Ojārs Vācietis (born November 13, 1933 — November 28, 1983) was a Latvian writer and poet. He is often considered one of the most famous and influential poets in the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

Biography

Ojārs Vācietis was born on November 13, 1933 in Trapene Parish, Latvia. His father Oto Vācietis was a

servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

. Vācietis studied in Trapane primary school and later in

Gaujiena Gaujiena (german: Adsel) is a village along the Gauja River in Gaujiena Parish, Smiltene Municipality, Latvia. It was the seat of a Komtur of the Teutonic Knights. The Gaujiena Castle was erected in the 13th century, but fell into disrepair in ...

secondary school. 1952 he started

Latvian language Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as ...

and literature studies at the University of Latvia. He graduated in 1957. Since 1958 he worked in several Latvian magazines and newspapers (for example: ''Literatūra un Māksla'', ''Liesma'', ''Draugs''). He was also an editor at the

Riga Film Studio Riga Film Studio ( lv, Rīgas kinostudija, russian: Рижская киностудия, Rizhskaya kinostudiya) is a Latvian film production company based in Riga and founded in 1940 on the basis of the earlier private film companies. In 1948, th ...

. In the 1960s he started to question many official ideological dogmas of the Soviet regime in his poems. As a result, he was not allowed to publish from 1960-1966. Some of his works from this period were published for the first time only during the

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution; lv, dziesmotā revolūcija; lt, dainuojanti revoliucija) was a series of events that led to the restoration of independence of the Baltic states, Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the Soviet Union a ...

. However, he was awarded the

State prize in 1967. He also translated many works from Russian into Latvian.Сборник «Свяжем хвосты»
/ref> His most famous and still very highly acclaimed translation was

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...

's '' The Master and Margarita'' in 1979. He was declared People's writer of Latvian SSR in 1977. Vācietis was married to the Russian poet Ludmila Azarova and their house in Riga,

Torņakalns Torņakalns is a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia located on the western bank of the Daugava River (neighbourhoods along this shore are collectively known as Pārdaugava). The name Torņakalns (''English: Tower Hill'') derives from a fortified t ...

neighborhood has now been transformed into a memorial museum. Ojārs Vācietis died on November 28, 1983 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. He was buried in Carnikava cemetery.

References

External links

Биография в Большой советской энциклопедии
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacietis, Ojars 1933 births 1983 deaths People from Smiltene Municipality Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Latvian writers Soviet poets Latvian poets Soviet translators Latvian translators Soviet children's writers Translators from Russian Translators to Latvian 20th-century translators University of Latvia alumni People's Poets of the Latvian SSR