Tiit Aleksejev (born 6 July 1968) is 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 novelist and playwright.Profile
/ref> Aleksejev was born in

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve is a city and municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of various petrochemical products ...

. He studied history at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

, and served as a diplomat in France and Belgium. His

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

was a thriller called ''Valge kuningriik'' (''The White Kingdom'', 2006). It won the Betti Alver Prize for best first novel. His second novel was a work of historical fiction, set in the time of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

. This novel called ''Palveränd'' (''The Pilgrimage'', 2008) won the

EU Prize for Literature The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), established in 2009, is a European Union literary award. Its aim is to recognise outstanding new literary talents from all over Europe, to promote the circulation and translation of literature among ...

and was translated into several languages subsequently (e.g. Italian, Hungarian, and Finnish). In 2011, he published a third novel ''Kindel linn'' (''Stronghold''). ''Palveränd'' and ''Kindel linn'' are the first and second part of what is to become a trilogy. His first play ''Leegionärid'' (''Legionaries''), about the fallen soldiers of the

Estonian Legion The Estonian Legion ( et, Eesti Leegion, german: Estnische Legion) was a military unit within the Combat Support Forces of the Waffen-SS during World War II, mainly consisting of Estonians, Estonian soldiers. Creation The formation was annou ...

, appeared in 2010 and premiered in 2013 in

Rakvere Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the administrative centre of the Lääne-Viru ''maakond'' (county), 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. Rakvere is the 8th most populous urban area in Estonia. Rakvere has a tota ...

. It received the Virumaa Literary Award in 2011. Another historical play, ''Kuningad'' (''Kings'') was published in 2014 and is about the murder of the four Estonian kings during the St. George's Night Uprising (1343). Aleksejev lives in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

References

External links

Tiit Aleksejev at Estonian Writers' Online Dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksejev, Tiit 1968 births Living people 21st-century Estonian novelists People from Kohtla-Järve Estonian dramatists and playwrights University of Tartu alumni Estonian male novelists