Reviews

A scholar in Lithuanian studies and a long-time lecturer at Vilnius University, the director of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, the organizer of the annual Literatūros salos (Literary Islands) literary festival, a participant in and head of various rallies/gatherings focused on Lithuanian studies, and the 2016 winner of the Bronius Savukynas Prize awarded

This year marks Judita Vaičiūnaitė’s 80th birthday, and sixteen years since she passed away. She is not forgotten by any means. Her reputation, if anything, has grown. An essay dedicated to her in this year’s Poetry Spring anthology, a day of lectures, discussions and readings in her honor organized by the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and

Tomas Venclova — a poet, literary critic, translator, and a professor at Yale University—occupies a paradoxical place in Lithuanian literature: he is a noticeably distant (both in time and in space) and an extremely influential poet at the same time. Several generations learned from Venclova’s precise poetics and his broad, concrete lexicon.  Born in 1937,

Sara Poisson is the pseudonym of the author of ten books of poetry, prose, and essays. She is, however, lingering in the margins of the prose field: her books do not make it to Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore vote for the most creative “twelve” and it was only once, in 2005, that her

Aušra Kaziliūnaitė (b. 1987) is a name well known in Lithuanian literature. The poet, who is also a doctoral student of philosophy and a human rights activist, has so far published three books of poetry: Pirmoji lietuviška knyga (2007; The First Lithuanian Book), 20% koncentracijos stovykla (2009; 20% Concentration Camp), and Mėnulis yra tabletė (2014; The Moon Is a Pill). She

My mother went to school in Vilnius in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on her memories and the stories she tells me, it was the happiest time of her life. Although early years were marked by post-war bleakness, in high school she wore indecently short skirts, swung her hips to the rolling rhythms of Paul

Vytautas Stankus is a contemporary Lithuanian poet who gives some of the most frequent readings and attracts some of the largest audiences at those readings. This poet and translator, who was also a school teacher for a while, works at Versus Aureus Publishers at present. His first poetry book Vaikščiojimas kita ledo puse (Walking on the Other

Eugenijus Ališanka is one of the most translated contemporary Lithuanian poets. He belongs to the middle generation that is no longer affected by the past of Soviet occupation, but at the same time he does not tend to play the textual games of the more experimental younger generation of Lithuanian poets. Both the youngest and

Mantas Balakauskas (b. 1989) is one of the most visible Lithuanian poets of the young generation. His creative bio would consist not only of interviews dished out left and right; it would also mention the Literatūrinės slinktys (Literary Shifts) festival of young artists, frequent poetry readings, and publications in the cultural press. Hardly had his

Young poets frequently feel the responsibility to rebel. They do not write like the older generation of poets, they break the form of the poem, and their creative work is an amplified mouthpiece of their position. Recently, however, a curious tendency has been observed in Lithuania: young poets are seemingly looking to return to tradition