's Milk (Mātes piens)
Mother's Milk was shortlisted for the 2015 Annual Latvian Literature Award. The novel deals with the post-war period and follows the destinies of three generations of women, with the narrative focused mostly on the 1970s and 1980s. The mother, whose own mother has raised her without her real father, is a talented gynecologist who cannot accept the narrow space allotted to the individual by communist ideology. During her residency in Leningrad, she successfully – and in secret – performs an artificial insemination procedure on a young Russian woman, but the woman loses the child in a confrontation with the woman's brutal husband, who is a war veteran. The path to science is now blocked for the talented doctor and she is reassigned to workin a small country village. She takes along her daughter, who is now deprived of the loving care of her grandparents. The doctor suffers from clinical depression, placing the burden of everyday life on her young daughter's shoulders. The daughter too has to live with the inborn hostility of the system and, through the prism of her emotions, the turbulent events of the 1980s: the dismissal of a free-thinking teacher, the Chernobyl disaster, the death of several Soviet leaders, and the ensuing reform movements. The doctor's daughter grows up, going through unexpected twists and turns of betrayal. The novel is about abandonment – of a husband and father, of dreams and hopes, of work and point of views, of friends and loved ones. This path of suffering is made lighter by a motif of forgiveness: the daughter, who helps her mother survive, was not given milk from her mother's breast as a child, as the mother fears that by drinking her milk, her daughter might inherit her suffering and despair. The novel ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall – a breath of fresh air and freedom that the mother never wanted to see.
MothersMilk_by_N.Ikstena.pdf
Mātes piens
Sold to Japan, Germany, Sweden, Syria, Croatia, Lithuania, Georgia, Estonia, Macedonia, United Kingdom, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine
Nakedness
Nakedness (Kailums)
The novel Nakedness turned Zigmunds Skujiņš into a literary celebrity across the Soviet Union and "radically changed the Latvian prose scene," according to Latvian literary critic Guntis Berelis. Since then, two popular films have been made based on the book, and it's still the Skujiņš novel that most people first come into contact with. The novel's protagonist, Aleksandrs Draiska, comes to a small textile factory town looking for a girl he's been exchanging letters with. Finding somebody else at her address, he sets off on a search across the town, where he discovers that almost everyone is pretending to be somebody else. This mask-wearing becomes the cause of death for the girl Draiska has been looking for, driving him deeper into despair. The final twist is saved for last, however, when we discover that it was not Draiska, but his army friend who came to the factory town after falling in love with the girl from the letters, deciding to masquerade as his friend in order to find her.
Contacts: Jānis Oga, janis@apgadsmansards.lv
Nakedness_by_Z.Skujins.pdf
Kailums
Officers' Wives
Officers' Wives (Virsnieku sievas)
The minor military port Karosta is a closed army settlement situated in the northern part of Liepāja, a port town in Latvia. During the 1970s, some of its inhabitants would do Cossack dancing in the local Sailors' Club, a venue created from the local church building, while others tried to save their uniforms from the damage of excrement in the military jail. Reminiscent of the famous Russian nesting doll, Karosta was a model in miniature of the larger empire; closed off as it was from the rest of the world by the Iron Curtain, an off-limits area that only a selected, pass-holding few could access. Here, the officers drank cognac and their wives wore French perfume. But beyond the fence, in Latvian Liepāja, life was completely different. Andra Manfelde's novel takes an insider's look into those territories closed off to civilians, where military classification meant physical danger for outsiders, as a retrospective parallel look at the stagnating USSR and the secrets of adultery.
Virsnieku sievas
Rainis and His Brothers
Rainis and His Brothers (Rainis un viņa brāļi)
The Seven Lives of A Poet is more than just a melodramatic literary device. The life of Rainis, Latvia's preeminent poet, dramatist, statesman and thinker evolved in such a way that on numerous occasions his literary and political work brought him to the brink of almost total collapse,
after which he was forced time and time again to start his life over. There was no need for him to wait for or invent complexities in his life – it was as if the plot for a story of epic proportions was laid out right before him. It was a case where fact was indeed stranger than fiction. The focus of the novel rests on the lives of people who had a profound influence on the 20th century, as the reader is taken up in a whirlwind of dramatic events that changed the course of history.
Contacts: izdevnieciba@jumava.lv
RainisAndHisBrothers_by_R.Dobrovenskis.pdf
Rainis un viņa brāļi
Raven (Krauklis)
The novel Krauklis by Andris Zeibots is about one of the most popular Latvian poets of the 1920s and 30s – the "most consistent Romantic", Jānis Ziemeļnieks. The author has classified the novel Krauklis as "a fantasy with the involvement of history", and the reader is brought directly into the atmosphere that prevailed at a particular period of Ziemeļnieks' life. After treatment at Šēnfelds' Nerve Clinic, the poet grapples with the issue of how he can continue living. Ziemeļnieks would very much like to keep his promise never to touch opium again, however, the harsh intermingling of vision and reality compels him to once more seek out the embrace of demonic Haijalija - a character in a 1930 play by the foremost Latvian female playwright Aspazija.
"Having lived for only 32 years, addicted to opium, he wrote popular Romantic verse that the critics did not rate very highly. 'Your time has passed, you will be forgotten' - these words accompany, like a refrain, the hero of the novel by Andris Zeibots. Like a constant "Nevermore!" from the demon haunted poem 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe. And Krauklis [ – in Latvian meaning 'raven' – ] is everpresent in the poet's life from birth: it is his real surname. The greatest puzzle posed by his life is why he has never been forgotten. Andris Zeibots leads us through the deepest, darkest recesses of the poet's soul, and here one may obtain inkling as to why this is so." - Vents Zvaigzne
Raven_by_A.Zeibots.pdf
Krauklis
Andris Zeibots
Red Mercury (Sarkanais dzīvsudrabs)
This novel focuses on the people of Latvia in the 1990s. Medieval kings longed to get their hands on the Philosopher's stone, a substance extolled by alchemists for its promise of eternal youth, happiness, and wealth. In the 1990s, history repeated itself much more simply – without any secret teachings or veiled intimations. People started chasing blindly after red mercury; a product of the imagination of Soviet intelligence services, an implausible miracle potion capable of granting world domination to whoever had it in their possession. Yet these people were out-numbered by those who simply wished to get on with their lives, to be happy and to love. As the wheels of the epochs turned, dreams and illusions crumbled – it was no easy task holding onto both oneself and one's self-esteem in the ensuing turmoil. Latvia suddenly broke free, but not everyone had the strength to find that freedom within, as each and every one of us strove for survival. The novel depicts a wide spectrum of society. There are those from an older generation who received, with independence, an unexpected opportunity to finally meet their relatives who had been driven into exile. There are Soviet secret service agents, and there are the defenders of independence. The last of the forest brothers comes out of his forest after fifty years spent in hiding as a result of his rejection of Soviet power. And there are also the very young who desire to be happy but are oblivious to how heavily their first steps into the free wild world are about to test them.
RedMercury_by_A.Jundze.pdf
Sarkanais dzīvsudrabs
Rights sold to Lithuania
Reds, Rats and Rock'n'Roll
Reds, Rats and Rock'n'Roll (Čeka, bumba un rokenrols)
Reds, Rats and Rock'n'Roll examines in retrospect the era of socialism in Latvia. The action takes place between the years 1978-89, the most severely tarnished phase of Soviet splendor. Various colorful characters live their lives in the pages of this book: the thoroughly drunk poet Harry Mikelson, who, for the consolidation of his career, becomes a spokesperson for the Cheka; the old Cheka official who commits suicide for unknown reasons; the swimmer and potential champion Eva Kallas and her romance with the somber Israeli spy Joren, who doesn't quite know whom he works for and what he gains from his spying; the ruffian Zmejs and his comrades; Jozef, who has decided to join the army; as well as an endless number of other individuals. Each character has a separate storyline, and at first glance it seems they do not have and could not have anything in common.
Contact: Pauls Bankovskis, telomera@gmail.com
RedsRatsAndRocknRoll_by_P.Bankovskis.pdf
Čeka, bumba un rokenrols
Foreign rights sold in the United Kingdom, Finland and Czech Republic
Rocky Road (Akmeņainas ceļš )
As with many of the other novels by Vilis Lācis, Rocky Road was written as a work of literary realism and contains autobiographical elements: the self-made man, and fishing and labour motifs from the first half of the 20th century. The novel's plot focuses on the lives of young people in 1930s Rīga. Roberts Līviņš, the ambitious and driven son of a labourer, gets his education and goes on to become an architect working at a wealthy construction company. Soon after his attainment of higher education, respectable employment and a "better" social echelon, he falls in love with
the director's daughter Līvija and is forced to forsake his earlier life, his roots, and his family. Roberts's wealthy bride does not wish to become the wife of someone from a lower class and demands that her husband break off contact with his family; however, in the end Roberts understands that high society
will never understand his origins or his best friend Ēriks, a gifted boxer who is travelling along his own "rocky road" with Roberts. Ēriks is another one of the physically strong characters created by Lācis.
Like other works by Lācis, Rocky Road was first published in
a serialised form. When advertising this "new, interesting novel" prior to its publication, the magazine "Atpūta" wrote that in the novel "the author uses his cleverness and descriptive talents to portray the lives of the city's youth, their mistakes and ambitions."
Rocky_Road_by_V.Lacis.pdf
Akmeņainas ceļš
Vilis Lācis
Russian Skin
Russian Skin (Krieva āda)
The novel explores the lives of two women, Emīlija and Meldra, a mother and daughter, in the occupied territory of the Latvian S.S.R. during the 1950s and 60s and, more specifically, the mother's forbidden love for a representative of the occupants – a Russian. Emīlija lives on a farm not far from Liepāja. Her husband was killed during the war, she has a teenage daughter to care for and life in the countryside is tough. Stalin dies, Khrushchev comes to power and deportees to Siberia start to return home. Incredible poverty is endured in the kolkhozes so, to break free from the hardships of such a life, Emīlija sets her sights on Vilis, a builder who has arrived from Liepāja to build wood burners in country houses. They get married and the new family moves to the city. Emīlija starts working as a cook, Meldra attends the city school and Vilis starts making large sums of money, his skills in high demand after the war.
RussianSkin_by_D.Ruksane.pdf
Krieva āda
Dace Rukšāne
Santa Biblia
Santa Biblia (Santa Biblia)
"The protagonists of Santa Biblia are Tūrs, Levs and Nīma, who is also the narrator. The prototype for Nīma is clearly Mary, and the prototype for Levs is Joseph. They are on a mission to save the world: to find and destroy a microchip plant which produces microcircuits for controlling people and installing a certain kind of personality programme in them. In the course of the novel, the protagonists visit twelve stations, which may represent an analogy with the Catholic Stations of the Cross (albeit there are fourteen of those, each dedicated to a meditation on the passion of Jesus Christ). With the help of a talking, inexhaustible rucksack, the young people fulfil their mission encountering various illustrations to the decadence, animal nature and sins of mankind at a certain time and place. The location where the novel unfolds is abstract and unspecified, it resembles time tunnels and encompasses various regions. References to the Bible and Christianity dominate in the novel and they are intertwined with history: there is a Casper Hauser prototype from the 19th century, the hedonism of the ancient Romans, skyscrapers, and neutralization of the brain among other things." (Literary critic Kristine Karklina)
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
SantaBiblia_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Santa Monica. The Arkhangelsk Oblast
Santa Monica. The Arkhangelsk Oblast (Santamonika, Arhangeļskas apg)
Santa Monica. The Arkhangelsk Oblast is Viks's encapsulates his life between the beginning of 1962 and July 1964, a period when he served in the Soviet army. Despite the story having taken place more than fifty years ago, he paints a vivid picture of the people, events and situations he saw there. He was helped in this not only thanks to the letters he exchanged with his family, but also his memories of those times which made such a lasting, visceral impression on him. Viks has said that he drew inspiration from the fact that the experience was akin to suddenly finding himself in a parallel world, his previous knowledge of which had merely been gleaned from science fiction books. Unlike fiction, however, it was all for real.
www.jumava.lv
SantaMonicaTheArkhangelskOblast_by_Viks.pdf
Santamonika, Arhangeļskas apg
Viktors Kalniņš
Santiago (Kariete uz Santjago)
The novel Santiago tells the story of a woman who invites her friend's seventeen-year-old son to go on a pilgrimage with her to Santiago de Compostela, ostensibly in an attempt to help him get over a drug addiction, but in truth to ensure she has a companion for a trip she is scared to undertake alone. They start in
Paris and hitchhike all the way down to the Spanish border. The novel is told in 22 chapters, each representing both an Arcanum from the Tarot Arcanology of Light and a single day's journey. The mismatched couple are ill-prepared for the trip; neither ever having climbed a mountain or embarked on such a long journey. The woman struggles to tolerate the young man's lack of animation and passivity, yet she cannot simply abandon him along the roadside. While travelling, they meet an old man named Liberty (based on a true story) who has already undertaken the pilgrimage fourteen times and is now doing it for the last time in his life. While walking, they discuss their pasts and life in general, their path frequently crossing that of Liberty's. Right up to the very end of the pilgrimage, the woman seeks to uncover the mysterious secret Liberty conceals and, in her quest to do so, discovers a secret hidden within herself.
Santiago_by_K.Ulberga.pdf
Kariete uz Santjago
Secrets (Sekrēti)
The Soviet Union was a project firmly based in scientific Communism and atheism. In spite of this, a few people in remote areas overgrown with alders kept on fostering centuries-old spiritual traditions. Eastern Orthodox Old Believers were one such group; they found refuge in eastern Latvia. They are at the center of Pauls Bankovskis's novel Secrets. The book follows several generations of Old Believers, in a kaleidoscope of love stories and family tragedies. Against an ever-changing backdrop of ruling powers and regimes—and in spite of them—these communities still try to hold on to their old traditions. At first, supernatural beings live near the Old Believers. With time, though, their role in people's diminishes, as the Old Believers' culture loses the ability to fight against the influence of time.
Bankovskis said that Secrets is "the story of the author coming into contact with and falling in love with two things: an old-fashioned routine of daily life, determined by faith, and the modern-day actions dictated by this routine." That's why the subtitle of this book is "a borderland romance." He does emphasize: "The overall theme of the book is to urge readers to imagine. Imagination is the very thing that can in a single moment transform scenes of saints and the past, painted in bright gold, into reality strengthened by faith."
Secrets_by_P.Bankovskis.pdf
Sekrēti
Seeing Double and Other Stories
Seeing Double and Other Stories (Dubultnieki un citi stāsti)
The collection Seeing Double and Other Stories was published in Latvian in 2011. It contains 13 of Crosshill's stories, including 2011 Nebula nominee "Mama, We Are Zhenya, Your Son" and 2009 Writers of the Future winner "Seeing Double." From quantum mechanics to flying pigs, from hive minds to passenger dragons, from time travel back to the USSR to a future where Russia rules the Baltics, Crosshill's tales span numerous settings and genres.
"Seeing Double and Other Stories isn't the first sci-fi short story collection
in Latvian literature. It's special, though, because it simultaneously is and is not traditional science fiction. The author touches on a number of themes that have often come up in both literature and movies during the science fiction boom of
the last fifty years—mostly outside Latvia. These themes include future-era people under the control of technological achievements, A.I. trying to be just like humans, the paradoxes of time travel, and a creator's responsibility for his creations. In his stories, [Crosshill] skillfully uses a technique I like to call the crooked mirror, or multi- faceted prism approach. By changing the angle from which we look at an object or event, he gives a grotesque slant to our point of view. This slant reveals the object to us from a very human, intimate perspective." – Bārbala Simsone, literary critic.
Contact: Tom Crosshill, tom@tomcrosshill.com
SeeingDouble_by_T.Crosshill.pdf
Dubultnieki un citi stāsti
Tom Crosshill
All languages available, except English
Smouldering Fires
Smouldering Fires (Zemdegas)
Smouldering Fires, which the author herself referred to as a "phantasmagoria", was Regīna Ezera's sixth novel. It is composed of six stories, all of which take place in the small town of Mūrgale, and the main characters of each tale die at the end due to various coincidences. The novel culminates in the sixth story, where the reader learns that all of the earlier stories were a vision seen by the author. Ezera then speaks directly about creativity and about the relationship between literature and literary criticism, and the story includes a conversation between the author and a young journalist as well as with a stubborn colleague at the literary museum who ends up causing the author's death. This novel is unusual in Latvian literature, because Ezera dared to make it less of a description of Mūrgale and its people, and more about her relationship with literature and the development of the novel's fictionalised form. In this novel as well as in nearly all of Ezera's works, one encounters the motif of the "tormenting past": several characters have an event or transgression from their past that torments them, causing them to feel guilt and to suffer as a result. Aside from a postmodern resolution not seen in other Soviet-era literature, this novel's most powerful aspect is found in its nuanced descriptions of the fates of individual characters and the complexities of their relationships.
SmoulderingFires_by_R.Ezera.pdf
Zemdegas
Regīna Ezera
Sōla
Sōla (Sōla)
This novel is about Baltic refugees and their lives in post-war England. The novel contains autobiographical elements, as the author includes details from his own life as a refugee. The plot focuses on events unfolding over the course of several months in the lives of the people living on Sola, an island just off the coast of England. Most of the novel is centred on a small segment of the island's 170 inhabitants, and the main character is Arturs Skuja, a Latvian refugee. The most important events on the island and the experiences of its residents are revealed through the lonely, sensitive observations and emotions of this Latvian man still in the thrall of memories of his homeland. Skuja – who has worked as a field hand, raised chickens, and can also pilot a motor boat – observes and analyses the characters of his English and Irish co- workers, along with the English holidaymakers who come to Sola each year. This Latvian refugee contrasts with another strong figure in the novel: the swaggering Juhans Raudseps, a former Estonian officer. He embodies the tragic ex-soldier and, like other such characters struggling to cope with tragedy, he is shown quietly retreating from the outside world, unable to overcome his depression and longing for Estonia.
With a heavy dose of incredulity, Janovskis examines contemporary events in politics and the injustices experienced by refugees living in exile. He also describes the horrific anguish felt by refugees at times,
which they must somehow work to overcome. Running throughout the novel are the themes of longing for one's homeland and feeling deep guilt about not being able to help one's country. Janovskis also explores how the relationships among refugees were often were the only thing that
could bring them back to reality. There have been a number of theatrical adaptations of Sōla, and this novel continues to be popular for new generations of readers. Janovskis has won the hearts of Latvian readers, particularly for his descriptions of the tragedy of the refugee experience and life in exile.
Sola_by_G.Janovskis.pdf
Gunars Janovskis
Stories and Novels
Stories and Novels (Stāsti un noveles )
Ezeriņš often highlights his characters' imperfections, showing them in a completely different, unique light. The most typical subjects of his novels are farmers, the eccentricities of the intelligentsia, and relations between Latvians and German manor lords. Literary specialist Anna Silgale has noted that the way Ezeriņš approaches his stories reveals something about life itself. He writes with the lightness characteristic of the French, but behind that lies a deep search for meaning typical of Northern Europeans. Through his stories, Ezeriņš shows that life is always full of beauty, but that life also demands truth and understanding, and that those that seek to destroy its harmony cannot just be forgiven. He shows the beauty of the world through the eyes of children, the brightness and vitality of those who are able to transcend mundane everyday life, and the power of those who seek only personal insights. The author plays with language. He doesn't need much to express what he means to say. Behind his playful style one finds eternity, human life and
its rules – this is why his characters are often carefree, until one of life's unsettling truths echoes throughout their existence.
Stāsti un noveles
Jānis Ezeriņš
Strangers or Milenkiy ty moy
Strangers or Milenkiy ty moy (Svešie jeb miļenkij ti moj)
Jana Egle's second collection of short stories, Strangers or Milenkiy ty moy (2018) consists of eight stories named for their protagonists: Margarita, Harold, Alyevtina, Sandris, Theophil, Adrian, Veronika and Carrie. Each narrative is closely connected to the others; this is revealed when reading the stories one after the other, in sequence. Egle has succeeded in incorporating a wider characterization of the period in each story. Through the stories of Margarita, Harold, Sandris, Theophil, Adrian, and Carrie we catch a glimpse of contemporary life; through the story of Alyevtina we are introduced to the harsh realities of the Soviet era; but Veronika's life story reaches back to events that took place during World War II. The collection could also be regarded as a novel in multiple voices, or an episodic novel.
The underlying thread of the stories is about the relationships between Latvians and Russians, estrangement that can form between people, about the way we are able or unable to form relationships, and about the way that the foreign or unknown can suddenly become familiar and close, or vice versa. Egle herself says: "Strangers or My Darling is about bonds that have been broken. About strangers who in fact are very close, and their fate. No one knows whether estrangement can be reversed and a relationship given new life. Somebody has to have the courage to take the first step to overcome the passage of time, wrongdoings, a sense of guilt."
StrangersOrMilenkiyTyMoy_by_J.Egle.pdf
Svešie jeb miļenkij ti moj
Straumēni
Straumēni (Straumēni)
Though Straumēni is written in prose, Virza called this work a long poem. Using a Neo-Classical approach, the author tells a story set in the 19th century, on a country homestead in the southern region of Zemgale. At the heart of this work are the author's childhood memories and the stories he heard from his grandparents about the idyllic life of Latvian peasants. The world depicted in this book is imbued with a mythical sensibility, the yearly cycles described in it involving people as well as other living creatures. Along with work and responsibilities, the rhythms of nature and the mind change with the passage of time. For example, the entire household participates in growing and harvesting flax, and the linen fabric – which is a product of this work – serves as a symbol of unity for the people of Straumēni. Therefore, this process and its result must come from the entire family's shared labour.
The central figure in Straumēni is not any one person, but instead the entire Straumēni household. The reader is introduced to the traditional Latvian way of life as a welcomed guest, to whom the family shows the material and spiritual meaning of all things, seemingly outside of the context of time or history. The expressive story-telling style brings scents, tastes, and colours to life and makes this work thrilling as well as meditative. The language is euphonious and makes it easy to surrender to the flow of the story. In 1934, the well-known Latvian prose writer Jānis Veselis wrote the following about Virza and Straumēni: "He is a typical indoor poet filled with the constant alarm of a foreign time, which never stops and in the end changes everything." At the end of his description, Veselis refers to Virza's work as one of the brightest and happiest Latvian books, adding: "And this is why Straumēni is a bright and joy-filled book, it's because a person isn't left all alone with the sorrows and emptiness of the world."
Straumeni_by_E.Virza.pdf
Edvarts Virza
Teachers (Skolotāji)
This novel highlights the significance of teachers and education in 20th-century Latvia. Akmentiņš strives to single out the heroic endeavors of rural teachers – the nurturing of a new generation of intelligentsia to replace those previously deported and exiled. Then novel is structured as a hyper-lively reality in the modernist spirit, which also echoes the atmosphere of Khrushchev's political thaw. Akmentiņš' heroes might misplace their cause and lose their lives, yet they refuse to play the part of the victim, instead getting by on their wits and cunning, a characteristic of peasants in Latvian folklore. The new post-war generation and the contradictions of Khrushchev's era are diverse and interesting themes, demanding a vivid dualism – hunger and the desire to live, modern science and fashion, the theory underpinning the Party versus its true face. Competitive in everything, two sisters intend to uphold the professional tradition of their pedagogical family.
Teachers_by_A.Akmentins.pdf
Andris Akmentiņš
The Banned Piano
The Banned Piano (Aizliegtais pianīns)
This novel is mostly about the bureaucracy that spreads, disease-like, throughout the whole country, including pre-school education esatblishments. Even the Latvian Ministry of Economics admits that the high levels of bureaucracy are responsible for the nation's low level of competitiveness. What is bureaucracy all about? It's mostly about a lack of trust, justified by the need to exert control, about the feeling of guilt so characteristic of Latvians, which they often describe as a sense of responsibility and a desire for self-improvement. It's about fear, often defined as cautiousness but which basically is simply fear. It's a story about the desire of one group of people to fit life into a specific legal framework while another group wishes to live freely and creatively. And it's about the balance required between these two wishes. In many aspects, this novel is about balance. One character in the book falls into a coma, losing his physical balance, while another fails to keep her psychological balance and ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
TheBannedPiano_by_M.Berzins.pdf
Aizliegtais pianīns
The Beautiful Ones (Skaistās)
In her novel The Beautiful Ones, Inga Gaile tries to understand how she and her contemporaries have been influenced by two tragedies of the 20th century: Nazism and Stalinism. It is the author's attempt to tell a story about people who managed to stay humane despite the impossible circumstances, guided by a
hope to live more freely. One of her themes is that the dual value system—good/ bad, beautiful/ugly—is limiting for humanity. The novel has three parts, each
with a female protagonist. First is Violeta, who is imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1941. The protagonist of the second part is Magdalēna, who is also a protagonist in Gaile's first novel, The Glass Shards. We meet Magdalēna in Latvia in 1953. The protagonist of the third part is Magdalēna's granddaughter, Duks—our contemporary. She has, however, never met her grandmother; she is also indirectly connected to Violeta. The novel's main themes are beauty, a woman's outer appearance, and the different ways women are objectified. This story also shows what happens to women who experience violence, and how they deal with it.
The novel talks about concentration camp brothels, which is a subject that hasn't really been discussed before. It describes the fates of women who worked in the brothels of the era, and the fates of any children born as a result. The broader descriptions of this period of history tend to lack the voices of witnesses. On the other hand, more and more historical researchers are trying to add the missing testimonies to history, giving authors like Gaile access to records about women who worked in concentration camp brothels, or women who were subject to the Soviet Army's rape march.
The Beautiful Ones is a literary work that employs many historical facts. Among them are Katrīna Vaica's lynching trial in the Ravensbrück camp, the punishment of prisoners during the subsequent search for Katrīna, the brothels themselves and how they were organized, experiments, how the camp was liberated, and how children deported to Siberia were sent back to Latvia.
TheBeautifulOnes_by_I.Gaile.pdf
Skaistās
The Cage
The Cage (Būris)
The Cage is about an architect, Edmunds Bērzs, who is locked up in a cage in the forest by a criminal, Kārlis Dindāns. Criminal investigator Strūga is searching for the architect, who seems to have disappeared without a trace, and in the process, he gradually gets to know Bērzs – a typical representative of the middle class. He stumbles by chanceonto the tracks of Dindāns, who out of some inexplicable jealousy is keeping Bērzs captive in a cage usually used for horses. In this cage, Bērzs is able to survive on nuts, mushrooms, pigeons; he is also cured of his gout and loses unwanted weight. He reconsiders his life and his relationship to society. Bērzs also has time to review his life and his relationship to society and focus on existential reflections onhis own position in the cage, the cage within himself, and the problem of the cage in society. The novel has retained its value and relevance even in the present day, even under a completely different economic and social system.
The Cage_excerpt_scan_ENG.pdf
Būris
Zvaigzne ABC (originally published by Liesma, 1972)
The Cattle Express
The Cattle Express (Lopu ekspresis)
The Cattle Express is a contemporary Latvian author's effort to pinpoint both his personal identity and a universal human one; he seeks to combine both into a coherent whole. Two plotlines run parallel in this text: the first takes place in Latvia in the first half of the 20th century; the second, in 21st-century New York City. Crosshill's story of occupation, deportations, war, and the authoritarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis – the first Latvian Prime Minister – runs side by side along a tale of the modern world of Wall Street – which comes with a promising life full of possibility.
Lopu ekspresis
The Counterfeit Faust or a Corrected and Expanded Cookbook
The Counterfeit Faust or a Corrected and Expanded Cookbook (Viltotais Fausts jeb Parlabota un papildināta pavārgrāmata)
The novel The Counterfeit Faust or a Corrected and Expanded Cookbook gained great popularity and almost cult status among Latvian intellectuals and artists at the time. In it, the author plays with literary traditions and possibilities to an extent not seen before in Latvian literature. As in most of Zariņš's other literary works, this novel contains elements of Postmodernism, which was also extremely important in Western literature at that time. These elements include breaking down the divide between "high" and "low" culture, playing with cultural heritage, and undisguised quoting/rephrasing/parody. The novel takes place in the 1930s and during the Second World War in Rīga, mostly among a mix of artists and intellectuals. The central character is a young writer and composer named Kristofers Mārlovs who goes to meet Trampedahs, a chef who is past his prime, to secure publication rights for his new cookbook in exchange for the elixir of youth. As in Goethe's story, the beautiful Margarēta also appears in the novel, though later the author switches the roles of the characters around, turning Trampedahs-Faust into the villain while Mārlovs-Mephistopheles becomes a fragile victim. The novel contains a great deal of parody and self-parody, as well as actual historical figures and places which are merged with fiction. Real recipes are given an important position in the text. These and other features make it possible to call Viltotais Fausts a genuine example of Postmodern literature, though it is not known whether the author knew about this artistic movement when he was writing his novel.
Viltotais_Fausts_by_M.Zarins.pdf
Viltotais Fausts jeb Parlabota un papildināta pavārgrāmata
Marģeris Zariņš
The Day's Burden
The Day's Burden (Dienas krusts)
The Day's Burden is one of the earliest and most important modernist works of Latvian prose, and was seen by the author's contemporaries as having been inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses. Veselis had also published a partial translation of Ulysses, as well as a discursive essay about it. The author Dzintars Sodums, who also translated Ulysses, has praised Dienas krusts highly, while Jānis Rudzītis named it in the Latvian refugee newspaper "Latvija" as one of Latvia's best works of prose, with the greatest likelihood of receiving recognition outside of Latvia because "everything local in it is imperceptibly woven together with overarching themes and overlaid with a nuanced plot."
The plot centres on a tragic love story, though fundamentally The Day's Burden is a deep examination of Rīga's working classes. The book focuses on the intertwining lives of the residents of a tenement house over the course of 24 hours, during which several romantic dramas and personal crises arise and are resolved, occasionally overlapping with the comical events that occur each hour. These connections were very important
to Veselis, and to emphasise them he created horoscopes for all of the characters before writing the book.
The book's publishers, "Valters un Rapa", wrote: "Veselis has created a new vision of the city in Latvian literature, which, like a living organism with its chaotic motion down labyrinths of monotonous streets and alienation within buildings walls, can defeat and destroy a person's individuality."
TheDaysBurden_by_J.Veselis.pdf
Dienas krusts
Jānis Veselis
The Dead Don't Forgive
The Dead Don't Forgive (Mirušie nepiedod)
The Dead Don't Forgive is set in a fantasy world where emotions are magic and magicians are both powerful and vulnerable. On the one hand, they can exert near total control over commoners, who do not possess comparable abilities; on the other hand, they can be emotionally unstable and, thus, easily manipulated by other magicians. The story is told from the perspective of Vega, a gifted young woman who began training as a magician but quit before completing the full course, defying her master. Haunted by memories of that experience and carrying a deep resentment for all magicians, she hides her special skills and lives as a commoner even though this is a crime that carries a severe punishment.
TheDeadDontForgive_by_I.Melgalve.pdf
Mirušie nepiedod
The Debt Collectors
The Debt Collectors (Parādu piedzinēji)
Worried about the increasingly tense relationship of their parents, little sister Krista calls her brother Ritvars in Birmingham, where he has been working for several years and asks him to come home. When Ritvars arrives to his native Riga, he finds out the painful truth: their father has been unable to cover their bank loan, and the Leidums family is on the brink of losing their mortgaged flat. Ritvars understands that he needs to do something to help … This novel abounds in everything to capture readers' attention – an engaging plot, exciting chases, the criminal underworld, bankers and entrepreneurs, friendship and love, lies and betrayal, greed and honour. The action takes the reader to Spain, the UK and Latvia in a fast-paced thriller that is sure to keep up the suspense until the very end.
TheDebtCollectors_by_A.Bukss.pdf
Parādu piedzinēji
Aldis Bukšs
The Farmer and the Devil
The Farmer and the Devil (Jaunsaimnieks un velns)
At the beginning of the novel The Farmer and the Devil, the retired Latvian army officer Krasts is building his new farm. Together with his wife Aina and her father Andrāns, he works tirelessly to complete it, turning the surrounding spruce forest into pastures and putting up new farm buildings. However, a devil, a figure in Latvian tradition who is more of a trickster than a diabolical villain, has lived in this part of the forest for centuries and is angered by the destruction of his home, so he directs a series of misfortunes at the farmer – a beautiful woman named Manga, lack of money, etc. – to try and make him leave. At first the farmer is somewhat susceptible to the devil's temptations, but in the end he pulls himself together and defeats them, so that good triumphs after all at the end of the novel.
According to his contemporaries, Jaunsudrabiņš' inspiration for this novel came from watching sap drip from a birch tree. This prompted him to imagine the devil as a symbol of primordial nature, which – as the author would later say himself – manifests in physical desire and material temptation, all of which are defeated by the farmer's virtuous hard-working character. The character of the metaphorical devil in a novel which is otherwise entirely realistic prompted considerable discussion at one point. Ultimately, Jaunsudrabiņš became involved in these discussions himself and reminded readers in the newspaper "Jaunā daiņa" in 1934 that gods in early literature would also often be described realistically. In his opinion this same artistic technique could be used in the 20th century; even though humans had acquired godlike powers, this very same power had made them increasingly anxious and, since readers were seeking "the kind of peace that's found only in fairy tales", the author wanted to give this to them.
TheFarmerAndTheDevil_by_J.Jaunsudrabins.pdf
Jaunsaimnieks un velns
The Fisherman's Son
The Fisherman's Son (Zvejnieka dēls)
This story depicts life in a Vidzeme fishing village on the north-eastern coast of Latvia during the 1920s and 1930s. For Lācis, the inhabitants live a difficult, impoverished, unjust existence, caused by greedy buyers and other Capitalists. The novel offers a detailed examination of the unhealthy relationships between the villagers, as well as the alcoholism, poverty, and other problems caused by overwork, which all makes them passive and easily manipulated. Lācis encapsulates all of these themes in the microcosm of the Kļava family. Its patriarch is an uncouth braggart, while the youngest son, Roberts, is an educated but immoral city-dweller. Only the oldest son, Oskars, who is "more than six feet tall, broad-shouldered, well- grounded, seasoned by the sea winds" feels distressed by the poverty of the fishermen. Oskars marries a rich shopkeeper's daughter but realises that this was not the right choice and returns to fishing, so he can change the engrained routines of life and the local economy, and to fight those who try to harm the village residents. Zvejnieka dēls is one of the most popular Latvian novels of all time. It has been adapted for the screen two different times (by director Vilis Lapenieks in 1939 and director Varis Krūmiņš in 1957). In the first two months after the first release in 1939, the film was seen by 250,000 people. During the Soviet years, the regime considered the 1939 film ideologically problematic and created its own version.
Zvejnieka dēls
Jaunāko ziņu spiestuve
The Girl from Nowhere
The Girl from Nowhere (Meitene no nekurienes)
This is a story of railwayman Linards who, during Nazi occupation, witnesses two trains crashing into each other – an accident caused by human error. Despite getting out of the wreck alive, the survivors are clearly still headed to their deaths. Amongst the many victims, Linards finds a mute child of about eleven years old and is faced by a terrible dilemma – should he report her or seek another solution. Undecided and hesitant, intimidated by one of his workmates, he simply hopes that a way out will somehow present itself. Going to the police quarters, he encounters Lelde, the wife of the Latvian head of police in the service of the Nazis. By chance, she happens to be childless. However, when he tells her about the child she reacts violently, accusing him of unlading onto her the burden of deciding whether to report the girl or not and thus seal her fate.
TheGirlFromNowhere_by_V.Kaijaks.pdf
Meitene no nekurienes
Vladimirs Kaijaks
Lauku Avīze
The Glass Shards
The Glass Shards (Stikli)
In this novel, events evolve during the late 1930s at the time of president Kārlis Ulmanis' authoritarian regime. This period in Latvia is often associated with images of a burgeoning economy, social stability, and the swelling of national pride; at the same time, these are the years when concepts such as "reduced value individuals" – individuals who are perceived to be a threat to the future happiness of the nation – were also disseminated. Popular in Europe, the concept of eugenics has also infiltrated Latvia, creating negative attitudes toward mental health patients. Magdalēna, the novel's protagonist, has been raped and
is subsequently diagnosed as mentally ill in a psychiatric clinic. There, she meets Kārlis, a young, progressive psychiatrist whose views on the treatment of mental illness have been influenced by Freud's psychoanalytical teachings.
TheGlassShards_by_I.Gaile.pdf
Stikli
Rights sold to Estonia
The History of the World
The History of the World (Pasaules vēsture)
The novel The History of the World is an excursion into the very distant future. All the languages of the world have become mixed into one, the sap of the Earth has dried up, people and other creatures are threatened by the plague of black blood, three moons are shining in the sky, meanwhile every nation has set out its living space according to its own ideals and notions of correctness. Traffic between the various worlds is provided by sluglike monorails, but the present day for these people seems like a distant past, difficult to make any sense of.
That is the kind of world that Marta and father must set off to explore, but Little Jacob and his mother have to stay home to take care of the livestock and keep an eye on the farm. Who knows how it would have all ended if the parson Bišķis hadn't become a frequent visitor to the household. How will the journey of Marta and her father end? And what kind of fate awaits Little Jacob?
TheHistoryOfTheWorld_by_P.Bankovskis.pdf
Pasaules vēsture
The Little Love Affair
The Little Love Affair (Romāniņš)
In this novel we meet Taņa, a young Latvian woman on an intense quest for her own identity. As the novel unfolds, Taņa's search becomes intertwined with the responsibility she feels for her children, falling in love and being in love, her countless losses and rebirths. After she is abandoned by her husband, Taņa suddenly finds herself alone with three children. She plunges into adventures – losing herself, then finding herself again. She gets involved in various messes, but never hangs her head; she is the character who might cry briefly, but then always gets up, dusts herself off with a smile, and carries on. The Little Affair offers us a cross-section of an untamed young woman's world, where all moral judgment is left up to the reader.
Contact: Dace Rukšāne, ruksane@gmail.com
TheLittleLoveAffair_by_D.Ruksane.pdf
Romāniņš
Apgāds Atēna
The Manuscript
The Manuscript (Manuskripts)
The Manuscript is a part of the Riga Detective (Rīgas detektīvs) series, but can be read as a standalone work. It concentrates on the behind–the-scenes aspects and intrigues of being a writer, exploring Riga in the late 20th century, its society, events, and processes. The most valuable manuscripts of the Latvian Writers Union, unpublished during the Soviet years, had been kept by Professor Brants, found by investigators drowned in his bathtub. In his drawer, they find a 1987 obituary for Jānis Paiders, but the famous author Nora Paidere's unpublished novel With the Mark of Cain (Kaina zīmē) has disappeared from Professor Brants' library. Her novel reveals a secret involving all of the main characters of The Manuscript – Alīse the librarian; Ilze the professor's daughter; the publisher, and we learn over the course of the novel, the informeant Aigars Kalniņš, too; Nora Paidere's son – the unappreciated translator Jēkabs Paiders; editor Aija Rozenberge, who like Professor Brants, has also been drowned. Andrejs Vanags, a lawyer, begins a thrilling investigation and discovers that Jānis Paiders, once a brilliant poet and a rising star during the Soviet years who died under mysterious circumstances, is the son of Nora and Professor Brants. As he starts to make sense of this puzzle, the trail ends up leading to Aigars Kalniņš.
Contacts: Renāte Neimane, renate.neimane@latvijasmediji.lv
TheManuscript_by_F.Ermlere.pdf
Manuskripts
Franciska Ermlere
The Marvellous Adventures of Didriķis Taizelis
The Marvellous Adventures of Didriķis Taizelis (Didriķa Taizeļa brīnišķīgie piedzīvojumi)
This is a short adventure novel, where the author employs a compilation method and combined texts with different styles and functions.
Didriķa Taizeļa brīnišķīgie piedzīvojumi
The Mushroom Covenant
The Mushroom Covenant (Šampinjonu Derība)
The Mushroom Covenant tells the story of a young woman named Īva Baranovska, who goes to Ireland to earn money to pay off her debts and buy a flat back home in Latvia. Already interested in Celtic culture prior to her arrival in Ireland, Īva spends many hours listening to her colleague tell her local legends and myths, in which she begins to see connections with Latvian folk tales. Gradually, Īva grows tired of spending long days on the fields picking mushrooms and decides to become a prostitute. She slowly sheds her former self and matures, both sexually and spiritually, yet finds it difficult to remain connected to her own culture, which eventually gets reduced to Latvian food and cooking (the novel itself features several mushroom recipes serving as capstones to chapters). The playful, ironic prose of The Mushroom Covenant keeps the reader's interest in the daily struggles of Īva, as she battles her way through the many difficulties facing her in Ireland before she decides to return to Latvia. The author's and protagonist's interest in the otherworldly is reflected in the parallels raised between Īva's trials in Ireland and Latvian myths, as well as Celtic and Biblical legends.
Contact: Laima Kota, laima.kota@inbox.lv
TheMushroomCovenant_by_L.Kota.pdf
Šampinjonu Derība
Apgāds Daugava
Rights sold to Germany, Lithuania, Sweden
The Pearl Diver
The Pearl Diver (Pērļu zvejnieks)
The Pearl Diver, which the author described as fantasy, is one of the earliest long prose works by Poruks. Its main character, Ansis, is from the countryside and comes to Rīga to study. He is passionate; a dreamer and an idealist. For Ansis, "pearl diving" means fulfilling your life's goals: he wants to make his dreams come true, not just view them from a distance. But his life takes some difficult turns: his mother dies, he is unlucky in love, and he struggles with loneliness and, of course, the possibility that the world will never understand him. Ansis has no shortage of benefactors, including his mentor Talheims, his beloved Anna, and others. As the story progresses, Rīga comes to discover Ansis's unique nature and he begins to meet new people. The moral of the story is that every reader has to find the "pearls" in their own life (there is also a theory that Poruks used "pearls" to refer to the hearts of good people). The story is partially autobiographical and in it Poruks appears to foresee his own fate. This story also contains a motif that was completely new to Latvian long-form prose: Ansis discovers not only the physical path he must take on his journey, but also the path to find himself.
This and other works by Poruks are characterised by the words
he wrote in a letter to his fiancée: "I was the first to include the concept
of modern art in the Latvian national element." Literary specialist Viesturs Vecgrāvis compared Pērļu zvejnieks with Novalis's novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802) and Ludwig Tieck's novel Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen (1796). Along with romantic elements, Poruks also weaves in reflections on the modern culture and philosophy of his time. This work is included in the Latvian Cultural Canon.
ThePearlDiver_by_J.Poruks.pdf
Pērļu zvejnieks
Jānis Poruks
Ernst Plates
The Rascal
The Rascal (Palaidnis)
The Rascal is a harsh, apocalyptic thriller about the fate of civilization. The author describes a world ruled by fake culture and mediocrity, by selfishness and cruelty. In this world, foolishness and power are one and the same, and inescapably lead to loneliness, pain, and death. Is there any hope of surviving in a world like this? The author never complains or lectures—he simply states the facts and delivers a verdict.
Children are at the center of the novel. They're the only ones who see, understand, and feel in earnest. They're the only ones who could change the world, if that were still possible; they're also, unfortunately, the most unprotected people in society. That's why this it is a child who is entrusted with the most difficult mission in the novel. The novel's hero is a street kid who has grown up in the gutter, on
the "wrong side of the tracks." Child traders are in charge here, and our prankster- hero is unable to escape being sold into slavery. That's how he becomes a toy for the rich—a child gladiator. At this point, the fallen, degraded mentality of global economy has devoured everything else. There's nothing left to swallow but itself. And so the child gladiators head into their final fight...
TheRascal_by_J.Einfelds.pdf
Palaidnis
Jānis Einfelds
The Red Children
The Red Children (Sarkanie bērni)
The history of the orphanage of the red children starts in 1534 when Margot, the queen of Navarre, establishes Hôpital des Enfants-Dieu, later known as Hôpital des Enfants-Rouges, because of children's uniforms in red – the colour of compassion. In 1615, the title of the orphanage was given also to a market, founded by Louis XIII. The scenes from the 16th century orphanage in Paris, featuring French characters open the novel and are continued between the four big parts of the novel, each focusing on one of the three main characters carrying "a gene" of the red children that is reborn in Latvia in the 21st century, and a separate myth of the way children come into this world, for example, children are brought by a stork, or found. The last part of the novel intertwines all the three previously separate stories. The three main characters of the novel are Nadja, Mārīte, and Liesma. Nadja is a patient at a drug-addict institution, Mārīte is a nurse at the same institution, but Liesma is Mārīte's neighbour. Mārīte supports Liesma since she raises her son alone and encounters many difficulties. Liesma helps Mārīte to rescue Nadja. In the end they all reconcile with the core line of the life and fate, overcoming the notion of being an orphan in this life.
TheRedChildren_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Sarkanie bērni
The Room (Istaba)
Nominated for the 2016 Annual Latvian Literature Award, this novel offers a glimpse into the everyday lives of Latvians thirty years ago, when Soviet power was in the process of abetting the country's rapid economic collapse. However, the political climate suddenly shifted in favor of the basic human desire to live in prosperity, and the Soviets declared Perestroika. The novel revolves around
a communal apartment in Riga. Once the large, upmarket homes of the wealthy, during the Soviet years, these apartments were converted and shared by several families, who were forced to use the same kitchen and bathroom and often had
to keep their cooking utensils and food in their own rooms to prevent them from being stolen. The protagonists are products of the everyday reality existing at the time. They are of different nationalities, work in different fields, and have a totally different perception of life and yet, they share the same roof.
Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgrama.lv
TheRoom_by_L.Kota.pdf
The Story of Tille and the Dog Man
The Story of Tille and the Dog Man (Stāsts par Tilli un Suņu vīru)
The Story of Tille and the Dog Man is about two lonely people who experience suffering and deep injustice. They persist, though, through friendship and mutual understanding, and by taking care of each other. Tille, the protagonist, is a 7-year-old girl. She ends up alone and neglected after her mother's death. The Dog Man, a drifter and recluse who goes to the tunnel to play his accordion every day, happens to be Tille's neighbor. He lives in a small, one-room basement apartment, in a building that was meant to be torn down ages ago. The Dog Man has pets—a cat, and two dogs with unusual names: Prince and Monk. In time, Tille and the Dog Man become best friends. The little girl makes sure everything in the Dog Man's house is neat and tidy, waits for him to come home every day, and tells the dogs stories. He, in turn, becomes a loving father-figure to Tille, and provides for her. At the end of the story, a representative from the local orphans' rights association gets involved. She arrives with a policeman to take Tille to the orphanage. But Tille doesn't want to live at the orphanage, and the Dog Man doesn't want to hand her over to the authorities. As the argument escalates, both dogs attack the policeman, who defends himself, shooting and killing Prince in the process. These two authority figures leave, promising to come back. Tille and the Dog Man don't wait around for them. Instead, they run away to the countryside in search of a better life, along with Monk the dog.
TheStoryOfTilleAndTheDogMan_by_A.Neiburga.pdf
Stāsts par Tilli un Suņu vīru
Andra Neiburga
The Taste of Lead
The Taste of Lead (Svina garša)
Winner of several literature awards, The Taste of Lead is a narrative account focusing on a young Latvian man, Matīss, who seeks and eventually fails
to avoid siding with either power at war in Europe in 1940. Facing the challenges and conflicts experienced by every young man – the discovery of the existence of love, betrayal, good and evil, and, on a personal level, the taste of lead in his mouth. A vehicle for dealing with weighty issues, this novel is characterized nonetheless by the signature irony, wit, and a taste for paradox noted in Bērziņš' other works. This book explores lines of division; those simple, qualifying lines that set a regular man apart from a hero, the tragically thin line separating peace from war, the demarcating line seen between words and actions, and the contrasting line between giving in and taking action.
The Taste of Lead satisfies the reader with the depth of its humanist voice. Set between the late 1930s and early 1940s, The Taste of Lead was published in 2015, becoming one of Latvia's most widely debated and in-demand books. In 2016, director Valters Sīlis produced a stage version of the same title, The Taste of Lead, for the National Theatre of Latvia and is now in its third consecutive season. The Latvian Museum of Writing organizes tours of the places mentioned in the novel, and many schools have included it in their mandatory reading curriculum. An excerpt from this novel was included in the Dalkey Archive Press anthology Best European Fiction 2017.
TheTasteOfLead_by_M.Berzins.pdf
Svina garša
The Time of the Surveyors
The Time of the Surveyors (Mērnieku laiki)
The novel is set in two fictional parishes – Slātava and Čangaliena – in the Vidzeme Governorate in the mid-19th century, following the end of serfdom when a new class of free peasant emerged, establishing their own farms
and homesteads. The story centres on the land-surveying work taking place at the time, in order to set the boundaries of the land intended
for Latvian peasants. Several plotlines surround this central element: a dramatic love triangle, intergenerational conflict, criminal intrigue, and various episodes from domestic life which depict the nature of family life and society during that time. The novel's main characters are Kaspars and Liena, members of the younger generation who, in the opinion of the authors, embody desirable Latvian moral ideals.
Mērnieku laiki
Reinis un Matīss Kaudzītes
H. Allunans
The Tin Scream
The Tin Scream (Alvas kliedziens)
Written in the style of a diary, The Tin Scream centres on the world of a 1970s teenager, a world that refelcts the ongoing social and psychological processes of society. At the beginning of the book, Rugetta, the main protagonist, is attending school in the 6th grade and, on a friend's recommendation, she starts keeping a diary. This reveals the everyday life at an elite Soviet school, friendships and betrayals, a protest over the presence of Russians and an admiration for Tarkovsky and world culture, including Bach and Shakespeare. There is also a realignment of ideals – hence the title of the novel, tin being a metal that is ductile and easily wrought, and the noise it makes when broken is called "the tin scream". With this novel the writer offers readers a rich, evocatively drawn gallery of characters who have been delightfully and wittily rendered, despite the tragic circumstances of that era. The world-renowned Latvian theatre director Alvis Hermanis and his theatre company, the New Riga Theatre, staged a production based on motifs from the novel, and this too has enjoyed public acclaim.
TheTinScream_by_G.Repse.pdf
Alvas kliedziens
All rights available except Swedish
The Well (Aka)
The novel The Well begins on the shores of a lake in the height of summer. Rudolf, a doctor from Rīga, is looking forward to spending some time away from work and plans to spend the time fishing on his own while lodging with an elderly couple on a lake. He comes into contact with the neighbours next door, the Tomariņi family, when he borrows their boat for his fishing trips. He meets Laura and her two children, Zaiga and Māris, her mother-in-law Alvīne and her sister-in-law Vija. For Laura, this encounter is a reminder of her wasted life, one of self-denial and her attempts to honour her responsibilities. For her children, it is a reminder of how much they lack a father figure. Attraction blooms between the quiet, slightly standoffish Laura and the confident, successful Rudolf, yet from the very beginning there is the feeling that the relationship is doomed. A crucial part of the story is the presence, or rather absence, of Laura's husband Rihard, who is in prison for the murder of a friend he killed on a hunting trip while drunk. The fact that Rihard is soon to be released casts a shadow over any attraction Laura and Rudolf might have for each other. Rihard, from a distance and through his circumstances, has forced Laura to play the roles of perfect mother, perfect wife, and strong woman. Regīna Ezera skillfully blends the lives of all these people together, showing how the sins and life events of previous generations can echo and reverberate through the lives of their children and grandchildren.
TheWell_by_R.Ezera.pdf
The Widower and She-Wolf
The Widower and She-Wolf (Vilcene un atraitnis )
The novel The Widower and She-Wolf belongs to the genre of magical realism. In his first novel, the much loved Latvian poet, Leons Briedis, skilfully blends reality and fantasy, recounting tales of life, love and destiny based on his very personal experience. Describing this novel, some critics have drawn parallels with "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann. In order to recover from the loss of his wife, a widower spends time in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains, spending the night in an abandoned hunters' cabin. The only living creature to keep him company is a she-wolf he names Forestling. As his consciousness flows in circles, just as memories tend to, he draws comfort from nature - paying attention to every little detail of a plant or animal he comes into contact with. His story is dynamic and full of self-irony, a patchwork of life events and different cultures.
TheWidowerAndSheWolf_by_L.Briedis.pdf
Vilcene un atraitnis
Leons Briedis
The Woman in Black (Sieviete melnā)
The Woman in Black (2011) is the final volume of the trilogy devoted to Latvia's history in the 20th
century. Time in Reverse and March of the Clowns in the Market of Horrors told the story of the birth of Latvia and the Second World War, while this book introduces the reader to the day-to-day
realities of Soviet life. Former guerrilla fighters, Soviet veterans with memories of the front, rigged elections, and a young policeman who knows nothing of the culture or life during Latvia's interwar independence, but still wants more than anything to find love and have recognition at work...however it is then that a mysterious woman in black appears, who brings with herself not just bad luck but also a giant diamond. The apple-green diamond has been moving for years from owner to owner, and as diamonds do, leaving in its wake dead bodies and ruined lives. Who will become the owner of this priceless stone? And what use is it in a country where the only real wealth exists in good relations with the party elite? Irony, extensive historical knowledge, and the ability to join events together into a thrilling and attention-grabbing tale are the reasons why Andris Kolbergs is deservedly called the master of the Latvian crime genre.
Sieviete melnā
Theodorus. Dance With An Elephant Fish
Theodorus. Dance With An Elephant Fish (Theodorus. Deja ar ziloņzivi)
The story begins symbolically "five minutes" after the end of the Cold War. Two young spies from West Germany have crossed the East German border just two weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.They both observe the contrasts between the two separate parts of Germany. Their destination is the East German town of Jena, where a very famous optics factory possesses secrets from the Soviet military industry. East Germany has basically collapsed, and the director of the factory is prepared to hand over documents related to the secret optics of Russian tanks and spaceships. The German BND sends a young agent named Theodorus (Theo) and a lovely technical specialist, Beatrice, to fetch the documents. Theo is secretly in love with his colleague. As the pair approach the city, they notice activities at a nearby Soviet military base. The Red Army is still in East Germany. The West German agents drive past the base and are soon at the enormous optics factory. The director hopes to pursue a career in unified Germany, and he is prepared to hand over all of the information. Beatrice enters the director's office and quickly starts to copy the documents. Then the unexpected happens. Armoured transport vehicles crash through the gates of the factor, helicopters land, and Russian troops flood into the territory.
Contacts: Mr. Otto Ozols ozols.otto@gmail.com
Theodorus. Deja ar ziloņzivi
Otto Ozols
Atēna
There (Tur)
Events in this novel unfold in Latvia during the eighties when a degree of change can be felt in the air yet the Soviet regime is still working against the population. There is still no right to freedom of assembly, including the right to associate with any religious group or anything else close to one's heart yet not coinciding with Soviet ideology. The events described in the novel are based on true stories. One of the protagonists in the novel – a teenage boy named Pāvels - gets himself lost in the forest, his aim that of hiding from his own life, and his terrible secret. In the depths of the forest, he comes across a house inhabited by an enigmatic group of people. He has nowhere else to go so decides to stay with these weird, long-haired people who, other than their appearance, also think very differently from anyone else he has ever met. Whilst there, and in order to prove the existence of these people once he gets out of the forest, Pāvels starts keeping a diary.The text has several parallel plot lines and time merges into a single coil while still following a single thread.
There_by_K.Ulberga.pdf
Three (Trīs)
Nora Ikstena's trilogy Three contains three novels: Celebrating Life (1998), The Virgin's Lesson (2001), and Mother's Milk (2015). The thread connecting these works is the attempt by mothers and daughters to discover, during different eras, a way to live without losing their voice, without becoming "a bell without its chime". Celebrating Life resounds as a prelude to this trilogy, like a poetic conjuring attempting to disentangle the unbreakable ties that bind the feminine trinity of mother, daughter, and grandmother, with the most significant and traumatic of these being death and its acceptance. The first novel brings with it an immense, uncontrollable wave of emotion, though it provides no answer to the question – why does it hurt? The second novel, The Virgin's Lesson, is more sentimental, though at the same time much more grounded, and serves as a bridge connecting the first and third novels of the trilogy, allowing the author's alter ego in Mother's Milk to finally find the courage and voice to call pain by its true name.
Trīs
Rights to individual novels have been sold to United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Albania.
Thunder (Duna)
The events of the novel Thunder unfold in 1949 in three different geographical locations – the capital city of Riga, and the Latvian regions of Sēlija and Latgale. If his horse is not spared a single drop of life's overflowing cup of suffering, then why should someone like him, Andrievs Radvils, be spared? The protagonist's resigned stream of consciousness drives the trajectory of this novel and will remain with the reader long after the book has been closed.
Contacts: dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
Thunder_by_I.Abele.pdf
Thus Spoke Mother Goose
Thus Spoke Mother Goose (Tā runāja zosu māte)
Thus Spoke Mother Goose is a fantasy novel about two apparently ordinary young people, who run into each other in the humdrum little English town of Tingsbury. Both Candy and Corbin, though, have something to hide. Journalist Candy flees from one home to the next, because her dead sister, a poltergeist, invisibly follows her everywhere. Café employee Corbin has a reckless plan in mind, related to his dual heritage – he's half human, half fay. The sleepy small town turns out to be the epicentre of important global events, as another dimension – magical, mysterious and dangerous – exists just beyond our visible one. While conflict grows between mythical beings from different dimensions due to Corbin's rash actions, Candy notices strange things happening: blind mice running around the newspaper's editorial office, children playing on moonlit streets, and more. No one else pays any attention to these events, because no one else can see them. At least, that's the case until one thing becomes clear: the old gods want to break out of their prison in another dimension and regain control over our world. Old Mother Goose's Rhymes, a collection of English nursery rhymes, predicts this event. Only Candy can interpret the signs concealed in the book, though she doesn't yet know that. In the novel's thrilling plot, battles rage between beings whose supernatural powers are counterbalanced by human failings. Most importantly, in the whirlwind of tense events partly caused by their own actions, Candy and Corbin have to walk a hard path – one that leads them out of isolation and closer to each other.
Tā runāja zosu māte
Time in Reverse
Time in Reverse (Pulkstenis ar atpakaļgaitu)
It's 1919 in Latvia, a period of history brought to life by the master of the Latvian detective genre, Andris Kolbergs, with the expressive colours, flavourd, and scents of that time. A reckless yet cunning burglary targetting a jeweler, a freshly independent Latvia and the people defending it, the charm of Riga and its outlying areas, riflemen, the Bermondt Affair, first love, corrupt cops, and the passions of the bordello, with a thrilling crime making the novel one that will completely capture your attention.
TimeInReverse_by_A.Kolbergs.pdf
Pulkstenis ar atpakaļgaitu
Ulsie
Ulsie (Ulsiks)
This apparently simple yet subtly painful tale of childhood memories shows life in Soviet-occupied Latvia during the 1960s and 1970s. At times the bitter secrets of the Soviet dictatorship invade the childhood of this small, inquisitive, mischievous girl named Ulsiks. Through an environment of culture – her father's vast cultural knowledge; the immense combined Song Festival choir conducted by Ulsiks' mother's knowledgeable hand; and the many individuals from the art world (though anonymous figures in this child's world, known to her only by their nicknames) – the characters who surround Ulsiks work to keep the cultural DNA of the nation safe, and keep little Ulsiks and her childhood safe, too.
Contacts: Inguna Ula Cepīte, cepite.inguna@gmail.com
Ulsie_by_I.U.Cepite.pdf
Ulsiks
Inguna Ula Cepīte
All languages available except Finnish
Warm Earth
Warm Earth (Silta zeme)
Daniel - the central character of the novel exists in front of constant choices between time and space, reality and imagination and between two women – Nelly and Vu. The opportunities to choose resemble an endless game, but within the game itself – will a choice always exist? A courageous story about the nature of incest. Instead of admiring the detail, it digs deep. The author has attempted to pierce the seemingly flirtatious veil of taboo and present a story cleverly resisting bringing the naive 'for and against' of physical love to the front (while marginalised, descriptions of these are as colourful and lively as the text of the whole novel); instead she uncovers the deeper and much more painful reason of loneliness and the monsters it creates – the lack of soulful warmth and a yearning towards warmth of the earth. One could describe it as gravitation, but in fact it is warmth that keeps us attached to the ground. It is exactly the warmth that lets us be, makes us be with one another, and makes us hold one another. So we live – keeping warm.
WarmEarth_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Silta zeme
We Shall See (Tad redzēs)
The nine stories in the collection We Shall See continue and add to
the spectrum of themes already touched upon in Vīgante's debut collection, Ice Orange – the most prominent being the complicated relationships between people throughout time. Vīgante's prose possesses a specific "quiet" style, as it includes no loud epithets or overtly dramatic dialogues – and it is precisely this veiled approach that allows Vīgante to convey the "inner dramas" of her characters so well. The stories are often explicitly visual, concentrating, as it seems, on abundant detail; however, Vīgante manages to include the symbolic subtext in each visual image as well. The stories are largely set in a modern environment and feature average people – men or women around 30-40 years of age who have witnessed the dramatic political and social changes at the turn of the century, but nevertheless hold survival and personal happiness as their main goals in life. This allows readers to identify with the characters and situations, however complicated they are, because the familiarity of the environment and the details make it easy to do so.
WeShallSee_by_D.Vigante.pdf
Tad redzēs
White Water Lily. The Lyrical Notes of Kitners the Accountant
White Water Lily. The Lyrical Notes of Kitners the Accountant (Baltā ūdensroze. Grāmatveža Kitnera liriskas piezīmes)
White Water Lily. The Lyrical Notes of Kitners the Accountant, one of Lāms's significant early works, is a novel which can be used to pinpoint the beginning of modern Latvian prose, after the clichéd uniformity of Socialist realism. It tells the somewhat romantic – while also tragic, and even a
bit ironic – story of Kitners, an accountant, during a summer spent at a collective farm near the Gauja River. The novel appears to describe everyday life under the Soviet regime, but it is important to note that it is almost the only novel from the 1950s which can be read as a literary
text and not as a product of Socialist realism. Seemingly unremarkable everyday occurrences shed light on dramatic events from the past, and reveal the author's deep respect for the individual's subjective inner world of emotion and thought. The publication of Baltā ūdensroze in 1958 was received with a whirlwind of outrage, due primarily to one comical character – Baltbiksis – who is constantly explaining his views and sounds like he is quoting from a book of Socialist realist theory. Furthermore, Lāms clearly shows how Baltbiksis's dogma falls to pieces when it encounters prose containing realistic psychological portrayals. This is where Baltā ūdensroze transforms from an outwardly inoffensive novel to a clear attack on the Socialist realist canon. Baltbiksis could be understood as a prototype for the writers in this canon, and so many of these authors felt that they were being ridiculed in Lāms's portrayal of Baltbiksis. A censored version of the book was published as part of the 1973 collection Raudze, but an uncensored version, newly edited by the author, was only published in 1992.
Baltā ūdensroze. Grāmatveža Kitnera liriskas piezīmes
Visvaldis Lāms
Why Did You Cry?
Why Did You Cry? (Kāpēc tu raudāji?)
This novel is set in the final chaotic years of the Soviet Union. The protagonist, Katrīna, is 15 and living in the outskirts of Riga. Just before her sixteenth birthday, she embarks alone on a long journey across half of Russia to a mountain-climbers' camp in the Caucasus. There, not only does she encounter the mountains and their challenges, but also meets her first love, who happens to be Russian. In Latvian society, where Russians are the occupiers, this is practically criminal. When she returns home, Katrīna must confront the uncomprehending shock of those around her over her relationship, as well a family tragedy. As these events unfold, so too does Latvia's liberation from occupation with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
WhyDidYouCry_by_D.Ruksane.pdf
Kāpēc tu raudāji?
Wicker Monk
Wicker Monk (Klūgu mūks)
It is a story about man's thirst for the heavens, a man who was the first Latgalian priest in Latvia and who also was a pilot, about a man's heart and senses, about sin and forgiveness.
Klūgu mūks
With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows
With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows (Ar balles kurpēm Sibīrijas sniegos)
Sandra Kalniete's autobiographical novel, With Dance Shoes in Siberian Snows, is a moving and eloquent testimony to her family and to the Latvian nation— to their shared fate during more than fifty years of occupation. It is an indictment of the inhuman repression of both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Above all, it is the story of human survival, and it has become the most-translated Latvian book in recent history.
Kalniete explains: "I didn't know any suffering back then—my parents spared me from it. I learned about the realities of Siberia from the stories of my parents and their friends: horrible tales with evil monsters that make heroes battle against insurmountable obstacles to win the most coveted prize—getting to return to Latvia."
Contact: Renāte Punka, renate.punka@jr.lv
Ar balles kurpēm Sibīrijas sniegos
Sandra Kalniete
Jāņa Rozes apgāds (Originally published by Atēna, 2001)
Rights sold to Albania, United States of America, Egypt, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Poland, Finland, Germany, Sweden
Woman (Sieviete)
Woman was Andrejs Upīts' first significant novel and has been republished numerous times and widely discussed. It was the work with which he first gained notoriety in Latvian literature. When it was published, he had only recently left his teaching position, and the book's popularity allowed him to turn his full attention to writing. Critics consider the change of setting – from the countryside to the city (i.e., from an environment which tends towards complete order to an environment where absolute chaos is a constant) – as the greatest influence Sieviete and other works by Upīts around the same time had on Latvian literature. These works brought radical changes to the principles of Latvian novel writing.
In Latvian literature of that time, Sieviete – an explicitly realistic work, which balances on the border of naturalism – was also noteworthy for its focus on relationships between men and women as well as its nuanced description of the main female character's mindset. The plot centres on Elza, a young woman from a small town, and her move to Rīga following her father's death, which critics have interpreted as a metaphor for the decline of patriarchal society. She arrives in the city and joins her brother and his friends at a boarding house. They take advantage of her naïveté, get Elza drunk, and begin to force themselves on her. Her brother doesn't defend her. Thus "defiled", Elza then tries to have her revenge on her brother and his friends in various ways. A young poet tries to stop her, but Elza doesn't listen to his warnings. The next time the poet arrives, it's already too late. The players of this game are all dead, including Elza herself who commits suicide upon discovering that she has syphilis.
Augusta Golta apgāds
Words Were Of No Use
Words Were Of No Use (Vārdiem nebija vietas)
Words Were of No Use was shortlisted for the 2015 Annual Latvian Literature Award. It is 1913 in the coastal city Ventspils, where the first motion picture made in Latvia, called Kur patiesība? (Where Is Justice?) is being shot. A man with "golden hands" named Rudolf Tush and who is unafraid of any type of labour, finds himself joining the film crew by accident and begins building set decorations and doing other menial tasks. Nobody has the slightest idea that this man has a few well-hidden sinister passions. For example, he loves fire, gaining extraordinary amounts of joy from watching buildings burn to the ground, a fact confirmed by his reputation during the 1905 Revolution when he actively participated in burning down manors and castles. Tush has another peculiarity – he is mute. To be more precise, he has the ability to speak, but after a rather foolish encounter with a Kazakh military patrol in 1905, he made a decision to stop speaking entirely. One night, after hearty carousing in a local drinking establishment and watching his first-ever pornographic movie, he accidentally kills someone, and is forced to flee. The story then is transported to 1915. The First World War is raging. Tush is by no means a patriot or fond of the Russian empire, but he is happy about the war, seeing numerous opportunities to profit from it. He experiences combat in 1916, and at one point finds himself on a battlefield where everyone has died following a German gas attack. He runs into the same film crew he had worked with. The film crew had been thinking about making a film about the end of the world and believe authentic corpses would be great for the film. Tush begins planning his bright and happy future, but luck is once again not on his side. Tush is a character with a hidden darkness inside him; he is the kind of small-minded individual that, though he is entirely apolitical by nature, makes war possible at all.
WordsWereOfNoUse_by_G.Berelis.pdf
Vārdiem nebija vietas
You Can`t Get All You Want
You Can`t Get All You Want (Tu nevari dabūt visu, ko gribi)
In 2016, the novel You Can`t Get All You Want was nominated for the Annual Latvian Literature Award. It is a melancholy, yet mirthful tale of the human fate as perceived by the everyman. It is a story of young people, easy to empathize with, desperately struggling not to become yet another lost generation. The novel centres around love and death, search for the meaning of life, and inability to adapt oneself to the contemporary society.
The central characters are four friends: a dilettante artist Pepin, Sophie who works at an erotic massage parlour, a crematorium stoker Willy, and Betty, a poet. They spend a summer together wandering around Riga and talking about life. The plot is triggered by the sudden disappearance of Sophie's mother. Everybody joins the search, simultaneously searching for their own selves, for love and their place in life. Eventually it turns out Sophie's mother has pawned her soul and then hanged herself. In the course of the novel, Pepin tries to settle his difficult relationship with his father. He fails since his father, ill with cancer, sells his body to an Exhibition of Bodies, is taken to Switzerland and euthanized. Sophie and Pepin, who is madly in love with her, are forced to emigrate, and their ways part. In the meantime, Willy, who initially was a misogynist, forms a family with Betty, having burned her former lover alive in the crematorium furnace.
Contacts: Vladis Spāre, vladis.spare@gmail.com
YouCantGetAllYouWant_by_V.Spare.pdf
Tu nevari dabūt visu, ko gribi
Vladis Spāre
A Small Mound
A Small Mound (Cinītis)
The book's title A Small Mound derives from a Latvian saying "A small mound fells a giant load", expressing a sentiment similar to "Great oaks from little acorns grow", and it leads the reader into the recent past – to the 1990s – when, like a phoenix from the ashes, the Latvian foreign service was reborn. The work abounds with humour, healthy self-criticism and self-irony, recalling a time when Latvia, only having recently regained independence, had to build up a diplomatic service from virtually nothing. The book vividly describes the first awkward steps in learning about international protocol as well as the adoption of historically significant decisions for the country, right up to the present day. Some episodes reveal the difficulties faced by Kalniete and her colleagues, such as the diplomatic tussle in France over the restitution of property belonging to the state of Latvia, and attempts to promote the recognizability of the state. Based on personal experiences, this book discloses new incidents, until now not known to the broader public, and also expands on already known facts from the viewpoint of a politician. It's not quite history yet, but it's the details, the bits and pieces in the background which, when merged together, create the material from which researchers at some later date will distill history.
Cinītis
Rīga, Jāņa Rozes apgāds
Alvis Hermanis (Alvis Hermanis)
The album Alvis Hermanis collects images from the most visually interesting productions of Alvis Hermanis. These are accompanied by short commentary written by the director himself, as well as fragments from reviews by theatre and film critic Normunds Naumanis. The album also includes an interview with Alvis Hermanis and an introductory essay written by theatre historian and critic Edīte Tišheizere.
"My greatest conviction is that every story is in its own way a model of the world. Every opera, every play, every poem exists as a model of the world in miniature. Latvians have a saying: "the sun in a drop of dew". This tiny dewdrop with its spherical shape reflects the entire cosmos. I regard each story told in the language of theatre in a similar way. Each individual work is embedded in a certain anthropological context, with all the consequences that follow from that, also at the aesthetic level, as regards style, the visualisation. For me, the visualisation is always the beginning of the beginning. Until I begin to see pictures of how the production could look, the process simply cannot take place." (Alvis Hermanis)
Contacts: Dace Krecere-Vule, dace@neputns.lv
Classical Modernism. Early 20th Century Latvian Painting
Classical Modernism. Early 20th Century Latvian Painting (Klasiskais modernisms: Latvijas glezniecība 20. gs. sākumā)
Classical Modernism. Early 20th Century Latvian Painting tells about the most admired generation of Latvian artists. By the beginning of the First World War, when modernism first appeared in Latvia, avant-garde movements had already established themselves as a vivid element of Western consciousness. Although a latecomer in this context, Latvian modernism can be regarded professionally as equal to the output of other countries and constituting an essential strand within the historical processes of European culture. In Latvian painting, the expressions of Classical Modernism were determined by historical circumstances as well as by the character and spirit of the people, and were restricted to particular movements: Cubism, Fauvism, and New Objectivity. With the exception of Jāzeps Grosvalds, who had trained in Paris, the up-and-coming Latvian artists first became acquainted with Cubism and other contemporary approaches to the simplification of form in the galleries of Moscow; only after 1922 were they able to visit Paris and Berlin. The period of Classical Modernism in Latvian painting lasted in total about a decade and involved experiments in the synthesis of form by members of the Riga Group of Artists: Jēkabs Kazaks, Ģederts Eliass, Romans Suta, Oto Skulme, Uga Skulme, Jānis Liepiņš, Valdemārs Tone, Konrāds Ubāns, and Niklāvs Strunke. In the era of creativity following the First World War, replete with avant-garde approaches to form, these young artists were engaged in a learning process while simultaneously in search of contemporary expression, and through attaining professional maturity, they developed remarkable styles of their own.
Klasiskais modernisms: Latvijas glezniecība 20. gs. sākumā
Dace Lamberga
Neputns, English edition
Rights sold to France, Estonia
Diary (Dienasgrāmata)
Alvis Hermanis' Diary was written during one season – 2015/2016, when such productions as Die Liebe der Danae (Salzburger Festspiele), I due Foscari (Teatro alla Scala), La Damnation de Faust (Opéra National de Paris), Brodsky/Baryshnikov (Jaunais Rīgas teātris), Die schönsten Sterbeszenen in der Geschichte der Oper (Schauspielhaus Zürich) etc. where staged. "Of course, this is not a real diary. I knew it right from the beginning that it would be read by people who are strangers to me. Why do I need it? A good question. I wouldn't want anybody else to write about myself and my work. Because I'm not sure whether anybody else, except me, is able to understand what I am really doing and what's behind all that. I'll try writing about it myself." (Alvis Hermanis)
Contacts: Dace Krecere-Vule, dace@neputns.lv,
Dienasgrāmata
Dramatica or Rational Poetics
Dramatica or Rational Poetics (Dramatika jeb Racionālā poētika)
The motto of DRAMATICA or Rational Poetics: "We tell only stories about people—because we tell them to people."
Our main business in life is to study fellow human beings: this is the only way we can find our special place in this universe. Who are they? What do they think, feel, want? Why do they act in this particular way? Why does someone/no one love me? DRAMATICA or Rational Poetics answers these questions in a direct, uncomplicated, and witty manner. Although the title of the book indicates that it is a collection of a playwright's professional tools, the author, Lauris Gundars, has found a way of speaking that is accessible to anyone interested in people. It is exactly for this reason that the first edition of the book, written in a relaxed and captivating style, has already won popularity among both professionals and readers interested in life exploration. Based on many years of experience in creative work and teaching, Gundars proposes a distinctive, simple, and efficient method of creating characters—particularly useful to practicing playwrights.
Dramatika jeb Racionālā poētika
Darbnīca
Forest Daughters
Forest Daughters (Meža meitas)
The end of the WWII proved to be a significant turning point in the history of the Baltic States, one that dramatically changed the life course of its residents. For ideological reasons and for personal safety many thousands of people, among them many women, flooded into the Baltic forests at the beginning of the Cold War, in order to resist the Soviet rule and to seek shelter.
Baltic women fled to forest to escape intimidation and physical coercion, and because close relatives had been arrested and harassed. The forest did not provide women who had experienced Soviet persecution with a tranquil life but with a difficult survival school, replete with emotional and physical hardships. It also involved them in the first war in which Baltic women were on the front lines. Having gone into the woods to seek temporary shelter, they in effect were civilians who ended up in a war zone without weapons or training for battle.
The autobiographic book "Forest Daughters" by Sanita Reinsone is based on twelve personal accounts and reveals the hidden war through the eyes of Latvian women who joined active partisan groups or lived quiet but officially illegal personal lives in the forest after WWII. The book's twelve chapters are accompanied by historical photographs drawn from the former KGB archives and private family archives.
Contacts: dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv www.dgramata.lv
ForestDaughters_by_S.Reinsone.pdf
Meža meitas
Sanita Reinsone
Her and Him. Love. Relationship. Sex
Her and Him. Love. Relationship. Sex (Viņa un Viņš. Mīlestība. Attiecības. Sekss )
Her and Him. Love. Relationship. Sex is made up of the author's notes on his experiences, and of the conclusions he has come to while trying to understand himself and the depths of intimate relationships. On a broader scale, it's also an investigation into relationships through the centuries, up to the present day. The author draws inspiration and a theoretical understanding of his topic from his teachers – thinkers, psychologists, theologians, mystics, spiritual practitioners, scientists and clergymen from all over the world – while introducing his readers to their ideas. These asides into the musings of other thinkers turn this work into an encyclopaedic reference volume. At the same time, it's a very practical handbook, presenting information to the reader by taking a modern, clear and easy-to-understand approach. In this book, Rubenis examines sexuality and spirituality, marriage and divorce, men's and women's initiations, the human ego, productive humility and the need for forgiveness, along with many other topics. In doing so, he helps readers believe that good, lasting relationships are possible. He motivates his audience to evaluate current intimate relationships, as a way to discover their inherent potential. She and He encourages people whose past relationships have been unsuccessful to try again, but with a different approach this time.
Viņa un Viņš. Mīlestība. Attiecības. Sekss
Juris Rubenis
Riga - Beijing: Don't Try This at Home
Riga - Beijing: Don't Try This at Home (Rīga - Pekina jeb ceļošana un izdzīvošana ne sezonā)
From Riga to Beijing is the story of a more than 7-month long journey by Latvian actress Ilona Balode and musician Rolands Ūdris that took them from Latvia's capital of Riga all the way to Beijing. The trip was rather unconventional for them – Balode and Ūdris went without any sort of savings, relying on luck, people's goodwill and perseverance. During that time they lived both like vagabonds as well as kings – they saw the life of musicians playing on the street and in clubs, and slept in hotels, parks, train stations and on beaches. They met people from all walks of life, saw the contradictions of the Caucasus, the wonders of the Muslim world, the peculiarities of the Hindus, the hospitality of Pakistan, as well as the pluses and minuses of China's socialism.
The book contains the tender, funny and at times unbelievable experiences they had in 16 countries they visited during their journey: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, and China.
Contacts: Mrs. Bārbala Simsone, barbala.simsone@zvaigzne.lv
Rīga - Pekina jeb ceļošana un izdzīvošana ne sezonā
Ilona Balode
Distant Echoes on a Blue Evening
Distant Echoes on a Blue Evening (Talas noskaņas zilā vakarā)
Rainis's first poetry collection.
Talas noskaņas zilā vakarā
Rainis
J. Brigaders
Red Flowers (Sarkanās puķes)
Aspazija's poetry is written in the romantic poetic style and contains many of the ideas prominent at the time, as well as themes focusing on self-knowledge and self-awareness. Aspazija was deeply and vocally involved in the campaign for women's rights and in disputes concerning women's emancipation and education.
Sarkanās puķes
Aspazija
Neimans
The End and the Beginning
The End and the Beginning (Gals un sākums)
The End and the Beginning is considered Rainis's most significant poetry collection. It forms a conceptual whole and the phrase connecting each section – "I flow, I flow" – reflects notions of continuous motion, renewal, and transformation.
Gals un sākums
Twilight of the Soul
Twilight of the Soul (Dvēseles krēsla)
Dvēseles krēsla
A Solace for Adam's Tree
A Solace for Adam's Tree (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)
A Solace for Adam's Tree was a winner of the 2012 European Union Prize for Literature. It brings together 13 short stories that are all united by an idea that is profound and compelling: to have a conversation about life and death. This short story collection reflects on different scenes of life in urban and rural areas in modern-day Latvia. The author's rich and ripe language describes a bright and panoramic view of the past, present and future. A very specific pattern of Žolude's writing (also demonstrated in her first novel) is her skill at destroying any borders between reality and fiction, known and unknown, national and global. Žolude's stories strongly reflect the atmosphere of 21st century Europe. The collection of the short stories is partly autobiographical, and the author has reflected on the loss of her closest people and the experiences that the notion of death has brought forward.
ASolaceForAdamsTree_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Mierinājums Ādama kokam
Berlin (Berlīne)
Berlin is a collection of 21 prose pieces and one short novella. Although the stories are not intentionally linked, they follow a vague narrative that seems
to promise a resolution in the novella at the end of the book, the titular Berlin. Or, each story is yet another attempt to penetrate, from a different place and time, the city where the protagonist finds himself, stranded seemingly without a purpose. Berlin is a place where you really want to be, but find it almost impossibly difficult to get to, and when you finally do find yourself there, you learn that to escape
this place is even harder than it was to arrive, no matter how much you wish to leave it. Something has happened—we're not sure what, and neither do any of the protagonists. Critics have called Kupriss's prose manipulative, mathematical, even porous.
"Andris Kupriš's prose contains delicate, deliberate errors. These give an uncertain tension and absurd atmosphere to apparently autobiographical, everyday situations. Even the way language is used in Kupriš's texts embodies this shift.
It expresses estrangement, for example, or an atypical perception of time. Berlin confirms that a melancholy, ironic perspective has a place even in the newest Latvian literature." – Laura Brokāne, editor of the novel, writer.
Contact: Publishing house Orbita, orbita@orbita.lv
Berlin_by_A.Kupriss.pdf
Berlīne
Andris Kuprišs
Gadflies and Demons
Gadflies and Demons (Dunduri un dēmoni)
The story collection Gadflies and Demons is Einfelds' ninth book. The gadflies and demons in this book are not only metaphorical, but also quite palpable and present. The author and his alter ego Fabulu Jūlis take the reader through the absurd realities of capitalism in the 1990s, while also still managing to entertain. The author asks the reader to confront the question: are those of us living right here, right now, really all that different from the characters in the book, and if we aren't, what can we expect in our own future? The collection's eponymous first part brings this question to the forefront, but in its second part, the miniature cycle Winter, which is focused on one of the characters from Gadflies and Demons, the reader journeys along with the author as he unpacks this question on an unstoppable ride into the void. Einfelds' prose weaves together a surreal worldview with the grotesque, realistic, even rough and naturalistic details of everyday life existing alongside a sense of the romantic and the pain that comes from the fragile nature of ideals in our world today.
Dunduri un dēmoni
All rights available.
In the Shadow of Death
In the Shadow of Death (Nāves ēnā)
This short story masterpiece tells of several fishermen lost at sea after the ice floe on which they work calves off and drifts away rapidly. One by one, the thirteen men and a boy must deal with the creeping reality that they may not see the mainland.
Nāves ēnā
Rūdolfa Blaumaņa apgādība
Into the Light (Gaismā)
Into the Light is Jana Egle's prose debut. It includes eight stories whose themes connect with the not-so-sunny moments and aspects of life. Jana Egle brings to light subjects that have been kept hidden or considered unsuitable for discussion – violence against women, paedophilia, transsexuality. The themes running through this collection are guilt, domestic abuse, helplessness – how these form, how they affect a person's later behaviour, what effects they have on the direction of one's life. All eight stories are about family relationships – about brothers, about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. Each story brings to light secrets or occurrences that are typically hidden and not spoken of in our society.
IntoTheLight_by_J.Egle.pdf
Gaismā
Life Stories (Dzīves stāsti)
In talking about the inspiration behind her short story collection Life Stories, which won the 2004 the Annual Latvian Literature Award, she said that "I have written Life Stories virtually in the space of one breath – these stories have been imagined in such concentration, that I had to free myself from them. They came so naturally, that I am very happy to have returned to the short-story format. It seems to me that in these eight stories each individual and different life is so strikingly intense that it was not possible to place all into one novel … Also in terms of style, I searched and found a different approach to each of the stories. I wanted to express myself more clearly and more
Contacts: Nora Ikstena, ikstena@apollo.lv
Dzīves stāsti
Rights sold to Canada and India
Love Stories (Mīlasstāsti )
Love Stories, as the title suggests, are stories elucidating upon the subject of love. But readers may search in vain for classic, sentimental "pieces" as well as the literary provocations so characteristic of the author some years ago. These loves stories might be defined as a consciously toned down, profound book, rich in a quest for hidden issues of the human essence, revealing them delicately yet avoiding their brutal elimination. That is love – love imagined, unanswered,
denied, accepted with and without conditions (which are often very peculiar conditions). Here, love is portrayed through the use of different images – animals, things, imagined landscapes. Love that is, often without even being aware of it, transformed into its opposite. The author's protagonists are both younger and older women that play out the only lives given to them in their own unique ways – the author leaves them to it, at times sliding into the surreal as well as fantasy and horror. Every story is almost a stand-alone, polished life episode, but the book forms a uniform whole – a sensitive, sharp insight into a woman's world (including her everyday life and chores) within the reality of the modern world.
LoveStories_by_D.Ruksane.pdf
Mīlasstāsti
Push, Push
Push, Push (Stum, Stum)
Push, Push was received with great curiosity as Andra Neiburga returned to adult fiction after a 16-year absence, following her much-praised debut short story collection Stuffed Birds, and Birds in Cages. Not only was Push, Push one of the most talked-about books of the year, but it has since become a popular staple in secondary school curriculums, and hasn't lost its ability to surprise and even shock each new generation of readers.
Contacts: Renāte Punka, renate.punka@jr.lv
PushPush_by_A.Neiburga.pdf
Stum, Stum
Stories (Stāsti)
This story collection is compiled of seven independent and meditative stories, each with a clearly laid out plot and individual characters. In
"The Hike," three life-long friends go for a hike in the Swiss mountains and review their lives and relationships, revealing life-long, dark secrets; in "Energy," a wealthy husband and his biologist wife go on vacation with two friends to a rural resort
in Norway, to reassess their marriage, and almost establish a love triangle in the process. In yet another story, a couple lives in a house near which a new motorway has been built, changing their household and disrupting their lives, which they suddenly decide to reconstruct. "The Hair" follows a man whose wife is dying of cancer and has freed him from their marriage – but when the man engages in a new relationship, everything becomes complicated. These stories are masterpieces of human psychology, viewing many different possible situations experienced by as many and different characters.
Stories_by_I.Zolude.pdf
Subtle Afflictions
Subtle Afflictions (Smalkās kaites)
Subtle Afflictions is Eriks Ādamsons' first and most significant collection of short stories. Each of the works in this collection follows the same theme, examining an individual's neurotic psychological characteristics and offering a "window" into their inner world, its depths and hidden corners. For one individual it's their obsessive cleanliness; for another it's the realisation of the grey nature of their existence and their refusal to accept this fact. The idiosyncrasies of each character, which the author refers to as "subtle afflictions", are not as obvious in everyday life and mostly highlight the main character's "anti- hero" nature. The collection can be seen as a witty reinterpretation of the seven deadly sins for the short story genre.
Smalkās kaites
Eriks Ādamsons
The Film (Plēve)
The Film is a collection of short stories written during various periods. The author himself describes them as ghost stories or horror stories. The stories are linked by an element which may be called "the fear factor": the inexplicable, the irrational which turns up in the lives of the protagonists and adds tension to the plot. However, these stories go beyond the narrow specifics of genre, because the author adeptly manipulates them using a variety of means of expression in order to elicit in the reader an effect of unease, simultaneously inspiring thoughts on the metaphysical. In the events portrayed in these stories, the everyday mingles with the surreal, and the poetic with the terrifying, resulting in texts that can be interpreted on several levels , posing a challenge to the reader's erudition. In most of the tales, the terrifying element is not the "external" factor; – using stream of consciousness, the disjointedness of time and space, unreliable narrators, and other techniques, the writer masterfully conjures an atmosphere in which the reader begins to discern the "internal" fear inherent in the narrative, and the instability of reality and its unpredictability. Zeibots constructs the characters' dialogues and internal monologues which are so typical of every person's running internal "conversations with the self" with the professionalism of a playwright. He tangles threads of various truths and compels the reader to become completely absorbed by the story's setting – , providing the main ingredient in a cocktail of tension, interest and fear.
Plēve
The First Time (Pirmā reize)
On the cusp of womanhood, Daina Tabūna's heroines are constantly confronting the unexpected. Adult life seems just around the corner, but so are the kinds of surprise encounters that might change everything. Two siblings realize they're too old to be playing with paper dolls and begin to re-examine their close relationship. A girl who dreads visiting her religious grandmother develops her own fixation with Jesus, and a disaffected young woman, listlessly wandering the streets, stumbles into an awkward relationship with an office worker. The narrators of these stories each try, in their own way, to make sense of how to behave in a world that doesn't offer any clear answers. Life, however, always has some sort of surprise in store, and suddenly nothing is as it was before.
TheFirstTime_by_D.Tabuna.pdf
Pirmā reize
Daina Tabūna
The Man Who Sold Pornographic Pictures
The Man Who Sold Pornographic Pictures (Pornogrāfisko bildīšu tirgotājs)
The structure of Jānis Einfelds's second collection of short fiction,
The Man Who Sold Pornographic Pictures, is based on three men telling stories about their erotic adventures. All together, there are 16 accounts of strange, traumatic, and sad sexual encounters. The author has said the stories are based on the "lewd" Latvian dainas (folk songs). Einfelds's characteristically heightened narrative style is clearly present here, and shows something in common with
the language of myth and folklore, though the stories unmistakably take place in modern times.
That's why Jānis Einfelds's stories aren't erotica in the usual sense of the word, in spite of candid sexual descriptions. His multi-layered works use shocking settings and dense, unusual language to break readers out of their everyday perception. Each piece also seeks to show how strange the world really is. From the author's point of view, love at the turn of the century is merciless and absolutely unromantic, but also an unavoidable spiritual necessity.
"The book dissects our nighttime selves, which we suppress in daily life because of societal norms," wrote literary critic Rimands Ceplis after the collection was first published. He compared The Man Who Sold Pornographic Pictures to the works of the Marquis de Sade, and to classic Latvian author Jānis Poruks's utopian stories about a hero's journey of purification. By combining outwardly ugly, often fantastical scenes with a style close to poetic prose, Einfelds lifts the veil of existing preconceptions from love. At the same time, he replaces it with a new one.
TheManWhoSoldPornographicPictures_by_J.Einfelds.pdf
Pornogrāfisko bildīšu tirgotājs
The Rose of All Roses
The Rose of All Roses (Visu rožu roze)
Visu rožu roze is considered one of the best works of Latvian short prose from the 1980s. It contains six stories. Of these, Šnorhs, Zirneklis (Spider), Vecis (Old Man), and the title story Visu rožu roze (The Rose of All Roses) are especially worthy of attention. Šnorhs tells the story of a mysterious creature which wreaks havoc in the life of an office worker. Zirneklis, which has been adapted into a film, is a horror story about the attempts of a blood-sucking spider to attack a young woman. Vecis is about an older man who suddenly appears in a small country village and quietly observes the residents' illegal and immoral behaviour. Visu rožu roze is one of Kaijaks's best stories and focuses on a fanatical gardener who succeeds in growing an indestructible rose which threatens to take over the world.
Contact: mara.svire@gmail.com
Visu rožu roze
Tiger (Tīģeris)
The fourteen short stories in Tiger are joined by a common thread: each and every protagonists has a strong desire, a dream that seems impossible. But they end up coming true in unexpected ways, putting forth the question of what it is each of us , desires and whether we are in control of that desire. These unruly dreams—these dreams that are stronger than us—are a tiger. They are the tiger we want to be, when all we really are is regular house cats.
The stories take place in various settings: Riga offices and apartment buildings, the jungles of Brazil, cemeteries in Bordeaux, a German institution, and the middle of the ocean. But there is no rest from dreams. The stories' protagonists go shopping, save the world, love, and investigate crimes—or they don't really do much of anything at all when the rest of the world, and reality, suddenly seem a little bit different, and everything should be looked at anew.
Tīģeris
Urban Shamans
Urban Shamans (Pilsētas šamaņi)
Urban Shamans (2016) is Kuzmins' first collection of short stories. It is a collection of interconnected stories where subtle mystical experiences find their way into everyday urban life. Separate plots seamlessly intertwine, creating a twisted and magical picture of the modern world. In spite of their surreal settings, the stories remain grounded in our reality, with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humor. The book is designed and illustrated with a suitably bizarre visual aesthetic by the author himself. In 2016, Urban Shamans won the Ventspils Silver Quill Award and was nominated for both the Liepāja Egona Līva Literary Prize and the 2017 Annual Latvian Literature Award.
UrbanShamans_by_S.Kuzmins.pdf
Pilsētas šamaņi
Vecis
Vecis (Vecis)
The story collection Vecis is no less impressive and also contains six stories. Atpalikusī kāja (The Backward Foot) is an absurd tale about
an engineer whose foot defect changes the fate of the entire nation when he becomes president. Mašīna (Machine) is a fantasy story about a car controlled by artificial intelligence, which falls in love with its inventor. In
the story Kaste (Box), a writer isolates himself from the outside world to
the extent that he suddenly begins to shrink and spends his last days in a box. The stories Laiva (Boat) and Liktenīgā sieviete (Woman of Destiny) play with elements from psychological thrillers and revenge dramas, while the story Cilda is an expansive and emotionally gripping depiction of the 1949 deportations of the Latvian civilian population by Communists and is told from the point of view of Cilda, an abandoned dog.
What's Goin' on There
What's Goin' on There (Kas te notiek)
What's Goin' on There is one of the most impressive literary debuts of 2019 in the category of documentary fiction. This is the vivid collection of Varde's observations on the everyday life of contemporary Latvian society – a string of over one hundred short episodes wherein his sharp, humoristic descriptions of things happening here and now – either with Varde himself or with somebody right beside him – often turn into deeper contemplations on some aspect of our perception of current reality.
Varde calls his literary sketches "the chronicles of attempts to survive."
"For the author, it might be enough to enjoy the soap bubbles which reflect all the world which is impossible to catch in the eye of the camera. But for us, the readers, this book is indeed a valuable gift – a tool to improve our perception of life's beauty and absurdity." – Ingmāra Balode, poetess and translator.
Kas te notiek
Rvīns Varde
š! comics anthologies
š! comics anthologies (š! komiksu antoloģijas )
š! is a series of quarterly comics anthologies published since 2008. Its 30 volumes, each devoted to a specific theme, contain fresh comics voices from Latvia and abroad. In 2007, the first issue of the comics magazine kuš! featured a single Latvian artist (Anete Melece). Over the course of 10 years, kuš! has evolved into the digest-sized anthology š! and its anniversary issue #29 'Celebration' brings together twenty Latvian comics creators, both experienced and new, to the growing Latvian contemporary comics scene.
Contacts: komikss@gmail.com, www.komikss.lv
š! komiksu antoloģijas
Rīga, Grafiskie stāsti
The Boy Who Could See in the Dark
The Boy Who Could See in the Dark (Puika, kurš redzēja tumsā)
Jacob is a boy who was born into an unusual family, but he wants to be just like everyone else riding his bike around, taking care of his cat and wearing a nice jacket. "I don't remember how I found out that my parents can't see. That's nothing special. [...] Maybe at the big entrance gates to this world someone showed me this fact as a clause in a contract, No. X in illegible print, but really, it's not important. The important thing is that, thanks to them, I was special. Me! Special! Special, because I could see in the dark."
Puika, kurš redzēja tumsā
Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce
Zane Veldre
The Umbrella
The Umbrella (Lietussargs)
Juna Ivanami is thirteen years old. On a hot day during the rainy season, the girl unexpectedly finds herself in an adventure which she has unintentionally caused. Juna has to go deep into the spirit world if she wants to save her parents. The journey turns out to be full of dangers and secrets, Juna is confronted with friendly and helpful beings as well as cunning and evil creatures.
Lietussargs
Ellena R. Landara
The Witch in My Closet
The Witch in My Closet (Ragana manā skapī)
Lina Krasta is twenty-six years old. She has a boyfriend and a good job at an advertising agency. Life seems so serious, if not a little drab. But an unexpected phone call changes everything. Lina has to return to her childhood home in Vidzeme and try to remember the scary secret, the roots of which are hidden far in the past... Latvian folklore is no longer a boring section in the textbook – it turns out it's still all around us, alive, breathing and... threatening.
Ragana manā skapī
Gatis Ezerkalns
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