L I T E R A T U R E

Poetry is offered by Eduards Aivars (Aivars Eipurs), Martynas Varna (Mārtiņš Links), Anna Auzāne, Zane Daugule, Elīna Līce, Gvido Drage (Redžinalds Grikmanis), Reinis Zvirgzdiņš, and Dainis Deigelis.

Prose is offered by Dainis Deigelis, Dagnija Dreika, Lea Vinks (Linda Vītuma), Lelde Jauja, Patrīcija Preisa, Džena Andersone, Ilga Justa (Ilga Lēmane), Ilze Muceniece, Inga Raipala, Agnese Zarāne, Rolanda Bula, and Līga Rimša.

 

H I S T O R Y

Valdis Klišāns is a high school teacher in Rīga, author of many textbooks on the history of Latvia and Eastern Europe. He has a large following on Facebook, and he shares some of his insightful postings under the title “Reflections”.

 

T H E A T E R

Theater critic Atis Rozentāls writes “From Fistfights to Rituals. Latvia’s Non-governmental Theater”, commenting on productions by Dirty Deal Teatro and Kvadrifons as well as some recent performances of contemporary dance.

 

V I S U A L   A R T

Māra Rāviņa of North Baltica Contemporary Arts (NoBa), a consortium of Latvian/Canadian artists, describes an exhibition last fall in Hamilton, Ontario titled Nature, Being & Technology. In it, 29 artists from 16 countries all over the world displayed works reflecting the state of Contemporary Art in a broad range of thematic elements, materials and processes. Rāviņa’s article is accompanied by many illustrations, including the cover of this issue.

Baiba Magdalena Eglīte of the the Global Center for Latvian Art in Cēsis (PLMC) visits artist Ingmārs Usas at his home and describes his paintings displayed there. “Are you laughing, or are you crying?”, she asks. “How can you keep such mercilessly emotional paintings in your living room?”.

Kārlis Kanderovskis, the director of PLMC, writes about painter Pēteris Kārkliņš (1945), whom he befriended when they were neighbors in Chicago. An ongoing exhibit of Kārkliņš’ work at PLMC is titled “Dripping Subconcious: The Surrealism of Pēteris Kārkliņš”.

 

B O O K   R E V I E W S

Eva Mārtuža reviews two books: Linda Nemiera’s Aizliegtais grāmatu klubs (The Forbidden Book Club), a novel in the fantasy genre, and Nomods (Wakefulness), poetry by Jānis Rokpelnis.

Guntis Berelis: Vilis Kasims. Svešuma grāmata (Foreign Book), a novel in essays on dealing with strangeness.

Laimdota Ločmele: Egīls Venters. Albatross, three “micronovels” about a lovelorn man with a dark past.

Sanita Dāboliņa: Guntis Tālers. Tukumu Karš (The War of Tukums), a historical novel about the Revolution of 1905 as experienced in the town of Tukums, Latvia.

Rolanda Bula: Kristīne Lubāniņa. Pīķa stunda (Hour of Spades), a detective novel.

Lāsma Gaitniece: Ilze Lāce. Plēšputnam līdzi (Along With the Raptor), a novel in short stories, mostly set in the diaspora.

 

I N   M E M O R I A M

We mark the passing of folklorist Austris Grasis, writer Nora Ikstena, translator Astrida Stahnke and scientist/diplomat Uldis Bluķis.