Arne Merilai and Piret Jaaks

Saturday 30 May
13:00
Estonian Writers' Union
Event language:
Estonian
Event translation:
English
Entry:
Free
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Arne Merilai (b. 1961) is an Estonian writer and literary scholar, and professor of Estonian studies at the University of Tartu. He is among the most versatile and erudite figures in contemporary Estonian literature. His debut book, the poetry collection Merlin’s Treasure: A Poetry Knapsack 1994–1998 (Merlini aare: Luulemärss 1994–1998), appeared in 1998 and established his language-driven and intertextual creative style. In the new millennium, he expanded from poetry into prose, publishing the novel Tyrant Oedipus (Türann Oidipus) in 2009 and Tree People (Puuinimesed) in 2024, the latter receiving the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s prose award. Merilai has, however, reaped his most substantial laurels in literary scholarship, having twice received the Cultural Endowment’s article prize for his studies of both classical and modern Estonian literature. This year has already seen the publication of his monumental essay collection Estonian Poetics (Eesti poeetika), which summarises his life’s work to date – a body of work that continues to develop and expand – with a central focus on figurative thinking and expression in Estonian literature and the advancement of poetics as a field.

Piret Jaaks (b. 1980) is an Estonian prose writer, playwright and screenwriter. She entered the literary scene in the early 2000s as a member of the Tartu NAK literary group. Jaaks came to wider attention in 2011, when her play Seeing a Pink Elephant (Näha roosat elevanti) won the Estonian Theatre Agency’s playwriting competition. This was followed by the magical-realist short prose collection Urban Legend (Linnalegend, 2015), for which she received the Betti Alver Debut Prize. To date, she has published six works of prose and more than twenty plays. Jaaks made her debut in the novel genre in 2023 with the historical novel Daughters of the Sky (Taeva tütred), which won third prize in the Estonian Writers’ Union novel competition. The book tells the story of Hedwig Büll, a Baltic German missionary hailing from Estonia, whose selfless actions during the First World War have been compared to those of Mother Teresa. A year later, Jaaks published the novel Moose Light (Põdravalgus), based on her award-winning play Rites of Passage (Siirderiitujad). This magical-realist relationship novel draws inspiration from Estonian rural life and folklore; alongside the shifting dynamics between its human characters, a white elk that speaks human language plays a central role in the narrative.

© Stina Kase
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