August Mälk (4 October 1900 – 19 December 1987) was an Estonian writer and politician.

Life

August Mälk was born on , in

Lümanda Parish Lümanda Parish was a municipality in Saare County, Estonia. It had a population of 876 (as of 1 January 2007) and covered an area of 199.49 km² (77.02 mi²). In 2014, it was merged with the municipalities of Kärla Parish, Kärla and ...

in the village of

Koovi Koovi is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Estonia. In the early 1990s there was a maoist community in the village, where a Finnish punk musician Jore Vastelin lived in until his death in 1993. Before the administrative ref ...

(then named Kipi-Koovi), located on the west coast of the island of Saaremaa, in modern-day Estonia (then part of the Governorate of Livonia in the Russian Empire). He attended the University of Tartu from 1923 to 1925 and then returned to Saaremaa to work as a teacher. He began his literary career while headmaster of the elementary school in

Lümanda Lümanda is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Estonia. Before 2015, Lümanda was the administrative centre of Lümanda Parish. Before the administrative reform in 2017, the village was in Lääne-Saare Parish Lääne-Sa ...

, publishing his first novel, ''Kesaliblik'' in 1926. Mälk married Pauline Triipan in 1933. The couple had one daughter. In 1935, Mälk achieved great success with his novel ''Õitsev Meri'' (The Flowering Sea), depicting life in a fishing village. It was the first volume of a trilogy that also included ''Taeva Palge All'' (Under the Face of Heaven) and ''Hea Sadam'' (The Good Port). In addition to his 18 novels, he also wrote plays, short stories and two books of memoirs. Several of his novels have been translated into German and Finnish. Mälk became involved in politics in the 1930s. He was a member of the National Constituent Assembly (''Rahvuskogu'') in 1937. In 1938, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies (''Riigivolikogu''), where he served until the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1940. In 1944, Mälk fled into exile in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

during the second Soviet invasion of Estonia. In

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, he served as the chairman of the Estonian Writers Union Abroad (''Välismaine Eesti Kirjanike Liit'') from its founding in 1945 until 1982. He died in Stockholm in 1987. In 2000, the Estonian Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the centenary of Mälk's birth.

Works

Novels

* ''Kesaliblik'' (1926) * ''Õnnepagulane'' (1928) * ''Hukkumine'' (1928) * ''Läbi öö'' (1929) * ''Kivine pesa'' (1932) * ''Üks neistsinastest'' (1933) * ''Surnud majad'' (1934) * ''Õitsev meri'' (1935) * ''Läänemere isandad'' (1936) * ''Taeva Palgen all'' (1937) * ''Kivid Tules'' (1939) * ''Hea sadam'' (1942) * ''Öised linnud'' (1945) * ''Kodumaata'' (1947) * ''Tea kaevule'' (two volumes, 1952–1953) * ''Päike küla kohal'' (1957) * ''Toomas Tamm'' (1959) * ''Kevadine maa'' (1963)

Short stories and novels

* ''Surnu surm'' (1926) * ''Anne-Marie ''(six short stories, 1927) * ''Surnud elu'' (1929) * ''Jutte lindudest'' (six children stories, 1934) * ''Rannajutud'' (five short stories, 1936) * ''Avatud värav. Lugu minevikust'' (1937) * ''Mere tuultes'' (four short stories, 1938) * ''Päike Kadunud. Jutte minevikust'' (five stories, 1943) * ''Jumala tuultes. Viis jutustust'' (1949) * ''Tuli sinu Isesüttiv'' (seven short stories, 1955) * ''Jumalaga, meri!'' (1967) * ''Project Victoria. Kuus lugu ''(1978) * ''Tere, meri!'' (Collection, posthumously ed. Aarne Vinkel, 1991)

Plays

* ''Moodne Cain'' (1930) * ''Vaes mehe ututall'' (Comedy, 1932) * ''Neitsid lampidega'' (Comedy, 1933) * ''Isad tee'' (1934) * ''Mees merelt'' (1935) * ''Õitsev meri'' (dramatization of Andres Särev, 1936) * ''Vanakurja vokk'' (dramatization of Paul Sepp, 1936) * ''Õnnega hada'' (comedy, under the pseudonym Kihulane Juhan, 1937) * ''Sikud kaevul'' (Comedy, 1938) * ''Taeva Palgen all'' (dramatization of Andres Särev, 1938)

Memoirs

* ''Hommikust keskpäevani. Elupilte ja mälestusi'' (1972) * ''Peale päevapööret. Mõtteid ja mälestusi'' (1976)

References

*Aarne Vinkel, ''August Mälk'', Ilmamaa, Tartu, 1997 (in Estonian) .

External links

Postage stamp commemorating centenary of August Mälk's birth.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malk, August 1900 births 1987 deaths People from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel Patriotic League (Estonia) politicians Members of the Estonian National Assembly Members of the Riigivolikogu 20th-century Estonian novelists Estonian male novelists Estonian male short story writers Estonian dramatists and playwrights Estonian World War II refugees Refugees in Sweden Estonian emigrants to Sweden Burials at Skogskyrkogården