Jaan Isotamm (pseudonym Johnny B. Isotamm; 19 October 1939

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

– 2 June 2014) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n poet. In 1956 he was imprisoned for participation in an anti-Soviet underground youth organization. He was sent to a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

in the

Mordovian ASSR The Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (russian: Мордовская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Mordovskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika'' ...

. In 1963, he was released, and he moved to Tartu. From 1969 to 1988 he worked as a night-watchman. From 1988 to 2003, he worked for the journal

Akadeemia ''Akadeemia'' is an Estonian language, Estonian-language cultural magazine published by Kultuurileht. 1989–2004, the journal was published by Perioodika. The journal's chief-in-editor is . First number was issued in April 1989. References

...

Works

*1972: poetry collection "Tekstiraamat. Luuletusi 1967-1970" *1999: poetry collection "Mina - Johnny B. Tekste aastaist 1967-1974"

Literature

* Jaan Isotamm, Nägija pimedate maal. Artikleid, intervjuusid, sõnavõtte. Compiled by Katrin Raid ja Mart Orav. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2015, 776 pages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isotamm, Jaan 1939 births 2014 deaths Estonian male poets 20th-century Estonian poets 21st-century Estonian poets Estonian editors Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Writers from Tartu