Publishing in the Baltic Region

PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

The Baltic Region

2

Baltic Discoveries
BY ED NAWOTKA
I
was briefly posted as a journalist to
Tallinn, Estonia, in 1997. This win-
ter, I visited the city again, for the
first time in 20 years, and found the
place familiar but also alien: LED lights
have been strung up around Old Town
and the 100-year-old branch of the Rahva
Raamat bookstore on Pärnu that I used
to visit has been superseded by the mag-
nificent Rahva Raamat outlet, consid-
ered one of the best bookstores in the
world, at the posh Viru Keskus mall.
Riga, Latvia, and Vilnius, Lithuania,
were both new to me, and both were revela-
tions. Like many who have never visited
this part of the world, I tended to lump the
three countries—Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania—together under the idea of
“the Baltics.” This convenient construc-
tion is, well, just that: convenient.
What the nations do share is a history
of independence, giving way to 20th-
century occupation by the Nazis and
Soviets (under whom each nation suf-
fered oppression and deportations), and
then independence once more, in 1990.
This year is an auspicious one for all
Children taking a workshop at the Estonian Children’s Literature Center in Tallinn.
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
three countries, as they are each cele-
brating the 100th anniversary of their
initial independence in 1918.
The literatures of the Baltic states
also share some characteristics. The
Estonians and the Latvians, for exam-
ple, are devoted to poetry. Lithuania has
a strong commitment to publishing work
in Lithuanian and brings out a smaller
percentage of books from abroad than do
the other two countries. Each has pro-
duced books that seek to engage with
and understand their difficult histories,
a fact that is highlighted by each coun-
try’s London Book Fair Author of the
Day: Estonia’s Mihkel Mutt, Latvia’s
Nora Ikstena, and Lithuania’s Kristina
Sabaliauskaitė. These authors will be
presented at the Fair and are profiled in
these pages.
While this report cannot claim to be
comprehensive, it does strive to high-
light some important aspects of each
nation’s literary program, including
feminist writing in Estonia, edgy chil-
dren’s publishing in Latvia, and the thoughtful essay on publishing from one
commerce -minded book mogu ls of of Lithuania’s top practitioners, and
Lithuania. There is a look at the extraor- commentary on the Baltic literary com-
dinary National Library of Latvia, a munity from one of Estonia’s finest
writers.
Worth noting is that these nations,
tiny in comparison to their large, loom-
ing neighbors, have developed disposi-
tions best described as discreet. As a
result, these writers and publishers are
not prone to self-promotion. This discre-
tion is perhaps best captured by Latvia’s
marketing campaign for this year’s
London Book Fair, #IAmIntrovert,
which uses the persona of “I,” an antiso-
cial Latvian writer, to embody the coun-
try’s literary sensibility. The campaign
prompted the Estonians to joke that
clearly the Latvians were the more extro-
verted of the two nations, since they have
a marketing campaign in the first place.
That you may not be familiar with the
literary lives of these nations means one
thing: they are still yours to discover.
This report is just a sampling, and if it
makes you curious about these fascinat-
ing countries and their rich literary cul-
tures, we will have done our job. ■
3
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Contents
The 2018 London Book Fair Market Focus
will be the Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania. This special report surveys
the world of books in each country.
5 Becoming the Baltics: A Novelist Reflects
on the Literary Life of His Region
Despite being grouped together, each Baltic nation has a distinct
identity, writes novelist and scholar Rein Raud
ESTONIA
8 An Introduction to Estonian Literature
Kerri Tergem of the Estonian Literature Center explains her
country’s literary and publishing landscape.
9 Mikel Mutt: The Literary Conscience of
Estonia
Meet Estonia’s London Book Fair Author of the Day.
10 Maarja Kangro: Estonian—and
European—Feminist
The outspoken writer asserts that Estonians are “not some exotic
species.”
11 Adam Cullen: The Accidental Translator
The story of how a Minnesotan became the go-to English-
language translator for Estonian literature.
12 Tallinn’s Rahva Raamat
One of the world’s best booksellers is now a publisher, too.
13 Recent Notable English Translations
from Estonian
14 Traducta: The Estonian Translation
Grant Program
LATVIA
16 An Introduction to Publishing in Latvia
Latvia’s small market maintains high standards.
17 Riga’s Mountainous Monument to Books
Latvia’s National Library is an awe-inspiring sight.
18 Exploring Latvia’s History in Fiction
Meet Nora Ikstena and other leading Latvian authors.
4
19 Long Live #IAmIntrovert!
Latvia came up with a quirky campaign to promote the country’s
literary identity.
20 Printing in Latvia
The Latvian printing sector is focused on the export market.
21 Children’s Book Publishing in Latvia
Beautiful books are drawing international attention.
22 Latvia: Translation Grants for English-
Language Publishers
LITHUANIA
24 An Introduction to Publishing in
Lithuania
The executive director of the Lithuanian Publishers Association
surveys the literary scene.
25 A Publisher’s View of the Lithuanian
Book Business
The director of Tyto Alba describes what her house and other
publishers are up to.
26 Finding Lithuania’s Present in Its Past
The author of the Silva Rerum series charts the course of her
writing.
28 Giants of Lithuanian Publishing Weigh In
Two prominent publishers share their optimism about the future.
29 Recent Notable English Translations
from Lithuanian
30 Translation Grant Program of the
Lithuanian Culture Institute
31 The Baltic Countries at the London Book
Fair: A Schedule of Events
Associate Publisher Joe Murray, Executive
Editor Craig Teicher, Editor Ed Nawotka, Copy
Editor Penelope Cray, Art Director Sonya
Balchandani, Production Manager Michele
Piscitelli, Sales Coordinator Deena Ali,
Published by Publishers Weekly.
This special report was published with the
support of the Estonian Literature Center, Latvian
Literature, and the Lithuanian Cultural Institute.
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Becoming the Baltics:

A Novelist Reflects on the
Literary Life of His Region
Despite being grouped together, the Baltic nations have distinct
cultures and characters
BY REIN RAUD

T
o the rest of the world, the Baltic
countries seem to be a single
entity, so much so that it is often
considered unnecessary to call
each of them by name. After all, they
seem to have been firmly united by their
recent history: 50 years of mostly Soviet
occupation, repression, and cultural
oppression, followed by nonviolent,
“singing” revolutions, which got their
name from the spontaneous mass sing-
ing of patriotic songs at most political
gatherings. And finally, there was the
Baltic Way, a human chain of approxi-
mately two million people holding hands,
which stretched more than 600 kilome-
ters, from Dome Hill in Tallinn to the
Gediminas’ Tower in Vilnius, to com-
memorate the sad 50th anniversary of
the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, through
which Hitler and Stalin divided up
Eastern Europe, putting the Baltic coun-
tries under Russian occupation.
However, these singing revolutions
took place more than 30 years ago, and,
since 1991, the Baltics have returned to
the free world. Up close, the differences
between the three countries clearly out-
number their similarities. Apart from
their recent histories, the only features
common to the Baltic countries are the
absence of mountains and the fact that
there is more fat than spice in the
national foods.
Estonian is a Finno-Ugric language,
closely related to Finnish and more
remotely to Hungarian. Latvian and
Lithuanian, which are also not intelligi-
ble to each other, form a subgroup of the
Indo-European family, their closest
affinities being to the Germanic and

5
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Slavonic subgroups. Lithuanian, more-
over, is possibly the most archaic living
I ndo -Eu rop e a n l a n g u a ge , h av i n g
retained many ancient linguistic struc-
tures and word forms.
But the region has been multicultural
throughout its w r itten histor y. In
Estonia and Latvia, the aristocracy was
German-speaking, though it originated
f rom a l l ove r Eu rop e, whe re as i n
Lithuania, Polish became the dominant
cultural language after the Grand Duchy
of Lithu ania allied itself w ith the
Kingdom of Poland in the 14th century.
In addition, Lithuania retained its
religious freedom in the joint state
with Poland, making it an attractive
settling place for European Jews,
who brought their own culture.
Many Baltic cities were also mem-
bers of the Hanseatic League, the
medieval prototype of the European
Union.
Histor ica l ly, therefore, the
reg ion h as been con nected to
Europe since the 13th century, and
the traffic of ideas and people has,
since the adoption of Catholicism,
always been more intense than the
region’s communication with its
Eastern Orthodox neighbors. The
success of Protestantism in Estonia
and Latvia didn’t substantially
change the situation. Even though
Christianity had been present in the
Baltics since the 13th century, it
t o ok r o o t r a t h e r s l o w l y, a n d
Estonians remain the least religious
nation in Europe. Lithuanians were
the last nation in Europe to accept
Catholicism, but when they did
accept it, they did so with a ven-
geance felt to this day.
But the differences are felt also
on the societal level. Lithuanian
society, for example, is very collectivist
and hierarchic compared to Estonian
society, which embraces egalitarian indi-
vidualism. Latvians, in most cases,
occupy something of a middle point
between the two extremes.
One of the good things Protestantism
brought to the Baltics was a high rate of
early literacy among the common people,
even though the development of national
literatures did not take off until the late
18th century. These literatures went on
to contribute powerfully to the awaken-
ing of national consciousnesses in the
6
19th century and to provide a channel for
resistance during the latter half of the
20th. The Soviets considered all arts to
be ideological tools for brainwashing the
population and were convinced that the
system of censorship they had set up was
sufficient for the purpose. In Russia, this
was indeed the case, and most of the
interesting new works circulated in
underground publications. In the Baltic
countries, however, the Khrushchev
Thaw was seized as an opportunity by
the cultural elites to redraw the borders
of cultural freedom more broadly.
“
Translations
from many
‘unrecommended’
Western works
were able to see
the light of day in
Estonian, Latvian,
and Lithuanian.
”
As a result, translations from many
“unrecommended” Western works were
able to see the light of day in Estonian,
Latvian, and Lithuanian, which would
not have been possible in Russia, and
local authors influenced by these works
started to develop their own artistic lan-
guages. This was also something the
public quickly adopted. The first print
run of a new novel might have been about
20,000–30,000 in Estonia—in a popula-
tion of about one million speakers of
Estonian—and in every peasant house
was a reasonably equipped bookshelf
with some classic and some new litera-
ture. Complicated imagery and allusive,
indirect writing was not a problem for
most readers, and keeping up with what
was happening at the forefront of liter-
ar y culture was a matter of course.
Literature was nothing less than the
prime vehicle of cultural continuity and
certainly of the linguistic identity that
the Soviet regime actively sought to
undermine—though without much suc-
cess. This role of literature during the
Soviet occupation also accounts for the
centrality of poetry in all three coun-
tries. Even now, poetry is widely
read (and perhaps even more widely
written) among high school and uni-
versity students with literary inter-
ests, and the best poets are popu-
larly known in each country.
Not surprisingly, the Baltic liter-
atures are as different as the coun-
tries themselves, so the concept of a
“Baltic literature” is entirely devoid
of content. Sadly, the three cultures
are not so well known even to each
other. All three countries tend to be
more interested in what goes on in
the central hubs of world culture
than in the goings-on next door. And
in recent times, the younger genera-
tion reads more in English than in
the native tongues.
Literature has changed substan-
tially since the liberation, “normal-
izing,” one might say, no longer hav-
ing to take upon itself the task of
preserving cultural identities and
memories. The breadth of diversity
both within and between the three
literatures is impressive, with voices
are heard from all corners of society.
Equally broad is the range of topics
and the palette of literary styles.
More books are published than ever
before, and any novel selling more than a
couple thousand copies can be considered
a bestseller. It must also be said that the
general reader is less ready to delve into
the intricacies of literary sophistication.
But if all this has been the price to pay for
freedom (and, with it, for free artistic
expression), then is there anything really
to complain about? ■
Rein Raud is an Estonian writer and
scholar. He has written eight novels and
numerous collections of stories, poetry, and
essays.
Publishing in the Baltic Region:

ESTONIA

POPULATION: NUMBER OF PUBLISHING HOUSES:

AS OF 2016 1.3 million 120 (20 publish 20 books or more annually)

BOOKS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY: TOTAL COPIES PRINTED:

3,800 4.3 million

TOTAL PERCENTAGE OF BOOKS THAT NUMBER OF BOOKSTORES

ARE TRANSLATIONS: 63% 45

All statistics are provided by the Estonian Literature Center, the Estonian Publishers’ Association, and Tänapäev Publishers and are approximate.
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
An Introduction to
Estonian Literature
Kerti Tergem of the Estonian Literature Center explains her country’s
literary and publishing landscape
BY KERTI TERGEM
E
stonia is a tiny patch of land on
the edge of ice. We have been
raised in the forest, we have
fought in the forest, and we still
talk to trees. At one point, we grew bored
of that and invented Skype. The Estonian
population is hovering around the 1.3 mil-
lion mark but is decreas-
ing. To keep our heads
above water, we introduced
e-Residency, which enables
those not living in Estonia
to establish virtual resi-
dency in the country. We
are introverts by nature;
we do not talk much.
Instead, for a couple of cen-
turies and counting, we
have enjoyed one of the
highest literacy rates in
the world. More than half
of Estonia is still covered
by forest. Our only excuse
for cutting down a section
of it would be to build book-
shelves or make books—or
to set up Rail Baltica.
The first printed book in the Estonian
language appeared in 1535, and the print-
ing business has been important to us
ever since (read Meelis Friedenthal’s
novel The Language of Angels). But our
treasure trove of literature has long been
hidden, locked up by a language that is
alien to Indo-Europeans.
For us, werewolves and ghostly beings
are a part not of science fiction but of clas-
sical Estonian literature (read August
Kitzberg’s play The Werewolf or Andrus
Kivirähk’s November). Encounters with
wild bears are not rare in our woods (read
Nikolai Baturin’s The Heart of the Bear or
Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke
Snakish). We believe in hard work and
8
that toil is the key to love (read Anton
Hansen Tammsaare’s monumental Truth
and Justice).
Historically, Estonia has been subject
to the rule of the Danes, Germans, Swedes,
and Russians (read any of the works of
Jaan Kross, our grand old master of his-
torical novels). You can still stroll the
streets of the medieval Hanseatic towns
of Tallinn and Tartu, but first, read the
Apothecary Melchior murder mysteries
by Indrek Hargla, or The Willow King by
Meelis Friedenthal. The Soviet occupa-
tion brought strange bedfellows (read
Rein Raud’s Death of the Perfect Sentence,
Jaan Kross’s Treading Air, or Ilmar
Taska’s Pobeda 1946).
We boast outstanding local wise men
who draw their inspiration from Estonia’s
stunning landscape and language (read
Jaan Kaplinski and Valdur Mikita). We
cherish strong women who are not afraid
to tear their own body from the inside out
(read Maarja Kangro’s The Glass Child or
Elo Viiding’s The Others). The uranium
used in the Soviet nuclear industry was
enriched on our soil (read Andrei
Hvostov’s The Passion of Sillamäe), and
we have dynamite enough for alchemical
madness (read Paavo Matsin’s The Gogol
Disco). All in all, we are a virgin border-
land in many ways—mystical and undis-
covered, pristine and partly incompre-
hensible. One of our most translated
books is Border State, by Tõnu Õnnepalu.
Yet, the strongest part
of Estonia’s literature is its
poetry (read Doris Kareva,
Jaan Kaplinski, Juhan
Viiding, or Kristiina Ehin).
The word luuletama, which
means to create poetry, has
a second connotation: to fib
or to fabricate stories. You
need not believe all that is
written here. Instead, we
invite you to read, trans-
late, and publish the wide
scope of written word
penned on this stony land.
The London Book Fair
has chosen to showcase
the diversity of our con-
temporary writing by
introducing four outstand-
ing Estonian authors to the British audi-
ence. Mihkel Mutt charms with his witty
irony; Rein Raud stuns with his knowl-
edge of cultures and languages; Andrei
Ivanov is so lovably other, writing in
Russian and thinking as a cosmopolitan;
and Maarja Kangro proves that women
are the stronger sex.
Although digitally the most advanced
society in the world, Estonia is still wild
by nature with so much to share. ■
Kerti Tergem is director of foreign affairs
with the Estonian Literature Centre.
A slightly different version of this piece
was published on the website of the British
Council.
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Mihkel Mutt: The Literary

Conscience of Estonia
Estonia’s Author of the Day is respected for his critical eye and
satirical humor
BY ED NAWOTKA

E
stonian writer Mihkel Mutt is
among the three Baltic authors
being honored as the Author of
the Day at the London Book
Fair. The prolific novelist’s career has
spanned several generations of writers,
from the Soviet era to contemporary
times. Mutt is known for his insightful, if
somewhat acerbic, commentaries on
Estonian life in fiction and nonfiction
essays. “Estonia is a Lutheran Country,
so we adore not images but the written
word,” Mutt says. He points out that dur-
ing the Soviet era, dissident writers were
the closest thing Estonians had to free-
dom fighters. “Their job was to keep
Estonian culture alive, both the psycho-
logical and nationalist aspects, and to not
be ‘Russified.’” Affairs to editor of the main Estonian lit- documents the lives of the same intelligen-
Of course, he notes, many writers, erary journal, Looming. tsia—writers, artists, activists—in the
including himself, participated actively Mutt notes that the changes are a years before and after independence as
in the Soviet system, and it had its reflection of the true market. “Printing they gather at a popular bunker-like Tallinn
rewards. Things are, he says, very differ- costs are higher because we have a small café known as “the Cave.” Both books are
ent now, and many of his colleagues had population, and 1,000 copies sold is con- published in English by Dalkey Archive.
a difficult time adapting to the changes sidered good,” Mutt says. “Also, the intro- Mutt says that over time his writing
that came after independence. “Back in duction of self-publishing has adjusted to the social
the Soviet era everyone knew who you means that anyone can pub- changes. “One change that
were, they knew your face,” Mutt says. “It lish a book, so while the num- affects me personally in this
was an age with no mass media and to be ber of copies sold may be society is that people don’t
a writer was to be a celebrity in an age of going down, the number of understand irony any more.
no celebrity.” This celebrity translated books being published is Throughout the whole Soviet
directly into sales. “The numbers for going up.” system, people had to write
some of the books I published in the Mutt has published more between the lines, so to
1980s were astonishing—40,000 copies than 40 books, including six speak. And the result was
sold, a million people or more reading my memoirs. Among his most that people were very gifted
work. But I’m still suspicious of these recent works translated into in how they dissembled
numbers, which seemed unlikely then and, English is The Inner things, how they understood
frankly, impossible to conceive of today.” Immigrant, a collection of sto- things. The writing was allu-
He points out that the average print ries featuring Fabian, Mutt’s sive, people were writing
run now in Estonia is less than 1,000 cop- alter ego (think of Philip Roth’s Nathan fables. Today, the border between journal-
ies. “The golden aura around reading in Zuckerman), as he travels around postin- ism and literature is eroding and literary
Estonia has faded,” says the man who has dependent Estonia commenting on the style is more like… foam.”
served multiple roles in Estonian cul- best and worst qualities of the Estonian He smiles and says, “Okay, I admit it,
tural life, from communications director intelligentsia. Another recently trans- I am hard to please. But I’m also 100%
for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign lated novel, The Cavemen Chronicle, authentic.” ■

9
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Maarja Kangro: Estonian—

and European—Feminist
The outspoken writer asserts that Estonians are “not some exotic species”
BY ED NAWOTKA

“M
ostly I write about contem-
porary life in Estonia,
mostly about failures,” says
Maarja Kangro, author of
five poetry collections, several volumes of
short stories, and one documentary
novel, The Glass Child, which became a
bestseller. “It’s a book about a woman’s
desire to conceive a child, her inability
sustain a pregnancy, and the emotional
consequences that has on her life,”
Kangro says. The story, narrated over
three months in stark realism, is partially
depicted in the milieu of social media and
is set against the 2014 war in the Ukraine.
“In this way, it is a very public and very
private story at the same time,” she adds.
Kangro says that with this book in par-
ticular, she set out to give Estonian women
a stronger literary voice. “The establish-
ment encourages a kind of ‘good girl’
writer, and the result is that people write

about puking and being beautiful,” she
says. “But at the same time, the establish-
ment doesn’t value that type of writing
and doesn’t reward the writers.” It’s a kind
of trap, she says. “If you consider the most
important literary awards in Estonia, out
of 105 prizes, only 14 have gone to women
since 1984, a laughably tiny percentage.”
(By comparison, in Latvia, since indepen-
dence, 60% of the winners of major prizes
have been women.) She points out that
this need not be the case and that gender
equality is embedded in the Estonian lan-
guage, where personal pronouns are gen-
derless. “This can make for some interest-
ing writing and even more interesting
translations.”
Another sign that Kangro is taking
her literary destiny into her own hands
“
more common,” Kangro says. “Estonian
literary prizes are open to self-published
works. The Estonians don’t care where
the book comes from, so long as it is
Estonian literary worthwhile.” She admits to getting some
help from the establishment, in the form
prizes are open of a €2,000 grant from the government-
backed Cultural Endowment fund, which is
to self-published itself funded by a tax on tobacco and alco-
works. The hol consumption, to pay for the printing.
As much as she may want to set herself
Estonians don’t apart within the Estonian literary com-
munity, Kangro says it’s important that
care where the Estonians as a whole are seen as fully
book comes from, integrated into the contemporar y
European cultural community. “It may be
so long as it is fashionable to promote Estonian authors
as some exotic species,” Kangro says.
worthwhile. “People expect everyone from this area to

”
and separating herself from mainstream
publishing is the fact that she self-pub-
lished The Glass Child. “It’s not a big deal
here to self-publish, and it’s more and
write about Soviet trauma and to be wav-
ing a nationalist flag. But we are part of
what’s going on in the modern world, and
we write about that.” ■

10

Adam Cullen: The Accidental
Translator
How a Minnesotan became a go-to English-language translator for Estonian literature
BY ED NAWOTKA
M
ore than a decade ago, Adam
Cullen set out to learn Estonian
as a kind of personal chal-
lenge, to see if he could mas-
ter a difficult language through total
immersion. After moving to Tallinn, he
casually started translating newspaper
stories, and then a chance meeting with rep-
resentatives from the Estonian Literature
Center at a holiday party in 2010 led him
into the world of literary translation. Since
then, he’s been busy translating works by
Mihkel Mutt, Tõnu Õnnepalu, and Rein
Raud. He’s also published his first poetry
collection, Lichen, in both Estonian and
English.
You have translated numerous major
Estonian authors, though you are not a
native speaker. How did you go about it?
Literature should ideally only be trans-
lated or cotranslated by a native speaker
of the receiving language. The translator
must also be in a very deep and vibrant
relationship with the work’s original lan-
guage. Cultivating fluency to the point of
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
being capable of competently translating
a language’s, which is to say a culture’s,
literature and poetry requires commit-
ment to both that literature and to your
native tongue; it’s a partnership, with you
as the conduit. My manner of learning
Estonian was through immersion and
“talking around” words I didn’t know, a
technique that native speakers use to
expand and enhance their own under-
standing. I believe that this approach has
enabled me to receive and convey the
Estonian authors’ intentions with a unique
degree of intimacy in my native English.
What do you see as the primary challenges
facing Estonian literature and efforts to
get it translated and published?
Generating wider awareness that
Estonian is a language and a culture fun-
damentally unlike those of its neighboring
countries—save for Finland—is a work in
progress. However, the Estonian
Literature Center’s tireless efforts have
been drawing ever-increasing attention to
local authors and their writing over the
last decade. The large number of Estonian
works published annually in more than a
dozen languages is astonishing, consider-
ing Estonia’s size and population.
Furthermore, the Cultural Endowment of
Estonia provides very generous support
for foreign publishers of Estonian litera-
ture in translation and for the translators
themselves through the Traducta grant.
Estonians have a reputation for being
taciturn. Is that the case? Is that attitude
reflected in their literature?
Nordic peoples, which ver y much
includes Estonians, are indeed character-
istically quieter and more withdrawn,
and this certainly is reflected in their
writing. However, where dialogue is
muted, the authors’ observations and
descriptions of nature, society, and
human relationships are amplified and
much richer in detail. Tõnu Õnnepalu
[author, under the pseudonym Emil
Tode, of Radio, among other works] is
one such Estonian author, whose soft
manner in both person and prose pro-
duces breathtaking intricacy. It may also
explain why Estonian poetry is so power-
ful: the genre is perfect for someone accus-
tomed to saying little but speaking worlds.
You have taken to writing poetry in both
English and Estonian; can you tell me a
bit more about the relationship between
the languages and how it interacts within
you, as a creative person?
I’ve played violin since I was four years
old, and I’ve found that language, in
terms of both learning and practice, is a
very musical process for me. There are
rhythms and harmonies, and at times, it
more resembles the Sámi yoik: a verbal
force that swells within, sometimes fleet-
ing, sometimes echoing for hours, endeav-
oring to convey a scene or a person or an
emotion. Language is wound within this
impulse, and whether that language is
Estonian or English in any given circum-
stance depends on factors that remain a
mystery to me. ■
11
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Tallinn’s Rahva Raamat

Bookstore
One of the world’s best booksellers is now a publisher, too
BY ED NAWOTKA

R
ahva Raamat’s flagship book-
store, in Viru Keskus in Tallinn,
had the honor of being short-
listed for the London Book
Fair’s Bookstore of the Year Award in
2016. “That would make us one of the four
best bookstores in the world at the time,”
says Toomas Aasmäe, development man-
ager for Rahva Raamat. What makes the
store special? The same things that
would make it feel familiar to someone
from the United States: the store is well-
stocked, well-lit, sleek, and full of side-
lines. “We actually think that our best
quality is coziness,” Aasmäe says. “I think
we have the coziest bookstores and are
the friendliest in all of Europe.”
The original Rahva Raamat, a short says. And while the store does offer are prominent displays of stationary
walk from the flagship bookstore and still e-books, they have not proven especially imported from England, Pantone mugs,
in operation, was opened in 1912 by the popular. Currently, e-book sales account and Moleskine notebooks.
publisher Gustav Pihlakas. Today, the for just 2% of overall sales revenue. “The In 2017, the company launched its
chain comprises 10 stores in seven cities fact that e-books carry a 20% VAT, com- own publishing program, starting with 12
across the country. It runs a reading nook pared with just 12% for books. “We put our ana-
at Tallinn’s international airport, com- print books, doesn’t lytics to work and
plete with giant busts of famous writers, help,” Aasmäe says. could see that custom-
and is the country’s largest retail book The stores carry a ers were asking for
distributor, servicing libraries, depart- full complement of books that other pub-
ment stores, and other bookstores. books published in lishers were not inter-
Turnover for the chain is approximately Estonian and offer a ested in doing,” Aasmäe
€18 million. selection in English. says, “so we thought it
On a snowy weekday this past January, Online, the chain offers would be a good idea to
students sat with their laptops open, sip- 300,000 titles through start. The books are
ping lattes from the flagship store’s cafe, Gardner’s in the U.K., sometimes re-issues,
an unsurprising scene in a country that is with orders arriving in and some things that if
so digitally savvy. The chain hosts an Tallinn in three busi- you are in bookselling,
online store that offers same-day delivery ness days. are books based on new
for books, and online sales now account Unfortunately, ideas.” The competi-
for 10% of overall sales. “We have tried to Aasmäe says, “our chal- tion is not fierce;
create a bridge between online and off-line lenges here are the though Estonia has
shopping,” Aasmäe says. same as in any Western approximately 1,200
The store’s shopping app also caters country: Amazon, publishers in name,
to the Estonian character by offering a which has a website that redirects cus- only 20 or so publish more than 20 titles
function for finding the location of a book tomers to Germany; and the fact that per year. “We are experimenting with this
inside a bookstore, “so you don’t have to sometimes it seems some people want to at first,” Aasmäe says, “but we can see
ask for help if you don’t want to,” Aasmäe buy anything but books.” Indeed, there that there are opportunities.” ■

12
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Recent Notable English

Translations From
Estonian

The
Reconstruction Burning
Rein Raud, trans. by Cities
Adam Cullen (Dalkey Kai Aareleid, trans. by
Archive, Apr. 2017, Adam Cullen (Peter
U.S.) Owen, U.K.)

A dying father inves- In this novel about

tigates the circum- life in post–World
stances surrounding War II Tartu, nar-
his daughter’s sui- rated by a woman
cide in this novel by looking back on her
a leading Estonian youth, the Soviets
author, scholar, and have rebuilt and run
translator. the city.

The Man
The Inner Who Spoke
Immigrant Snakish
Mihkel Mutt, trans. by Andrus Kivirähk,
Adam Cullen. (Dalkey trans. by Christopher
Archive, June 2017, Moseley (Black Cat,
U.S.) 2015, U.S.)

Three extended This wildly popular

short stories, writ- novel follows a young
ten over several boy living in a fantasy
decades, take the version of medieval
measure of life in a Estonia and who
newly independent can communicate
Estonia. with animals. ■

13
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Traducta: The
Estonian Translation
Grant Program
Estonia’s Favorite
T
raducta is a major literary translation grant funded by
the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (Eesti
Kultuurkapital). The Traducta grant was established
to encourage the translation of Estonian authors into Children’s Author
foreign languages and to facilitate the publication of Estonian
literature abroad.

REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLYING:

● Cultural Endowment of Estonia application form, which can
be found on its website (kulka.ee/programmes/traducta)
● Contract between the translator and a foreign publisher
confirming the publication of the translation
● Contract between the foreign publisher and the owner of
the Estonian rights
● When translating a work of drama, a contract with a legal
entity that is going to produce the work of drama

The translator should also include a CV and a list of previously

published translations. (If the translator has already translated
part of the book, an excerpt may also be included with the appli-
Piret Raud is one of the leading children’s book authors and
cation.)
illustrators in Estonia, having illustrated over 40 books and
Any translator of Estonian is eligible to apply for the
written 16. She is the daughter of Aino Pervik and Eno Raud,
Traducta grant. Applications for this grant should be sent to the
also two of Estonia’s most beloved children’s authors, and
offices of the cultural endowment. The Traducta grant is issued
whose works are featured in the Estonian Children’s Literature
at the sole discretion of the cultural endowment, which alone
Center in Tallinn, which hosts some 150 children a day who
shall choose the recipient and decide the value of the grant,
take part in workshops, browse the library enjoy the playful
bearing in mind the size and difficulty of the book to be trans-
atmosphere.
lated.
Raud is the most visible member of a robust Estonian
There are four application deadlines for the Traducta grant
children’s publishing industry, which releases over 750 titles
per year: February 20, May 20, August 20, and November 20. ■
annually. Among the best-known writers and illustrators are
Andrus Kivirähk, Kairi Look, Kristi Kangilaski, Kadri Hinrikus,
Juhani Püttsepp, and Anti Saar. “This is a good, good time for
Complete applications should be sent to:
children’s publishing in Estonia, and a good time for foreign
Eesti Kultuurkapital
publishers to discover new work,” says Raud, whose own
23, Suur-Karja
work has been translated into 12 languages and is beloved by
10148 Tallinn
children in Scandinavia and France.
Estonia
English-language audiences will soon be introduced to
Tel: (+372) 69 99 150
Raud’s work firsthand, when Thames & Hudson publishers her
Email: kulka@kulka.ee
new book, The Ear, later this year. “It is about what happens
Website: kulka.ee
to van Gogh’s famous appendage,” says Raud. “No, it doesn’t
make sense that an ear has its own life, but in my imagination
it does. I write what can best be described as slightly silly
stories, and this is one of those. Perhaps it is even sillier
because I wrote it in English.”

14
Publishing in the Baltic Region:

LATVIA

POPULATION: NUMBER OF PUBLISHING HOUSES:

AS OF 2016 1.9 million 497 (70 are active trade houses)

BOOKS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY: TOTAL COPIES PRINTED:

2,150 3.7 million

TOTAL PERCENTAGE OF BOOKS THAT NUMBER OF BOOKSTORES:

ARE TRANSLATIONS: 51% 150

All statistics are provided by Latvian Literature and are approximate.

 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

An Introduction to
Publishing in Latvia
Regardless of the market’s limited size, given a national population of only
1.9 million, the standards of the publishing industry in Latvia remain very high

T
he 16th century saw the first
developments in publishing in
Latvia, but the industry was
dominated by German publish-
ers until the mid-19th century. Publishing
books in the Latvian language in Latvia
became widespread only in the last
decades of the 19th century, and many
publishing houses were established at the
beginning of the 20th century. A variety
of books was published during the first
period of Latvian independence, between
the two world wars. The peak came in
1936, when a total of four million copies of
1,601 titles were published (with an aver-
age print run of 2,500 copies per title).
In 1940, just before the Soviet occupa-
tion of Latvia, there were nearly 500 pub-
lishing houses in the country. During the
Soviet years, publishing was controlled,
financed, politically censored, and carefully
planned by the Soviet government. The
industry was concentrated in five state-run
publishing houses, and everything had to
be approved by myriad Soviet institutions.
A FINANCIALLY SOUND INDUSTRY
Despite this, publishing was considered the
largest creative industry in Latvia, based
on income and number of employees. After
Latvia regained independence in the early
1990s, the publishing sector was the first to
be privatized. New publishing houses were
founded, and the number of new titles pub-
lished each year now exceeds that of the
first period of independence.
Today, there are some 70 trade publish-
ers, which combined release an estimated
2,150 titles per year; the total number of
titles in print in the Latvian language is
around 11,500. Of these, nearly 2,000 are
available as e-books. Some 150 bookstores
dot the Latvian landscape. With no law
about fixed book prices, the bookselling
market remains competitive, and the
The Nice Place cultural center in Riga, with its ceiling of “flying books,” is a favorite
gathering place for local literati.
average price for a book is pegged at
around €12. Overall revenue for the indus-
try is between €25 million and €30 million,
and a single publisher, Apgāds Zvaigzne
ABC, accounts for nearly half of that.
THE LOVE OF POETRY
Annual competitions for the best fiction,
poetry, children’s books, and book design
show a great variety and high quality of
artistic work, design, and creative think-
ing. Tradition and innovation go hand in
hand here; readers eagerly anticipate new
books by well-established authors as well
as literary debuts. Two well-established
literary festivals add flair to the offerings:
September’s annual Poetry Days tradi-
tion dates back to 1960, and annual prose
readings have grown from a small literary
event, in the mid-1990s, to a full week of
various activities and visiting foreign
authors. The Children’s Jury, a program
that promotes reading, and the
International Baltic Sea Region Jānis
Baltvilks Prize help boost interest in
books among children and increase YA
readership. This year, Liels un Mazs,
arguably Latvia’s top children’s publisher
and winner of the two previous prizes, was
shortlisted for the prize of Best Children’s
Publisher of the Year in Europe by the
Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
In Soviet times, the lack of popular
culture led people to poetry, and poetry
remains at the center of Latvian literary
culture. In 2016, there were almost as
many poetry books (186) as fiction titles
(208) written and published in Latvian.
Then, in 2017, the top-selling book was
365 / Part 1, a book of poetry published
by Guntars Račs, a Latvian pop star. It
sold 9,000 copies, an impressive number.
Latvian readers follow global trends as
well: the second-bestselling title was Torn
Lace by Karīna Račko, an erotic novel in
the vein of Fifty Shades of Grey, and the
fourth-bestselling title was Origin, by
global bestseller Dan Brown. ■
The basis of this article was provided and
written by Latvian Literature, with addi-
tional reporting by Ed Nawotka.

16

Riga’s Mountainous
Monument to Books
The National Library of Latvia is an awe-inspiring sight and a place of pride
BY ED NAWOTKA
I
n very few, if any other, countries
around the world is the national
library the most impressive build-
ing in the capital. But in Riga, a
majestic, mountain-shaped building nick-
named the Castle of Light
dominates the skyline
along the river Daugava:
it is the National Library
of Latvia. This impressive
building signals just how
important books are to
the Latvian national
identity.
The building was
designed by the late,
much-lauded Latvian
architect Gunārs
Birkerts (father of the
American literary critic
Sven Birkerts). The inspi-
ration for the structure
comes from one of the
most-beloved children’s
stories in the annals of
Latvian literature, “The
Golden Horse,” a folktale
adapted by Rainis, the
pseudonym of Jānis
Pliekšāns, a major author
of the Latvian National
Awakening, in the early
20th century. In the story,
a young peasant is sent to
rescue a princess atop a
giant glass mountain,
called the castle of light,
where she has been
trapped for seven years.
The castle of light is a
metaphor for the lost wis-
dom that would rise again
from the depths of the
Daugava, once the
Latvian people came to
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
rule their own lands after years of occupa-
tion and rule by other nations.
The total cost for the building, which
opened in 2014, was €163 million.
“Perhaps even more amazing is the story
of how the books got into the new library,”
says Anna Muhka, the library’s head of
communications. “On a very cold day in
January 2014—it was –15 °C [5 °F]—we
had more than 14,000 people form a two-
kilometer-long chain and transfer the
books by hand from the old library to the
new one.” It was a symbolic gesture, as
just a fraction of the library’s collection of
six million items (of
which nearly two million
are in languages other
than Latvian) was trans-
ferred in this way.
At the center of the
building is an impressive
bookshelf called the
People’s Library, which
holds books donated by
guests, the result of a pro-
gram initiated in 2014,
which was also the year
Riga was named the
European Capital of
Culture. An architectural
illusion using mirrors,
inspired by Jorge Luis
Borges’s infinite Library
of Babel, makes it appear
that the shelf, containing
with some 5,000 items,
stretches endlessly up
the eight-story atrium.
Vast expanses of wood
paneling and accents,
much of it Latvian birch,
give the space a hushed,
relaxed atmosphere,
itself both an acknowl-
edgment of the contem-
plative character of the
Latvian people and a nod
t o t h e n a t i o n’s v a s t
forests.
“The library is, quite
simply, our national pride
and joy,” Muhka says. “It
is a true reflection of who
we are.” ■
17
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Exploring Latvia’s
History in Fiction
A bestselling series of novels explores a century of Latvian life
BY ED NAWOTKA
“L
atvian literature is very rich at
the moment,” says Dace Sparāne-
Freimane, director and editor-
in-chief of Dienas Grāmata, one
of Latvia’s leading literary publishing
houses. “The industry can be conserva-
tive, with translations of commercial
American titles, but that is not us.”
Instead, she says, Dienas is a bit “quix-
otic” and is intent on the
“promotion of national
literature.”
To wit, the company,
which was founded in 2005,
has become known interna-
tionally for publishing novels
in a series called We. Latvia.
The 20th Century, in which
each book chronicles a
decade or period of Latvian
history. The titles are diverse
in both subject matter and
tone. For example, Kristīne
Ulberga’s novel Tur (There)
is about Latvia’s 1980s hippie
movement, and Māris
Bērziņš’s Svina garša (the Nora Ikstena with her publisher Dace Sparāne-Freimane
Taste of Lead) addresses
Latvia’s role in the Holocaust. Regardless
of subject or period, these novels are writ- three women is fraught as they struggle
ten such that they offer a contemporary
commentary on history.
“This is a huge series, with 13 titles, events. “It is autobiographical. It is very
the last of which is being published in
April,” says Sparāne-Freimane. Several
titles have already become bestsellers,
including Pauls Bankovskis’s 18, which is
about the moment of Latvia’s indepen-
dence. Andra Manfelde’s Virsnieku sievas
(the Officers’ Wives), about the intersec-
tion of Latvian and Russian lives during
the 1970s, sold 10,000 copies, says
Sparāne-Freimane.
But the book that has resonated most
with readers is Mātes piens (Soviet Milk)
18
by Nora Ikstena. The book focuses on the
lives of three generations of women, shift-
ing between the 1940s, around the time
of Latvia’s liberation from Nazi occupa-
tion by the Soviets, and the 1970s and
1980s. In the novel, after a controversy
exiles her from St. Petersburg, a Latvian
gynecologist is dispatched to run a clinic
in a rural area; her daughter, named
Ikstena, who was heretofore being raised
by her grandmother, is sent to live with
her mother. The relationship between the
within the Soviet system, which looms
ominously in the background, shaping
much my mother’s story and my own,”
says Ikstena, who also says she used
many real-life people as characters, some
without even changing their names.
The book has sold 20,000 copies in
Latvia, a significant number. “The unique
thing is that this novel, as well several
others in the We. Latvia. The 20th
Century series, has reached younger
readers,” says Sparāne-Freimane, who
credits the contemporary language in the
books with making their sometimes diffi-
cult and distant subjects more accessible.
Ikstena will be Latvia’s featured
Author of the Day at the London Book
Fair. She is one of a quartet of writers rep-
resenting the country; joining her are
Inga Ābele, author of Duna (Dune), also
in the We. Latvia. The 20th Century series,
and the bestseller High Tide (published
in English by Open Letter); children’s
and middle-grade author Luīze Pastore;
and the poet Kārlis Vērdiņš.
The fair will provide the
unique opportunity for
English-language readers to
experience Latvian litera-
ture firsthand, which
Sparāne-Freimane hopes will
result in more translations.
“Right now, the countries
that have the best relation-
ship with Latvian literature
are Albania, Croatia,
Macedonia, Serbia, and
Slovenia,” she says. “They are
small, poor countries that
pay for an entire translation
with a grant they might get.
The challenge for others, and
for publishing in general, is money.”
Asked whether there are any misper-
ceptions about Latvian literary life that she
would like to clear up in London, Sparāne-
Freimane asks, in response, “How can
there be any misperceptions if there are
no perceptions?” She says, “I think that
is what we would like to clear up. We’d
like there to be a perception. Authors
always complain, asking why we [publish-
ers] are not extolling [Latvian literature]
now. But for us publishers, talking is dif-
ficult, just like it is for writers.”
Sparāne-Freimane then pauses a
moment and says, “Okay, let me try to
create a perception. ‘Latvia is a small,
wonderful world, one that is still mysteri-
ous, waiting to be discovered by the
reader.’ That should be enough.” ■
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Long Live #IAmIntrovert!

Latvia’s quirky campaign to promote its writers has attracted a following of fans
BY MIKE COLLIER receptive to what is undoubtedly a high- depicting embittered authors sneering at

I
risk marketing strategy. “It seems to me the popular success of commercial writ-
s there a stereotype of a Latvian that when you communicate honestly ers. This was even followed by the produc-
writer? Perhaps a somber figure in and open-mindedly, you show your tion of a bespoke beer. The result is that
black who disdains popular culture strength, even if what you are saying is #IAmIntrovert has transformed from a
and pores endlessly over obscure awkward,” Rozenbauma says. “At the cliquey concept into a wry and likeable
literary theory. An air of humorless aca- beginning of the campaign, there was a look at literary life, one that treats the
demic seriousness likely lingers over him. rather pronounced counterresponse audience as intelligent skeptics rather
He probably likes Dostoyevsky but from ‘positivists,’ than babyish con-
regards him as a bit light. He himself who prefer the com- sumers who need to
writes novels in which people stare out of mon practice that be spoon-fed good
windows at the falling snow, contemplating we follow commu- news.
suicide between shots of potato vodka. nication clichés— Anete Konste, a
If the above matches your imagina- that we are all smil- Latvian writer with
tion, then you would delight in a hugely ing, open, and per- a talent for humor,
successful marketing campaign called fect. But these scripts the car-
#IAmIntrovert created by Latvian weren’t writers; toons in collabora-
Literature, the national agency charged these were some tion with the artist
with promoting, well, Latvian literature. readers. The writ- Reinis Pētersons.
The #IAmIntrovert campaign may ers themselves The comic features
seem counterintuitive. While most mar- backed the cam- a main character
keting efforts opt for the colorful or paign and admitted (an introverted
touchy-feely and choose to focus on how they are introverts. writer named “I”)
wonderful, modern, and diverse whatever Now, the overall and, occasionally,
they are selling is, Latvia has been run- response, ironi- an equally narcis-
ning one that is, in effect, one giant sigh. cally, is positive. It sistic though decid-
The person who came up with the idea makes people smile edly more elegant
of #IAmIntrovert is Una Rozenbauma, a and keeps things in female counterpart.
film director and marketing expert who perspective.” It is to Latvian
was inspired by meeting one particular Several authors Literature’s credit
individual. appeared in promotional clips on that all this has been achieved on a bud-
“I started considering the introvert YouTube ahead of the 2017 London Book get of less than €30,000. And, in reality,
type when I met a man I simply could not Fair. All were wearing dark clothes and the stereotype of the Latvian writer as a
work out,” Rozenbauma says. “At first, I most had spectacles. At last year’s thin, intense, introverted man is itself a
thought he was just very awkward and a London Book Fair, the Latvian stand work of fiction. For a start, many of the
bit of an idiot, but offered a clothes most talented writers in Latvia today are
then I realized, no, rack displaying women—Nora Ikstena and Māra Zālīte
he’s just an intro- dingy black gar- are just two marquee names. You also
vert. When conceiv- ments, each one may have noticed that the people behind
ing the campaign, I featuring a short the #IAmIntrovert campaign, with the
offered several ideas quote from a exception of Reinis Pētersons, also all
to Latvian Literature, Latvian author, happen to be women.
one emphasizing the and invited people In this sense, the concept of the intro-
strength of our to take selfies with verted Latvian writer, then, is something
women writers, their backs turned like Voltaire’s concept of God: as he didn’t
another emphasiz- to the camera. It really exist, it was necessary for a group
ing poetry and illus- was, to many, a of talented women to invent him—in
tration. But we saw there was an issue masterstroke: the first book fair stand order to then destroy him—which sounds
with Latvian authors not liking to speak you could literally wear. (You can expect a lot more like Nietzsche. ■
in public and sell themselves, so the intro- to see the selfie stand again this year.)
vert concept took off.” The #IAmIntrovert campaign has Mike Collier is a British writer and jour-
She said officials were surprisingly since branched into online cartoons nalist who has lived in Latvia since 2008.

19
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Printing in Latvia
The export market is central to the sector’s growth
BY MIKE COLLIER

L
atvia has a long and proud
domestic publishing tradition
that reaches back 100 years,
when the production of Latvian-
language books played a key role in the
independence struggle. Unfortunately,
the sector was hit hard by the 2008 finan-
cial crisis, during which the number of
books produced dropped by 40%. “That
was a clear sign to us that if we wanted to
survive and grow, we should go outside
Latvia,” says Girts Karlsons, sales direc-
tor for Jelgavas Tipogrāfija, Latvia’s larg-
est and best-known printer.
Today, the company, based in the city
of Jelgava, which has been an important
printing center since the 18th century,
derives 70% of its revenue from exports,
with much of that coming from
Scandinavian countries. In 2017, the com-
pany produced four million books, with printing in one factory. For us, it’s the Baumanis on the importance of compet-
total sales just under €10 million and an norm. At the moment, we have more than ing in the Scandinavian market. “In
average production time of two weeks for 35 different product options.” Latvia, people who might be interested in
both hardcover and paperback editions. To market those options, sales repre- publishing their own book often can’t
“The local market has now recovered sentatives now speak a variety of lan- afford it. In Scandinavia, self-publishing
and is stable, though it is not growing, so guages, which Karlsons says is of crucial is very popular, and lots of people are
the share we can get outside of Latvia is importance. “In the beginning, we writing and wanting to publish their own
really where our future development worked only English,” he says. “It was books. We are here to help them.”
lies,” Karlsons says. “This actually applies fine in Scandinavia but not in France or Sweden is the top export market for
to pretty much any company in Latvia—if Germany. Then we realized we should Drukātava, accounting for approxi-
you want to be up-to-date with the newest hire native speakers and have people on mately 60% of business, followed by
technology, at some point the local mar- our team who speak the customer’s lan- Finland, Denmark, and Norway. “We
ket is simply not large enough.” guage. This is really important—we need focus on those markets largely because of
Jelgavas Tipogrāfija aims to compete to be conversant not just in the language logistics,” Baumanis says. “To send small
not with big foreign printers, which pro- but also in the business culture.” print runs of books beyond those markets
duce print runs in the tens of thousands, In the capital, Riga, the Drukātava is too expensive.”
but with small to medium printers, where printing house is a much younger busi- He acknowledged that there are many
a print run ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 ness, having been established in 2005. It printers in Poland and throughout cen-
copies. has proven adept at seeking out and tral and eastern Europe that can com-
“All of our machines in the book pro- exploiting new niches and markets, par- pete on cost but that don’t have some of
duction business are one to five years old, ticularly in self-publishing, with its fast the Baltic printers’ other advantages.
so we have current technology and can turnaround and small-scale, digital print “Communication is key for us—we want
produce top quality books,” Karlsons runs. The company offers design and lay- to be fast, accurate, and easy to work
says. “We’re also very strong on color out services as well. Exports account for with,” Baumanis says. “Quality and price
management and product range. For the about 85% of Drukātava’s total sales, might be the same as those of other print-
Latvian market, we had to make every- which reached about €1.2 million in 2017. ers, but clients will choose the printer
thing in-house, and we try to maintain “It’s not just the size of the local mar- with whom they get personal contact,
that level of control. In many places in ket but also what we call ‘capability to pay special attention, and understanding. I
Europe, it’s rare to have binding and for services,’” says sales manager Atis think this is what matters.” ■

20

Children’s Book Publishing
in Latvia
The sector’s attractive and intriguing books are drawing international acclaim
BY ED NAWOTKA
I
f there is a single genre, for both
children and adults, that is most
readily identified with Latvian pub-
lishing, it is poetry. During the
Soviet period, poetry was used by the
state as a kind of mass media for propa-
ganda, and to rebel, poets pushed well
beyond convention, into increasingly
experimental and innovative
forms. Among those best known
for daring work was the folklorist
and poet Ojārs Vācietis (1933–
1983), who is remembered for
inventing, among many other cre-
ations, a mysterious horse that
sings in the night as a symbol of his
independence. The horse is also
central to the work of Rainis, the
pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns
(1865–1929), whose play The
Golden Horse, based on a fairy tale,
is also a fable about independence.
The Horse also happens to be
the title of the first guide to
Latvian authors and illustrators. An illustration by Anna Vaivare from The Horse, the catalog of writing styles; the books them-
The guide was developed by Latvian authors and illustrators. Words by Inese Zanderel.
Latvian Literature as a promotion for
this year’s book fairs in Bologna and
London and comprises work by 20
Latvian writers and 20 Latvian illustra-
tors across generations.
“Horses can symbolize many things
and are usually connected with teamwork
and mutual trust,” says Santa Remere,
the guide’s editor, in the introduction. “In of which approximately 100 are originally
this case, the horse represents the col-
laboration between the writers and art-
ists.” Represented in the book is is most
of Latvia’s top children’s publishing tal-
ent, including Luīze Pastore, one of four
authors who will be officially representing younger readers, and the other half are
Latvia at the London Book Fair.
Pastore is the author of eight chil-
dren’s books for readers between the ages
of seven and 16, including a popular
series of middle grade nonfiction books
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
called the Art Detectives, in which two
young sleuths and their trusty dog inves-
tigate the hidden secrets of some of
Latvia’s best-known artworks. “Our ambi-
tion is to take this beyond Latvia and to
expand the series to other countries and
other famous pieces of art,” Pastore says.
Readers can sample her work in the
young adult novel Dog Town, which has
been translated by Žanete Vēvere
Pasqualini and published in English by
Firefly Books. It is based on a local legend
and concerns a boy who, together with a
group of talking dogs, seeks to fight the
gentrification of a run-down but beloved
neighborhood.
In all, 15 Latvian publishers publish
some 300 new children’s books each year,
written in Latvian; the others are transla-
tions, half of which are from English, with
the rest translated from Russian,
German, French, and other languages.
Half of these are illustrated books for
fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction for The Noisy Classroom by Ieva Flamingo,
young, middle grade, and young adult
readers, an area that continues to grow.
One young adult title in particular has
become something of a cult book: Jelgava
’94 by Jānis Joņevs, which has been
described as a Latvian Catcher in the Rye.
The novel, set in the 1990s in the city of
Jelgava, takes place in the heavy metal
scene and is narrated, in part, in the form
of a teenager’s diary. It has been trans-
lated into English as Doom ’94 and is
being published by the U.K.’s Wrecking
Ball Press. “It is hard-edged, not flowered
up, and is dirty realism, which is what we
like to publish,” says Shane
Rhodes, publisher at Wrecking
Ball. But, “Latvian literature is
new to a lot of readers in the U.K.,
so it is a challenge to publish.”
Pam Dix, U.K. president of the
International Board on Books for
Young People, is a fan of the Bicki-
Buck Books series published by
Liels un Mazs. “I hope we can do
something to promote this series
in London,” Dix says. The series of
100 small picture books, each
depicting an illustrated poem, has
introduced young readers (and
adults) to a wide variety of art and
selves have become collectibles.
The series is among the reasons that the
Riga-based publishing house was nomi-
nated as the European Best Children’s
Book Publisher of the Year by the Bologna
Children’s Book Fair and the Italian
Publishers Association.
And when it comes to Latvia’s beloved
poetry, “we’ve been able to do what we were
told was impossible,” says Žanete Vēvere
Pasqualini, who handles rights representa-
tion on behalf of Latvian Literature. “We
have been able to sell the rights for poetry
in translation.” Some of the Latvian chil-
dren’s poetry titles that have been or are
about to be published in English include
and The Book of Clouds (a working title) by
Juris Kronbergs, both from Emma Press,
and Jill Is Ill by Inese Zandere, forthcom-
ing from Little Island Press. ■
21
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Latvia: Translation
Grants for English-
Language Publishers
Scenes of Literary Life in Riga

T
he goal of the three-year program Support for Foreign
Publishers Publishing Latvian Literature is to ensure
that the best of Latvian prose, poetry, drama, journal-
ism, and children's literature is accessible and known
beyond the borders of Latvia.
The program was developed and is organized and adminis-
tered by the Latvian Writers Union (LWU) and is financed by
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the State
Culture Capital Foundation. It is part of a series of cultural
activities jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Culture in coop-
eration with the Latvian Publishers’ Association, the
International Writers’ and Translators’ House, and the LWU.
The grant program provides financial support to foreign
publishers publishing Latvian literature and thereby aims to Members of Latvia’s Orbita Experimental Poetry Group.
increase foreign publishers’ interest in Latvian literature and
encourage its translation into different languages.
Any foreign publisher that is a legal entity and has experi-
ence working with foreign authors has the right to take part in
the program.
Grant applicants can apply for financial support to cover
book translation and production costs.
Applications should be submitted online, with documents
uploaded as PDF files, at latvianliterature.lv/en/grants.
Grants applications are accepted four times a year. Project
applications are accepted in accordance with the deadlines set
by the LWU. Projects must be implemented within 10 months
of the date of signing the agreement.
For more information, visit info@latvianliterature.lv. ■
Riga's English-language bookstore Robert's Books.
Note: This information has been provided by Latvian Literature
for the use of English-language publishers.

The home of the godfather of Latvian literature, Rainis, is

preserved as a museum.

22
Publishing in the Baltic Region:

LITHUANIA

POPULATION: NUMBER OF PUBLISHING HOUSES:

AS OF 2016 3 million 509 (65 publish 10 books or more annually)

BOOKS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY: TOTAL COPIES PRINTED:

3,410 4.6 million

TOTAL PERCENTAGE OF BOOKS THAT NUMBER OF BOOKSTORES:

ARE TRANSLATIONS: 32% 144

All statistics are provided by the Lithuanian Publishers Association and are approximate.
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
An Introduction to
Publishing in Lithuania
The executive director of the Lithuanian Publishers Association surveys the literary scene
BY AIDA V. DOBKEVIČIŪTĖ
“T
he Lithuanian language still
retains an archaic nature: it is
the most archaic and conserva-
tive form of the still used Indo-
European languages,” says Professor
Pietro U. Dini, translator of Lithuanian
poetry. It is a glottosaur—a linguistic
dinosaur that is alive and kicking and has
been one of the official languages of the
European Union since May 1, 2004.
Less than three million Europeans
speak Lithuanian, yet there remains a
thriving literary culture in Lithuania sup-
ported by a vibrant publishing industry.
Publishing in Lithuania over the
years of independence has faced the same
challenges as its counterparts in Eastern
Europe, including the deterioration of
the old publishing structures, the forma-
tion of new ones, the boom of the early
1990s, and the bust following the 2008
and 2009 financial collapse.
A BURGEONING MARKET
Lithuanian publishers have proved their
ability to find their place in the market
economy and to make a substantial contri-
bution to it’s development. Publishers
have taken a leading role in education and
the culture of the new Lithuania, despite
its small market and unique language.
The restoration of Lithuania’s inde-
pendence forced the transition to a mar-
ket economy, and the process was facili-
tated and sped up by the rapid changes in
political and social life, the easing of cen-
sorship, and the amendment of laws
related to publishing.
Publishing became one of the most
profitable industries in the early ’90s.
Growth stalled in 1999, after a crisis in
Russia that year, as well as in 2008, after
which we saw a contraction and concen-
tration in publishers and booksellers.
According to the most recent statistics
24
from the National Library, in 2016 there
were some 509 organizations and enter-
prises that acquired ISBN numbers, thus
earning the designation of “publisher.”
Alas, a more realistic view demonstrates
that there are just 65 Lithuanian publish-
ing houses that have put out more than 10
books per year. These houses pub-
lished more than 3,400 new titles
in 2016, with a circulation of 4.6
million copies.
Publishers in Lithuania tend to
be small, employing three or four
full-time staffers on average. But
there is one clear market leader:
the Alma Littera Group, which
includes the dominant Šviesa pub-
lishing house. Between 2012 and
2016, this group produced 23% of
the sector’s total units. Its closest The Vilnius Book Far is the biggest in the Baltics, attracting
more than 67,000 people to 500 events each February.
competitors, including the Baltų
Lankų Leidyba, Obuolys, Svajonių Knygos,
and Tyto Alba, published just 4%–5% of the
overall book circulation.
BOOK SALES AND BOOKSELLING
Literature by Lithuanian authors accounts
for approximately two-thirds of all book
titles and approximately half of the annual
circulation. In recent years, these books
have also dominated the bestseller lists.
Translations continue to be important,
with the most popular titles coming pri-
marily from English-speaking countries,
including Australia, Canada, Ireland, the
United States, and the United Kingdom.
These books account for 43% of all
translations.
Traditionally, the main sales channel
for books is bookstores. As of 2016, there
were 144 bookstores in Lithuania, where
two major chains dominate sales: Vaga,
which has 35 bookstores, and Pegasas,
which has 33 bookstores. The remainder,
some 55% of bookstores, are smaller inde-
pendents, which are fighting for survival.
The most successful independent stores,
like others around the world, rely on their
individual relationships with customers
and positions in the community. Libraries
also play an important, supplementary
role, both for readers and for publishers.
In 2016, there were 2,500 libraries in
Lithuania (down from 2,800 in 2008).
COMPETITION FOR READERS
The competition for readers is fierce. The
pace of modern life, with its myriad digital
distractions and other leisure activities,
has meant that the industry has largely
shifted to the support of older readers.
Today the main Lithuanian buyers of
books are citizens between the ages of 30
and 50. They have stable purchasing
power and are accustomed to buying print
books. Younger generations have different
interests, and publishers are still testing
the market and trying to find creative and
effective solutions for expanding reader-
ship to this new market. E-books are one
option, but they have had little traction in
Lithuania thus far, and the majority of
digital books are textbooks and other edu-
cational purposes. Audiobooks have had
minimal impact on the market. ■
Aida V. Dobkevičiūtė is the executive director
of the Lithuanian Publishers Association.
A slightly different version of this article
previously appeared on the Lithuanian
Publishers Association website.

A Publisher’s View of the
Lithuanian Book Business
The director of Tyto Alba describes what her house and other publishers are up to
BY LOLITA VARANAVIČIENĖ
S
ince the restoration of Lithuanian
independence in 1990, the coun-
try’s world of books has flour-
ished, both quantitatively and
qualitatively, thanks to private publishing
houses, whose efforts are responsible for
the state of Lithuanian publishing
today.
In 2000, there were 1,000 registered
publishing houses in Lithuania. This
number may seem astounding and to
beg the question, “What’s the popula-
tion of Lithuania?” At the time, it was
around three million (every Lithuanian
could sing this out to you because of
the famous song by Marijonas
Mikutavičius called “Three Million”).
Of course, not all these houses pub-
lished works by Lithuanian authors.
Some would release only one or two “hot”
bestsellers and then close up shop.
The restoration of independence in
1990 changed our world dramatically.
Those were the years of liberation from
mental stagnation, when we got rid of the
ideological shackles we’d been wearing in
previous years. Translations of brand-
new books from their original languages
became much more common. During the
Soviet era, many books were translated
from Russian, because there were not
enough people translating books from
other foreign languages.
Today there are fewer publishing
houses, just 400. Unfortunately, the num-
ber of people in Lithuania is decreasing
as well—we are rapidly declining toward
two million people. But the book world is
still alive and kicking. The Vilnius Book
Fair annually attracts around 60,000 visi-
tors, with 500 events taking place over
the four days of the fair. We have Books
from Lithuania, an institution for the dis-
semination of literature abroad (follow-
ing the example of Norway’s Norwegian
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Literature Abroad). New literary festi-
vals and new favorite places for book lov-
ers are being created (two examples are
the café Paviljonas in Vilnius and the
bookstore Mint Vinetu). The Lithuanian
Writers’ Union hosts meetings with
authors and new book presentations,
which are quite popular with readers. We
have niche publishing houses that hatch
big and ambitious plans. We also have a
world-class printing house that prints
books for the Scandinavian, Russian, and
other markets (though the Lithuanian
part of their print business is not as large).
We also sell more and more rights,
especially those of illustrated children’s
books. And even back in the Soviet
period, the work of Lithuanian book illus-
trators was much appreciated abroad.
Kęstutis Kasparavičius, a well-known
illustrator and author of children’s books,
still lives and creates in Vilnius.
Our literature for adults also is getting
more attention abroad. Ričardas Gavelis
and his novel Vilnius Poker has fascinated
the French, for example. Today many con-
sider it among the finest novels encapsu-
lating the Soviet era. Another novel,
White Shroud by Antanas Škėma, has
been a bestseller in Germany. Books by
contemporary literary stars, such as
Sigitas Parulskis, Undinė Radzevičiūtė,
Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, and Alvydas
Šlepikas, are increasingly being
translated into foreign languages. Some
books, such as Sabaliauskaitė’s Silva
Rerum series of historical novels, have
also become bestsellers—this series is a
top seller in Poland, for example.
In this overwhelming bustle, I’ve
noticed a new, rather pleasing, tendency.
For several years now, Lithuanians have
started showing a preference for their
own authors rather than for transla-
tions. Very seldom do translations—
even of books by famous foreign
authors—sell as well as works by my
publishing house’s bestselling authors,
such as the postindependence coming-
of-age novel Pietinia Kronikas, by
Rimantas Kmita, or the sermons of the
Catholic priest Algirdas Toliatas.
But it is not just fiction and reli-
gious books that are attracting read-
ers; serious nonfiction is, too. We, like
any nation, have our opinionated experts
who write about politics, science, or
health. In fact, many readers have a
strong preference for nonfiction and may
think of fiction as a more “marginal” form
of writing. Today, nonfiction can be just as
imaginative. Take the book Žali Sausainiai
by Agnė Matulaitė. It is a uniquely
Lithuanian health book, whose title
translates as Green Biscuits with the sub-
title, “A Book for Healthy Neurotics,”
which shows just how quirky the book
really is.
The question it prompts you to ask is,
why are the biscuits green? How would
translators translate this? In Lithuanian,
green may refer to the color, but it may
also mean that the biscuits are insuffi-
ciently baked. Of course, this is a ques-
tion for the future, one we hope to help
answer for you at the London Book Fair.
In the meantime, let me offer this simple
translation: labas, or hello! ■
Lolita Varanavičienė is the director of the
Tyto Alba publishing house in Vilnius.
25
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Finding Lithuania’s
Present in Its Past
The London Book Fair Author of the Day discusses the inspiration
for her bestselling work
BY KRISTINA SABALIAUSKAITĖ
The four volumes of Kristina
Sabaliauskaitė’s historical saga Silva
Rerum (2008–2016) have sold more
than a quarter million copies in her
native Lithuania. They have also become
popular internationally, with translations
in Polish and Latvian. Why has the series
resonated with readers? Because it is
deeply connected with the Lithuanian
identity and character and reflects back
to Lithuanians from whence they came.
But the saga is also timely, and it is no
coincidence that people have felt the need to
look to the past to understand the present.
—Ed Nawotka
I
t took me nearly 10 years to muster
the courage to write Silva Rerum,
published between 2008 and 2016. I
had trained as an art historian and
worked as a foreign correspondent, so the
writing wasn’t what was intimidating.
Instead, it was the thought of how to do
such a big, beautiful story justice.
The inspiration was the history of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the
great empire that lasted from the 16th to
the 18th century. It was one of the biggest
in Europe, yet it was wiped from the map
in 1795, partitioned by Prussia, Austria,
and Russia. As I was doing research for
my PhD dissertation, I found documents,
letters, and memoirs from that period,
work that embodied a wide variety of cul-
tures, ideas, passions, and extraordinary
lives, and it became clear that this mate-
rial would be great for a contemporary
historical novel. Suddenly several things
in our history that I was used to taking
for granted—such as our location at the
26
cultural border where the West meets the
East, the coexistence of different reli-
gions and communities, and the rela-
tively strong legal position of Lithuanian
women in comparison to that in Western
Europe (and hence the extraordinary,
strong female historical characters)—
appeared in context. All this felt worth
writing about and showing to a wider
audience. I also wanted to share the
exotic, meVsmerizing beauty of this part
of the past.
I spent a decade researching, letting
the idea mature, and fermenting my idea
about how to develop what I call the con-
temporary historical novel, one that
would be different from the traditional
historical novel, which usually depicts
the great characters and great events of
textbook history. Instead, I would focus
on the microhistories of those who usu-
ally fall outside of the historian’s view:
women and children, national minorities,
tradespeople and city folk, all ranks, high
and low. I wanted to depict history as
seen from different perspectives, an
epoch’s life experienced on different lev-
els, all without compromising literary
quality. There was probably some zeit-
geist at play, for it was just a year after the
first volume of Silva Rerum was pub-
lished, in 2008, that Hilary Mantel’s his-
torical novel Wolf Hall was published,
which went on to win the Man Booker
Prize and brought the historical genre
back into the realm of high literature.
Other great, contemporary historical
novels originated in the past decade in
France, Italy, and Poland.
And so was born the Silva Rerum quar-
tet of novels, set between 1659 and 1795 in
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
and depicting the lives of four generations
o f o n e m i n o r n o b l e f a m i l y, t h e
Milkont-Narwoyszes. It is named for a
type of handwritten family chronicle pop-
ular in Lithuania and Poland, a silva
rerum—a forest of things—that might
contain miscellaneous texts, from poetry
and pamphlets to philosophical musings
and advice on housekeeping. My quartet
is organized in four parts around the
Baroque concept of the four elements:
part I is earth and focuses on rural
Arcadia; part II is air and is set during the
Great Plague; part III is fire and takes the
great fires of Vilnius as its subject; and
part IV is water, which relates to the main
character’s sea travels.
While the tetralogy aims to depict and
capture daily life in and the essence of the
m u l t i c u l t u r a l Po l i s h - L i t h u a n i a n
Commonwealth, it also offers a glimpse of
the wider world at that time. The charac-
ters, typical for the epoch, traveled a lot.
One of them, among my favorites, is an
erring Jesuit, a professor of philosophy
and mathematics, who studied in Nancy,
France, visited Amsterdam, Paris, and
Vienna, and spent five years in London.
Another character, an 18th-century
adventuress (with an extraordinary
voice) also, incidentally, ends up in the-
ater- and pleasure-loving London. In this
way, the books can describe Europe as
seen through the eyes of several different
18th-century travelers. And though the
novels may be set primarily during the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, they are not
“local”—the wider narrative of European
history and culture is recognizable.
The setting is historically accurate
and authentic but by no means irrelevant
to our time. We can recognize in it the
ideas and dilemmas that worry us still:
the seeds of feminism, the escapist
impulse of consumerism and sensuality,
the unpredictability of a blind accident,

Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
the confrontation with one’s mortality.
Each part of Silva Rerum describes one
generation of the family, one period, lead-
ing the reader on a journey through the
splendor of the Baroque, through the
decadence of Rococo, through the opti-
mism (and disillusion) of the
Enlightenment, and through cities, uni-
versities, monastic cells, battlefields,
plague pandemics, fires and famines,
churches and markets, country manors
amid dark Nordic woods, palaces, road-
side inns, ballrooms, and bedrooms.
There are characters who are Dutch,
French, English, German, Jewish,
Karaim, Muslim, and Scottish, and one
who doesn't quite know who or what he
is—a liberal? a failure? an idealist? a non-
existent subject of a state that has van-
ished from the map? He feels that he is
simply a citizen of the world with no need
of a passport. The Silva Rerum novels are
researched with scientific precision and
based on historical facts and characters,
so they attempt to join the science of his-
tory with the art of literature. But first
and foremost they attempt to tell the dra-
matic and amazing story of the country I
am from. ■ period and its consequences.
Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is an art historian
and author of the Silva Rerum novels.
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Lithuania’s Alvydas
Šlepikas on the
Timeliness of History
BY ED NAWOTKA
A
mong the forgotten stories of
the past century is that of the
“wolf children” of Lithuania. It
is the tragedy of children in East
Prussia who were orphaned at the end
of World War II and left to fend for
themselves as the Red Army con-
quered the territory. On their own, they
took to hiding in the forests, and many
of them fled into neighboring Lithuania
and adopted new identities.
“It was actually taboo among
Lithuanians to talk about the Germans
as victims of World War II, and it was
forbidden to help the children under
the Soviets,” says Alvydas Šlepikas,
whose novel Mano Vardas—Marytė (In
the Shadow of Wolves) takes its inspira-
tion from the story of one such child
and recounts this painful, difficult
“I met a man who told me this
extraordinary story about how his
mother found out that she was German,
and then eventually found her sister
as well,” Šlepikas says. “That—and the
life of another woman—was the inspi-
ration.” Šlepikas, who is a well-known
actor, producer, and poet, initially
planned to make a film of the story,
but when funding fell through, he
decided to write it as a book. “I had to
cut a lot of material, but I think it is
more powerful this way. The novel
comes in at under 200 pages and has,
I think, the compression of poetry.”
Sales for the book topped 30,000
copies in Lithuania, where it won both
the Justinas Marcinkevičius prize and
the Writers’ Union award. Šlepikas
credits the book’s popularity with how
its subject has become important for
this generation, which is dealing with
a war in nearby Ukraine and a refugee
crisis in Europe and Latin America. “It
is timely,” Šlepikas says.
And while the book doesn’t shy
away from the harsh reality of the
period—in one scene a mother must
choose between starvation and trad-
ing her child for a bag of potatoes—it
doesn’t linger voyeuristically on the
dark side of history. “This book is less
about cruelty than it is about truth,”
Šlepikas says. “Ultimately, I think the
book is about the nature of memory.”
27
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Giants of Lithuanian
Publishing Weigh In
Two of the country’s most prominent publishing figures are optimistic about the future
BY ED NAWOTKA
A
rvydas Andrijauskas is proud
that his Pegasas bookstore
chain, with 33 locations across
Lithuania, is the largest in the
Baltics. And the Pegasas flagship store,
in terms of square footage, is considered
the largest individual bookstore in the
Baltics; it has a prominent place on the
top floor of a large mall on the edge
of Vilnius. “Alas,” Andrijauskas says,
“our biggest competitor is down-
stairs,” referring to the large grocery
and department store on the first
floor. “Lithuania, which has no fixed
pricing laws covering books, can see
customers shift from one retailer to
the next based on discounts, particu-
larly when it comes to top-selling titles
and authors. For a while, the grocery
stores were cutting into our sales
[they now represent 19% of all retail
sales], but we were able to recover.” Above: Arvydas Andrijauskas. Below: Inside the Pegasus
It helps, admits Andrijauskas, flagship store.
that his company is also a publisher.
That company, of which Andrijauskas
is chairperson, is collectively known
as the Alma Littera Group, and it is
the biggest publishing group in the
Baltic states. In addition to the
Pegasas chain, it runs two of the larg-
est publishers in Lithuania: Alma
Littera, a trade publishing house
that puts out some 300 new titles a
year; and Šviesa, the leading educa-
tion publisher in the country. It also
runs the Book Club, an online book-
store and membership program,
which has some 60,000 members.
Collectively, the company is one of the
dominant players in the market, control-
ling aspects of book distribution, holding
key franchises for such brands as National
Geographic and Reader’s Digest, and pub-
lishing Kake Make, the wildly popular
children’s book series and animated tele-
28
vision show for four-to-seven-year-olds.
“It was a matter of being entrepre-
neurial and bringing the proper skill set
to the management of the company,”
Andrijauskas says, sitting in Pegasas,
which has not only a high-end coffee shop
but also a full-size, wood-fired pizza oven.
“This kind of service allows us to really
appeal to families,” he says. “Kids can
come and play in the kids area, teens can
drink coffee, moms and dads can shop for
books, and then they can all get together
and have a great pizza.”
That said, Andrijauskas’s publishing
group also owns the historic bookstore at
the 16th-century Vilnius University, with
its impressive hand-painted arched ceil-
ing with portraits of historic figures. “It
is important for us to keep the literary
life of Lithuania alive,” Andrijauskas says
with obvious pride, “but we also need to
make a living. When it comes down to it,
publishing is really a mixture of a church
and a stock exchange.”
Among the other major publishers
who are keeping the tradition of literary
life in Lithuania alive is Kotryna Žukaitė,
director of the publishing house Baltos
Lankos. “We established the publish-
ing house 25 years ago, initially as a
publisher of philosophy books, just
after independence,” Žukaitė says.
“A decade ago, we transitioned into
publishing a wide range of commer-
cial books.” The house is responsible
for bringing out modern Lithuanian
classics, such as the Silva Rerum
series by Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, as
well as introducing numerous popu-
lar translations, such as The Girl on
the Train, to the country.
Žukaitė says Baltos Lankos is
feeling optimistic and has nearly
doubled its production, from fifty
titles a year just three or four years
ago to nearly one hundred today.
“My feeling is that people are start-
ing to buy more books,” she says,
“and that means we want to provide
a broader variety of content from
both home and abroad.” In recent
years, the publishing house has put
out translations from a wider range
of literary writers, including Julian
Barnes, Karl Ove Knausgård, and
Haruki Murakami.
“This means that we go to all the
book fairs,” Žukaitė says. “It also means
that we work with agents—and if there is
one thing I wish they would understand
about Lithuania it is that our market is
really small. With an average print run of
2,000 to 3,000 copies, we just cannot pay a
lot for rights, especially when translation
is one-third of the cost of the book.” ■
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Recent Notable English

Translations from
Lithuanian

In the Shadow
of Wolves Darkness and
Alvydas Šlepikas, Company
trans. by Romas Sigitas Parulskis,
Kinka (Oneworld, trans. by Karla
Aug, U.K.) Gruodis (Peter Owen,
Apr. U.K.)
A powerful novel
that tells the story A man makes a bar-
of the East Prussian gain with an SS offi-
“wolf children,” sent cer to photograph
into the forests of mass executions in
Lithuania to survive exchange for his life
the end of World and that of his
War II. Jewish lover.

Magnetic
North: Shadows on
Conversations the Tundra
Dalia Grinkevičiūtė,
with Tomas trans. by Dalia
Venclova Valiukėnas (Peirene.
Tomas Venclova and U.K.)
Ellen Hinsey (Boydell
and Brewer, Jan. U.K.) A memoir about a
young woman’s time
Émigré writer and in a Siberian gulag,
poet and Yale profes- where she endured
sor Tomas Venclova 12-hour workdays
recounts his extraor- and exile from
dinary life in letters. home. ■

29
 PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION

Translation Grant
Program of the
Lithuanian Culture Institute
The Lithuanian Culture Institute invites publishers to submit applications

T
he purpose of the Translation
Grant Programme is to promote
Lithuanian literature through
providing grants to foreign pub-
lishers for the translation of works from
Lithuanian or the translation or publica-
tion of works related to Lithuania.
Publishers may apply for either par-
tial or total coverage of the cost of the
translation. Grants are allocated for the
translation of original works of litera-
ture, including fiction and children’s lit-
erature, of publications on Lithuanian
cultural heritage, of works in the humani-
ties (e.g., philosophy, literary criticism,
nonfiction, and history), and of other
important books and publications.
The deadline for applying is October
1, 2018. Inside the Knygynas Bookstore at the University of Vilnius
For more information and application
forms, visit lithuanianculture.lt or email
vakare.smaleckaite@lithuanianculture.lt
■

PHOTOS ON THE BACK COVER:

Top left: Inside the Estonian Children's

Literature Center, Tallinn.

Top right: The Three Muses statue atop the

National Drama Theatre, Vilnius.

Center: A lake in the Baltics

Bottom left: Latvian bestsellers displayed at a

bookstore, Riga.

Bottom right: Inside the Estonian Children's A street scene in Vilnius

Literature Center, Tallinn.

30

The Baltics at the London
Book Fair: Event Highlights
The following are highlights of the Market Focus Baltics program at the London
Book Fair. Events have been curated and organized by the British Council; the
Estonian Literature Centre; International Writers’ and Translators’ House, Latvia;
the Lithuanian Culture Institute; and the Publishers Association, U.K.
All events take place in the International Markets Theatre, unless otherwise noted.
Tuesday, April 10
Pushing the Limits of Graphic Stories:
Spotlight on the Pop Up Creators Project.
Children’s Hub, 10 a.m.
Lost Histories Unearthed: Revisiting the
Forgotten Tragedies of Lithuania and
Eastern Europe with Dalia Grinkevičiūtė
(Lithuania) and Alvydas Šlepikas
(Lithuania). 10 a.m.
Translating Illustrated Children's Books:
The Challenges of Text and Image with
Alīse Nīgale (Latvia), Greet Pauwelijn (U.K./
New Zealand), Lawrence Schimel (Spain),
and Emma Wright (U.K.). 11:30 a.m.
Get Connected to Baltic Books! with
Aida V. Dobkevičiūtė (Lithuania), Simon
Littlewood (U.K.), Renate Punka (Latvia),
and Tauno Vahter (Estonia). 1 p.m.
A Dialogue Between Poets: Baltic and
U.K. Poets Explore Memory and History
with Ellen Hinsey (U.K.), Maarja Kangro
(Estonia), Tomas Venclova (Lithuania), and
Kārlis Vērdiņš (Latvia). Poet’s Corner, 1 p.m.
Writing History as Fiction: The Baltics
and Beyond with Rein Raud (Estonia) and
Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (Lithuania). 4 p.m.
Revealed or Lost in Translation:
Literature from the Baltics with Daniel
Hahn (U.K.), Maarja Kangro (Estonia),
Romas Kinka (Lithuania), Christopher
Moseley (Estonia/Latvia), and Kārlis
Vērdiņš (Latvia). Literary Translation
Centre, 4 p.m.
Picture Books Like No Other: The Unique
Vision of Piret Raud with Piret Raud
(Estonia) and Roger Thorp (U.K.). 5:30 p.m.
PUBLISHING IN THE BALTIC REGION
Wednesday, April 11
Finding New Voices: Children's Literature
from the Baltics with panelists to be deter-
mined. Children’s Hub, 10 a.m.
Sinking Europe? European Narratives
in Times of Change with Mihkel Mutt
(Estonia), Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
(Lithuania), Sathnam Sanghera (U.K.), and
Tomas Venclova (Lithuania). 10 a.m.
Promoting Reading: Experiences and
Ideas from the Baltics with Rūta Elijošaitytė-
Kaikarė (Lithuania), Daniel Hahn (U.K.),
Triin Soone (Estonia), and Silvija Tretjakova
(Latvia). Children’s Hub, 11:30 a.m.
Imagining Lithuania: 100 Visions with
Marija Drėmaitė (Lithuania), Edward Lucas
(U.K.), Eglė Rindzevičiūtė (Lithuania), and
Tomas Venclova (Lithuania). 1 p.m.
Baltics Author of the Day—Nora Ikstena
in Conversation with Nora Ikstena (Latvia).
English PEN Literary Salon, 1 p.m.
Baltics Author of the Day—Mihkel Mutt in
Conversation with Mihkel Mutt (Estonia).
English PEN Literary Salon, 2 p.m.
Interpreting Cultures: Russia, Europe,
and the West with Sasha Dugdale (U.K),
Andrei Ivanov (Estonia), and Sergejs
Timofejevs (Latvia). 2:30 p.m.
Baltics Author of the Day – Kristina
Sabaliauskaitė in Conversation with
Kristina Sabaliauskaitė (Lithuania). English
PEN Literary Salon, 3 p.m.
Educational Publishing in the Baltics:
From Soviet State-Sponsored Textbooks to
Digital Learning and Teaching Materials
in Thirty Years with Sintija Buhanovska
(Latvia), Helga Holtkamp (Germany), Jurgita
Nacevičienė (Lithuania), and Kadri Rahusaar
(Estonia). Faculty, 4 p.m.
Transformations: Women’s Writing from
the Edges with Alys Conran (U.K.), Nora
Ikstena (Latvia), and Undinė Radzevičiūtė
(Lithuania). 4 p.m.
Created in Latvia: Writer Imants
Ziedonis as a Brand of Freedom, Joy, and
Creativity with representatives from the
Viegli Foundation and the Little Cavalry
Music Association. Club Room National Hall
Gallery, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 12
Writing the City: Baltic Spaces, British
Places with Inga Ābele (Latvia), Vahni
Capildeo (Trinidad/U.K.), Steven Fowler
(U.K.), and Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
(Lithuania). 10 a.m.
Literary Events and Literary Residencies
in the Baltics with Rūta Elijošaitytė-
Kaikarė (Lithuania), Peggy Hughes (U.K.),
Juta Pīrāga (Latvia), and Marja Unta
(Estonia). High Street Theatre, 11:30 a.m.
Publishing Literature in Translation
with Krista Kaer (Estonia) and Christopher
MacLehose (U.K.). 11:30 a.m.
Through a Child’s Eyes: Baltic and U.K.
Perspectives on Fiction Writing with
Claire Armitstead (U.K.), Nora Ikstena
(Latvia), Alvydas Šlepikas (Lithuania), and
Rebecca Stott (U.K.). 1 p.m.
Why Print Your Books in the Baltic
Countries? with Ģirts Karlsons (Latvia),
Artūras Karosas (Lithuania), Margus
Luvamagi (Estonia), and Ed Nawotka
(U.S.A.). Buzz Theater, 1 p.m. ■
31