Algirdas Patackas (born 1943, died in Kaunas in 2015) was a dissident, underground publisher and a political prisoner during the Soviet period. He subsequently became an activist in the Sąjūdis Movement, a signatory to the Act of Independence and a member of parliament. He now works as a journalist and writes articles about Baltic and Lithuanian culture as well as prose and poetry. He has published a study of  Baltic calendrical celebrations titled “Virsmų knyga” (Book of Transmutations, 2002), the collections of journalism “Pastogės Lietuva“ (Lithuania of Lofts, 2011) and  “Kas ir kada pagrobė Europą”  (Who Kidnapped Europe and When, 2011), and the collection of  poetry “Aisa” (2011). He has been awarded the Gabriele Petkevicaite-Bite medal for journalism.