Vytautas Stankus (b. 8 of November, 1984), a poet and translator, lives in Vilnius. Vytautas studied English philology at the Lithuanian Pedagogical University. He began publishing poems in the literary press in 2007. His first poetry collection, Vaikščiojimas kita ledo puse (Walking on the Other Side of the Ice ), from 2009 won the Zigmas Gaidamavičius-Gėlė Prize for the best poetry debut. Literature critics have hailed Vytautas as one of the most emergent Lithuanian poets. His second poetry book Iš veidrodžio, už (From the Mirror, Behind) was published in 2014. The book was chosen as one of the five best poetry books of 2014 in the Book of the Year competition. In February 2015  Iš veidrodžio, už was awarded the title of poetry book of the year 2014 in Lithuania. His new book of poetry Skruzdžių skandinimas (The Drowning of the Ants) came out in December, 2016.