Brigitta Davidjants (b. 1983) is an Estonian musicologist, musician, translator, journalist and writer. The scope of Davidjants’s creative work is impressive – one need only look at last year, when she published several notable books. First, an English-language historical account of the Estonian legendary punk band J.M.K.E., entitled J.M.K.E.: To the Cold Land (Bloomsbury). Second, a short story collection An Explosion in a Chewing Gum Kiosk and Other Stories (Plahvatus nätsuputkas ja teisi jutte, Loomingu Raamatukogu), which on the one hand portrays everyday life in the Potemkin-like Soviet “paradise” of the late 20th century, and on the other uses its autobiographical texture to explore, through the character Brigitta, the broader socio-political tensions of the era from the perspective of an author of Armenian background – whether rooted in the streets of Tallinn or the highlands of Nagorno-Karabakh. Emerging from this personal, retrospective perspective are universal questions of adaptation, origin and identity. The story Into Silence (Vaikusesse) from the collection received the 2025 Friedebert Tuglas Short Story Prize.
Brigitta Davidjants
