Virgilijus Juozas Čepaitis (8 November 1937 in

Šakiai Šakiai () is a city in the Marijampolė County, Lithuania. It is located west of Kaunas. History It is presumed that Šakiai first expanded from ''Šakaičai'' village, which was first mentioned in 1599. In 1719 Šakaičiai was renamed to Šaki ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) is a Lithuanian publisher and translator, best known for his involvement in the

Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...

independence movement. He was the Executive Secretary of Sąjūdis and a member of its Initiative Group. He was also a signatory of the Declaration of the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania on 11 March 1990. In 1961, Čepaitis graduated from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Maxim Gorky Literature Institute The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. History The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...

. Čepaitis is married to Auksuolė Čepaitienė. They have three children and live in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Positions held

*1958–1988 – free-lance translator; *1988–1989 – the chief-editor of the film company "ARS"; *1989–1990 – the executive secretary of the Sąjūdis Movement; *1990–1992 – Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee for Civil Rights and Ethnic Minorities; *Chairman of the Sąjūdis faction, the member of the Lithuanian delegation in the negotiations with Russia in 1990–1991. Head of the Lithuanian delegation in the non-official negotiations with the Soviet Union in Hague, organised by De Burght consultations, 1991; *1993–1996 – the chief-editor of the publishing company "Litera"; *1996–2001 – the director of the publishing company "Tvermė". *Since 2001 – the owner of the publishing company "Librum"

Social and political positions

*Since 1968 – member of the

Lithuanian Writers' Union The Lithuanian Association for Writers () is an association for writers and poets in Lithuania, founded in 1922. It gives annual prizes and awards to talented Lithuanian writers. The Association also has its own publishing house. References Ex ...

; *1988 – member of the Initiative Group of the Lithuanian Reform Movement (Sąjūdis); *1988–1990 – member of the Sąjūdis' Seimas Council; *1989–1994 – Chairman of the Lithuania-Poland Association; *1990–1992 – Chairman of the Independence Party; *1990–1992 – Chairman of Stasys Šalkauskis Cultural Foundation; *Since 2003 – member of Lithuanian Translators Union. *Since 1993 – member of the Association of Signatories of the Independence Act

Literary works

Čepaitis has translated 59 books, namely translations from English to Lithuanian (including stories and plays of

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-th ...

, J. O'Neal,

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

); books from Lithuanian to Russian (novels and stories of Lithuanian writers Juozas Aputis, ,

Juozas Baltušis Albertas Juozėnas, mostly known by his pseudonym Juozas Baltušis (27 April ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 14 April1909 – 4 February 1991) was a Soviet Lithuanian writer, radio and press operative and public figure. A popular author in ...

, Vytautas Bubnys,

Romualdas Granauskas Romualdas Granauskas (18 May 1939 – 28 October 2014) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian author and dramaturge. He was born in Mažeikiai, Lithuania. Biography After finishing youth labour school in Seda, he worked with the Lithuanian newspaper "M� ...

Romualdas Lankauskas Romualdas Lankauskas (3 April 1932 – 4 February 2020) was a Lithuanian writer, playwright and painter. Biography Lankauskas was born in Klaipėda. In 1950–1953, he studied Russian languages and literature at Vilnius University. In 1952–19 ...

, ,

Kazys Saja Kazimieras Saja (born 27 June 1932) is a Lithuanian writer and politician. In 1990 he was among those who signed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. Life and Career Kazimieras Saja was born on 27 June 1932 in Lithuania. H ...

Ieva Simonaitytė Ieva Simonaitytė or Ewa Simoneit (23 January 1897 – 27 August 1978) was a Lithuanian writer. She represented the culture of Lithuania Minor and Klaipėda Region, territories of German East Prussia with historically large, but dwindling, Lithuan ...

, , etc.); books from Polish to Russian (stories and plays of T. Karpowicz, S. Lem, S. Mrozek, etc.). He is the author of a screenplay for the film ''Virto ąžuolai'' (Oak Trees Fell; 1976).

Awards

*The Medal of Lithuanian Independence (awarded on July 1, 2000) *The Award of Commemoration of Lithuania's Membership of NATO (awarded on July 25, 2002)

References

''Virgilijus Juozas Čepaitis''.

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

of the Republic of Lithuania. *"Lietuvos Istorija", Sąjūdis ("History of Lithuania", in Lithuanian) Vol XII, part 1, Institute of History of Lithuania, ed.

Česlovas Laurinavičius Česlovas Laurinavičius (born 16 September 1952 in Klaipėda) is a Lithuanian historian and political scientist, In 2003, he was the recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania The Order for Merits to Lithuania () is an a ...

, Vladas Sirutavičius - (12-th Vol, Part-1) and (12 Volumes), 2008, 579 pp. *"Su Sąjūdžiu už Lietuvą" ("With Sąjūdis for Lithuania", in Lithuanian) by Virgilijus Čepaitis, 2007, , 470 pp. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cepaitis, Virgilijus 1937 births Lithuanian publishers (people) Lithuanian politicians Lithuanian translators Translators from English Translators from Lithuanian Translators to Lithuanian Translators to Russian Living people People from Šakiai Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni Signatories of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania