Klāvs Elsbergs (January 3, 1959 – February 5, 1987) was a Latvian poet and translator. He was the son of Latvian poet

Vizma Belševica Vizma Belševica (May 30, 1931 – August 6, 2005) was a Latvian poet, writer, and translator. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Belševica was born in Riga. Her father, Žanis Belševics was a worker, and her mot ...

Biography

Klāvs Elsbergs was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. His parents were Latvian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

Zigurds Elsbergs. In 1977 he started

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

studies in the Latvian University. He graduated in 1982. He was a major translator of

French poetry French poetry () is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone literature, Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France. French prosody and poetics The modern French language does not ...

including a collection of poems by

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

. Elsbergs also has translated works of

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

(

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his ...

). Also he was one of the founding editors of ''Avots'', an influential intellectual monthly that introduced avant garde and politically charged subjects during the period of

Glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...

. In 1978 he married Latvian poet Irēna Auziņa. Elsbergs was a leading poet of his generation and his poetry is still very popular in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. He published two volumes of his poetry and one was published posthumously. Klāvs Elsbergs died on February 5, 1987, in an accident after falling from the ninth floor of the Soviet Writer's Union building in Dubulti. His death is surrounded with rumours and there is even theory, that he was actually

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

ed.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elsbergs, Klavs 1959 births 1987 deaths Writers from Riga Latvian male poets 20th-century Latvian poets 20th-century Latvian male writers University of Latvia alumni