Kārlis Vērdiņš (born 28 July 1979) is a Latvian poet.

Biography

Vērdiņš grew up in

Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

. He studied for his B.A. and M.A. in Cultural Theory at the Latvian Academy of Culture. In 2009 he received his Ph.D. in

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 ...

from the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

. Since 2007 he has worked for the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, at the University of Latvia.

Writing

Vērdiņš is the author of many academic papers and essays on literature, both in Latvian and other languages. He is also a literary critic. He has published four volumes of poetry in Latvian - "Ledlauži" (Icebreakers, 2001, 2nd edition 2009), "Biezpiens ar krējumu" (Cottage Cheese with Sour Cream, 2004), "Es" (I, 2008) and "Pieaugušie" (Adults, 2015) as well as a children's book, "Burtiņu zupa" (Alphabet Soup, 2007). Vērdiņš has also written librettos and song lyrics for composers such as

Ēriks Ešenvalds Ēriks Ešenvalds (born 26 January 1977) is a Latvians, Latvian composer, mainly of choral music. From 2011 to 2013 he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Biography Ērik ...

, Andris Dzenītis,

Gabriel Jackson Gabriel Jackson may refer to: * Gabriel Jackson (composer) Gabriel Jackson (born 1962 in Hamilton, Bermuda) is an English people, English composer. He is a three-time winner of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors British Comp ...

Kārlis Lācis Kārlis Lācis (born September 21, 1977) is a Latvian contemporary composer. Along with the scores for theatre productions, movies, and musical arrangements, a large part of his work is dedicated to vocal and choral music, symphonic, and instrum ...

, and has published translations of

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

Charles Simic Dušan Simić ( sr-cyr, Душан Симић, ; May 9, 1938 – January 9, 2023), known as Charles Simic, was a Serbian American poet and poetry co-editor of ''The Paris Review''. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for '' The W ...

Georg Trakl Georg Trakl (; 3 February 1887 – 3 November 1914) was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem " Grodek", which h ...

, Lev Rubinstein,

Jacek Dehnel Jacek Maria Dehnel (born 1 May 1980 in Gdańsk, Poland) is a Polish people, Polish poet, writer, translator and painter. Life and work He graduated from the Stefan Żeromski High School No. 5 in Gdańsk, where he excelled in Humanities. Dehnel ...

, Konstantin Biebl,

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

and other authors. His own poetry has been translated in many languages: "Titry" (translated by Semen Khanin, in Russian, 2003), "Niosłem ci kanapeczkę" (translated by

, in Polish, 2009), "Já" (translated by Pavel Štoll, in Czech, 2013) and "Come to Me" (translated by Ieva Lešinska, in English, 2015). His monograph "The Social and Political Dimensions of the Latvian Prose Poem" was published by Pisa University Press in 2010. Vērdiņš has received prizes from the annual poetry festival in Latvia (2008) and from the newspaper "Diena" (2001 and 2008), as well as the annual Literature prize for best children's book of the year (2007). In 2012, he represented Latvia at the

Poetry Parnassus The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a programme of cultural events across the United Kingdom that accompanied the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. It included 500 events nationwide throughout the UK, spread over four years and culmina ...

festival – part of the Cultural Olympiad in London. His poem "Come to Me" was included in the list of the fifty greatest modern love poems, chosen by poetry specialists at the London's

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

in 2014. A selection of Vērdiņš' poems, translated into English, was published by

Arc Publications Arc Publications, also known as Arc, is an independent publishing house in the UK, publishing contemporary poetry from new and established writers from the UK and abroad, specialising in the work of international poets writing in English and the ...

in 2015. When reviewing this book the poet and critic Gregory Woods wrote, "his first person is singularly hard to pin down, apparently detached while involved, precise while vague, inventing stuff while accurately recording memory. The voices he adopts comment wryly on a world in which nothing could surprise us, even while everything takes our breath away. The reader finds she has to check the ground beneath her feet."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verdins, Karlis 1979 births Living people Writers from Riga People from Jelgava Latvian male poets 21st-century Latvian poets 21st-century Latvian male writers 21st-century Latvian writers University of Latvia alumni Latvian Academy of Culture alumni