Moreino, Sergey

Born in 1964, since 1988 writer - poet, prose writer and essayist - and translator from German, Latvian and Polish, living in Riga.
After studying mathematics at the State University in Moscow from 1981 - 1987 and literature at the Moscow Institute for Literature and Linguistics between 1991 and 1993, he had more than 350 publications in literary magazines and books, esp. poetry translations from German (Georg Trakl, Gottfried Benn, Paul Celan, Günter Eich, Karl Krolow, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Heinz Czechowski, Klaus Merz, Durs Grünbein), Latvian (Aleksandrs Čaks, Ojārs Vācietis, Olafs Stumbrs, Uldis Berzins, Jānis Rokpelnis, Juris Kunnoss, Maira Asare, Jānis Elsbergs, Andra Manfelde) and Polish (Czesław Miłosz, Wojciech Pestka) to Russian. Member of the Latvian Writers' Union since 1991, he achieved several literary prizes, both Russian and Latvian, in December 2017 the renowned Andrey Bely prize in St. Petersburg.
 

Grīnberga, Maima

Maima Grīnberga, born in 1969 in Riga, graduated from Tartu State University in 1993. She translates prose, children literature, plays, and poetry from Estonian and Finnish into Latvian. Since 2009, she is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union.

She has translated texts by Estonian writers Jaan Kross, Jaak Jõerüüt, Andrus Kivirähk, Maimu Berg, Enn Vetemaa, Jaan Undusk, Peeter Sauter, Jüri Ehlvest, Kristiina Ehin etc, and by Finnish writers Rosa Liksom, Johanna Sinisalo, Mika Waltari, Anja Snellmann, Mikko Rimminen, Väinö Linna, Sofi Oksanen, Pentti Saarikoski etc. For the Latvian literary journal “Karogs” she compiled an issue dedicated to Estonia (5/2005) and an issue dedicated to Finland (7/2007).

Maima Grīnberga received the Jānis Baltvilks Award for translations of literature for children and teenagers (2008), the first Estonian-Latvian and Latvian-Estonian Translation Award (2010), the Annual Literary Translation Prize (2010), and in 2009 she became a Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

Belševica, Vizma

Vizma Belševica was born in Riga in 1931 and died in 2005. She was a poet, writer and translator.
Belševica's poetry and fiction has been translated in about 40 languages. Within the Soviet Union of the 1960s-1980s, several books of her selected poetry were published.
After the Latvian independence her poetry has been published in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, selected short stories in Russia, Georgia and Germany.
Belševica's work has been recognised: on December 6, 1990, she was elected honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences; she has twice received the Spidola Award, which is the highest recognition in Latvian literature. Belševica has also received the highest award of the Latvian State, namely the Three Star Order.

Dobrovenskiy, Roald

or Roalds Dobrovenskis as his name is spelt in Latvian, is a Russian journalist, writer, editor and translator who was born in Jelec (Lipetsk district, Russia) in 1936. He now lives and works in Riga.

Dobrovenskiy attended the Central Music School in Moscow and graduated from the Moscow Conservatorium in 1975. His publications in Russian include books about the composers Musorgski and Borodin as well as stories and poems (“Sundial”, Chabarovsk, 1967).

Dobrovenskiy has served as an editor for the Latvian Publishing House “Liesma” in Riga and as the editor of the poetry and fiction sections and chief editor of the Latvian literary magazine “Daugava”. His novel “Archimagnus. Non-rhymed Chronicon” was published in «День и ночь» magazine (Denj i Noch, Russia, Krasnoyarsk) in 2002 and in Latvian in 2004 – translated by Talrids Rullis.

He is a member of both the Writer’s Union of Russia and the Latvian Writer’s Union and was awarded the For Lifetime Investment literature prize in 2006 by the latter. Dobrovenskiy has also translated some of the most significant Latvian poets of the 20th century into Russian. 

Bels, Alberts

Born in 1938 in the vicinity of Riga, Bels became a professional writer of prose books and film scripts in 1964 and made his debut in 1966 with a collection of short stories.