Kaur Riismaa (b. 1986) is an Estonian writer, critic and essayist. His work is characterised by breadth and playfulness. A recent and widely noted example is the essay How We Killed the Sacred, published under the pseudonym Nora Maria London, which won last year’s Estonian Cultural Endowment essay competition “The Next 100 Years of Estonian Culture”. Riismaa’s debut book, the poetry collection Our Mornings, Our Days, Evenings, Nights (Me hommikud, me päevad, õhtud, ööd, 2011), already attracted exceptional attention, with the epic scope of his poetry compared to that of Jaan Kross, Mats Traat and Ene Mihkelson. In addition to his work as Nora Maria London, Riismaa also made waves last year with his novel The Theory of Tired Light (Väsinud valguse teooria), which won the Estonian Writers’ Union novel competition. The book offers a vivid and dynamic overview of Estonia’s recent history, spanning from the kiosk economy of the late 1990s to the age of social media, and is populated by a colourful cast of characters.
Kaur Riismaa
