Sigitas Parulskis – Exercising the Heart

Sigitas Parulskis (b. 1965, Obeliai) is a poet, fiction writer, playwright, essayist, and translator based in Vilnius. He majored in Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University. Parulskis is the author of more than 20 books, with his creative range spanning poetry, novels, short stories, essays, and plays. He is the recipient of the Zigmas Gėlė Prize (1991), the Yotvingian Prize (1995), the Lithuanian Writers' Union Prize (2004), Der Stiftung Preussishe Seehandlung (2009), and the H. C. Artmann Stipendium (2010), among other awards. Parulskis has translated into Lithuanian works by Anton Chekhov, Daniil Kharms, Iosif Brodsky, Osip Mandelstam, Sara Shepard, David Park and others. Works by Parulskis have been translated into Latvian, Finnish, Italian, Polish, Czech, French, German, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, English, and other languages. His most recent books are the novel Kaip aš mečiau (How I Quit, 2024, Alma littera), the collection of essays Patys gražiausi sapnai apie kelią (The Most Beautiful Dreams About the Way, 2025, Tyto alba), and the poetry book Voras tarp tavo lūpų (A Spider Between Your Lips).