Guntars Godiņš

Guntars Godiņš (1958) is a poet as well as a translator of Estonian and Finnish literature. He has published five Latvian poetry collections and his own selected works have been published in Estonian, English and Swedish translations. Many of his poems have also been translated into Finnish, Russian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Czech, Chinese, Thai and other languages.

Over the years he has worked for the literary magazines, Avots and Latvju teksti, Latvian Radio, the Latvian Writers' Union as well as serving as the Cultural Attaché at the Latvian Embassy in Estonia for 13 years.

Among his translations are Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (The Son of Kalev) and novels by Ene Mihkelson, Jaan Kaplinski, Jaak Jõerüüt, Leelo Tungal and others. He has translated selected poetry publications of many poets – Artur Alliksar, Ilmar Laaban, Hando Runnel, Andres Ehin, Hasso Krull, Contra and others. He has also translated a great number of children's books.

Estonian children's literature is well-known in Latvia. The Lotte books are very popular, as are Andrus Kivirähk's story collections – Poop and Spring and The Carneval and Potato Salad. (These stories were subsequently adapted for a theatre production.) After the publication of Leelo Tungal's collection of children's poetry, many Latvian children quickly knew these poems by heart. Similarly Contra's book of poems Everyoneʼs the Smartest provided a lot of pleasure for young, as well as older, readers.

What I admire in the work of Estonian children's book authors is their restraint and good taste, their ready wit and word-play and the stylistic diversity they display. To translate their texts is a delight and great pleasure. A job done is always gratifying.