Author Category: Estonian authors

Triin Soomets (b. 1969) is an Estonian poet. Having made her debut in 1990 with the poetry collection Blue City (Sinine linn), which formed part of the “Poetry Cassette ’90” series, Soomets has since published several dozen books, most of them poetry collections – although in recent years she has also turned to writing short…

Eeva Park (b. 1950) is an Estonian prose writer and poet. Against the backdrop of the current prominence of women’s writing, it bears reminding that Park addressed violence against women in her prose already several decades ago – including in the short story Chance (Juhus), published in Looming and awarded the Friedebert Tuglas Short Story…

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…

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…

Anu Allas (b. 1977) is an Estonian art historian and writer. In fact, the public – or at least a large part of it – still knows Allas primarily as an art historian whose particular interest lies in recent Estonian art history, and who has interpreted and advanced the Estonian art scene through her work…

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,…

Margus Ott (b. 1975) is an Estonian philosopher and translator. He has brought into Estonian both Western and Eastern philosophical traditions, among them the works of Henri Bergson, Baruch Spinoza’s Ethics translated from Latin, and the writings of the Daoist thinker Zhuāngzi translated from Chinese. A central concept in his philosophical interpretation is “force” (vägi):…

Eik Hermann (b. 1978) is an Estonian philosopher and architectural theorist. He is a lecturer in philosophy and practice-based theory at the Estonian Academy of Arts and head of the doctoral programme in architecture and urban planning. In 2022, Hermann received the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s architecture award for advancing and mediating architectural thought. He is…

Aliis Aalmann (b. 1995) is an Estonian poet and prose writer who, despite her relatively short literary career, has already received several of Estonia’s most important literary awards: the Betti Alver Literary Prize for her debut collection Blood-Green (Verihaljas, 2021), the Gustav Suits Poetry Prize for her second collection The Power of Force (Väe võim,…

Berit Kaschan (b. 1985) is an Estonian poet and creativity trainer. Her debut collection, the self-aware yet expansive, ironic yet compassionate I Laugh in My Sleep (Ma naeran magades), appeared in 2016 and immediately brought her to prominence, as it was nominated for the Betti Alver Literary Prize and received the Tallinn University Literary Award.…