Leon Briedis | Latvia<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>(b. 1949 in the region of Madona, d. 1 February 2020 in Riga) \u2013 poet, writer, essayist, literary critic, translator of poetry and prose, publisher.\u00a0 He graduated\u00a0 from the Department of Latvian Language and Literature at Latvian State University in 1968, where he continued his research until 1970 when he was expelled for anti-Soviet activity, losing the right to get an academic degree at\u00a0 any university within the USSR. Despite this, in 1972 he entered the Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Chi\u015fin\u0103u in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, which he was also forced to leave due to his contacts with Moldovan and Romanian democratically minded intellectuals. He took part in the Higher Literary Courses at\u00a0 Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, where he studied translation theory and African studies. Briedis translated poetry and prose from Latin, Russian, Polish, English, Romanian, Albanian, Suahili and Romance languages (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romanic). Aside from\u00a0 writing a dozen of his own poetry and prose, he also compiled an impressively extensive anthology of 20th century Spanish poetry and penned many essays, articles, film screenplays, librettos as well as translated stage plays performed in Latvia. He wrote lyrics to nearly 150 songs.\u00a0 He published twenty eight books featuring his own work and translated over 40 works.\u00a0 Despite the repressions of Soviet authorities he persisted in promoting international literary contacts. <\/span>
\n<\/span> He was a member of the Latvian Writers’ Union,\u00a0 PEN Club,\u00a0 as well as an honorary member of Latvian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. Throughout his career, he was active in various cultural institutions in Latvia. He was the editor-in-chief and publisher of the academic magazine \u201cKentaurs XXI\u201d that he set up and ran in 1992-2010. He was also the director of the publishing house Minerva. Briedis won many literary awards, both in Latvia and abroad – the Romanian Writers\u2019 Association gave him an award for promoting Romanoan culture in Latvia. In 1999, he received the Order of the Three Stars and in 2010 he received the Ojars Vacietis Literary Award for the collection of poems Mijkr\u0113\u0161\u013ca rokraksts. In 2015, he received the annual Latvian literary award for lifetime achievement and in 2016 his\u00a0 collection of children\u2019s poetry\u00a0 Saputrot\u0101putra was nominated for the prestigious Latvian literary prize, The J\u0101nis Baltvilks award. He died on 1 February 2020 during editorial work on the anthology. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>![\"a](\"https:\/\/wydawnictwo.warsztatykultury.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Briedis_Leons.jpg\" "\\"Briedis_Leons\\"")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Books<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
(b. 1949 in the region of Madona, d. 1 February 2020 in Riga) \u2013 poet, writer, essayist, literary critic, translator of poetry and prose, publisher.\u00a0 He graduated\u00a0 from the Department of Latvian Language and Literature at Latvian State University in 1968, where he continued his research until 1970 when he was expelled for anti-Soviet activity, losing the right to get an academic degree at\u00a0 any university within the USSR. Despite this, in 1972 he entered the Department of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Chi\u015fin\u0103u in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, which he was also forced to leave due to his contacts with Moldovan and Romanian democratically minded intellectuals. He took part in the Higher Literary Courses at\u00a0 Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, where he studied translation theory and African studies. Briedis translated poetry and prose from Latin, Russian, Polish, English, Romanian, Albanian, Suahili and Romance languages (Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romanic). Aside from\u00a0 writing a dozen of his own poetry and prose, he also compiled an impressively extensive anthology of 20th century Spanish poetry and penned many essays, articles, film screenplays, librettos as well as translated stage plays performed in Latvia. He wrote lyrics to nearly 150 songs.\u00a0 He published twenty eight books featuring his own work and translated over 40 works.\u00a0 Despite the repressions of Soviet authorities he persisted in promoting international literary contacts. <\/span>
\n<\/span> He was a member of the Latvian Writers’ Union,\u00a0 PEN Club,\u00a0 as well as an honorary member of Latvian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. Throughout his career, he was active in various cultural institutions in Latvia. He was the editor-in-chief and publisher of the academic magazine \u201cKentaurs XXI\u201d that he set up and ran in 1992-2010. He was also the director of the publishing house Minerva. Briedis won many literary awards, both in Latvia and abroad – the Romanian Writers\u2019 Association gave him an award for promoting Romanoan culture in Latvia. In 1999, he received the Order of the Three Stars and in 2010 he received the Ojars Vacietis Literary Award for the collection of poems Mijkr\u0113\u0161\u013ca rokraksts. In 2015, he received the annual Latvian literary award for lifetime achievement and in 2016 his\u00a0 collection of children\u2019s poetry\u00a0 Saputrot\u0101putra was nominated for the prestigious Latvian literary prize, The J\u0101nis Baltvilks award. He died on 1 February 2020 during editorial work on the anthology. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/span><\/div>Books<\/h2>\n<\/div>