Uldis Bērziņš (17 May 1944 – 24 March 2021) was a Latvian poet and translator.

Biography

He studied Latvian philology at the University of Latvia and published his first collection of poetry in 1980. Bērziņš studied Turkish in

Leningrad University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the uni ...

Oriental Studies Department (from 1968 to 1971), and also studied in the Asian and African Studies section of

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

(concentrating on Persian and Turkish), at

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

State University ( Uzbek), Reykjavik University ( Icelandic), as well as in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and other countries. Bērziņš took part in the international

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

translation seminar at the Amsterdam Open University and

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

forum over questions regarding

Koran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

translations. From 2002 on he taught Turkish at the Modern Languages Department of the University of Latvia. Bērziņš' poetry has been translated into German, Swedish, Estonian and Lithuanian. In 2009, Bērziņš finished the translation of

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

into Latvian, an enormous work that took him fifteen years. He remembered with fondness the half year he spent working in an

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

library. During his work, he was also in correspondence with numerous specialists of the Quran and Islam. Bērziņš received various awards and honours such as the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

(1995), the Zinaida Lazda award (1994), the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature, the Arts and Science (1995) and the (2000). In 2009 and again in 2010, he was named one of the World's 500 most influential Muslims in survey conducted by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center (though Bērziņš was actually

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

). Bērziņš translated from Polish, Russian, Old Icelandic, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Persian, Ancient Hebrew and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

; he also knew Ivrit (

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...

), Tatar and Chuvash.

Works

Poetry

*Izšūpojušies. Bibliotēka ostmalā. ocked. Library on the Levee Riga: Neputns, (2014) *Saruna ar pastnieku Conversation With a Postman" Rīga: Neputns (2009) *Dzeja Poems" Rīga: Atēna (2004) *Maijs debešos May in the Heavens" Riga: Preses Nams (2002) *Daugavmala The Daugava’s Edge" Riga: Nordik (1999) *Nozagtie velosipēdi Stolen Bicycles" Riga: Minerva, (1999) *Dzeja Poems" Rīga: Artava (1995) *Kukaiņu soļi The Footsteps of Insects" Riga: Rainis and Aspazija Foundation (1994) *Laiks Time"; with Juris Kronbergs">Juris_Kronbergs.html" ;"title="Time"; with Juris Kronbergs">Time"; with Juris Kronbergs Riga: Zinātne (1994) *Nenotikušie atentāti ["Assassinations That Never Happened"], Riga: Liesma (1990) *Poētisms baltkrievs ["Belarusian Poetics"], Riga: Liesma (1984) *Piemineklis kazai ["Monument to a Goat"], Riga: Liesma (1980)

Awards and honours

*1994, Zinaida Lazda Award *1995,

*1995, the Baltic Assembly Award *2000, the *2009, Poetry Days prize for translations *2009, the Annual Latvian Literary Prize for his collection of poems Conversation with a Postman *2016, The Dzintars Sodums' Award for his translation of the ancient Icelandic Songs of Edda

References

External links

Fragments by BērziņšLatvian Literature - Uldis Bērziņš
1944 births 2021 deaths Writers from Riga Latvian Lutherans 20th-century Latvian poets Latvian translators Translators from Azerbaijani Latvian orientalists Quran translators 21st-century Latvian poets Latvian male poets 20th-century Latvian male writers 21st-century Latvian male writers 21st-century Latvian writers University of Latvia alumni {{Latvia-writer-stub