Gailius, Antanas

Born in 1951 in Švendriškiuose, Jurbarko raj., Lithuania. Lives in Vilnius.
After studying German philology at Vilnius University he has translated German literature since 1978, among others Heidegger, Kafka, Thomas Mann, Rilke, Schiller, Siegmund Freud, Stefan Zweig, Huchel and Bobrowski. Even various translations from Dutch.
Received the Lithuanian PEN-prize in 2004.
State Culture Prize in 2008.

Katkus, Laurynas

Laurynas Katkus (born 1972) studied Lithuanian philology and comparative literature in Vilnius, Leipzig and Berlin and wrote his doctor thesis on Exile in Modern Poetry. He published three volumes of poetry, most recently Už 7 gatvių (2009). A collection of essays was released in 2011.
In German Katkus has published two volumes of poetry, most recently Alle Richtungen (Edition Thanhäuser, 2009) and a volume of essays Kabuff (Edition Merz-Solitude, 2011).
Among others Katkus translated Hölderlin, Walter Benjamin, Gottfried Benn, Susan Sontag and Octavio Paz into Lithuanian.

Braziūnas, Vladas

Vladas Braziūnas, born in 1952, is a Lithuanian author of nine books of poetry, essayist and translator of Byelorussian, Croatian, French, Latvian, Polish, Serbian, Russian, Ukrainian poetry; a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and the Lithuanian PEN center. Braziūnas grew up in the town of Pasvalys in northern Lithuania. At Vilnius University he studied journalism and Lithuanian philology. Vladas has mostly worked at various cultural and literary publications and has served as an editor-in-chief for the weekly Literatūra ir menas (Literature and Art). Since 1996, Braziūnas has concentrated on creative work.

Vladas Braziūnas’ poetry was first published in 1974. However, the first book of poems Slenka žaibas (As Lightning Moves) was held up at the publisher’s for seven years due to its "ideological and artistic (!) immaturity". The year it was published (Vaga, 1983) Vladas received Zigmas Gėlė prize for the best poetry debut. In 2002, Vladas Braziūnas’ poem Karilionas tūkstančiui ir vienai aušrai was selected as the winner of the literary competition organised by the chancellary of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the Lithuanian state. It was published in 2003 by Kronta.

Vladas Braziūnas has published translations of Byelorussian, Croatian, French, Latgalian, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian poetry, and Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian prose (in 1990, Vyturys published the book Černobylis (Chernobyl) by the Ukrainian writer Yuriy Sherbak; in 1989 – the diary of the Latvian exile author Ojārs Mednis). Together with Sigitas Geda and Kęstutis Nastopka, Vladas Braziūnas translated the collection of poems Vabzdžių žingsniai (Baltos lankos, 1997) by the Latvian poet Uldis Bērziņš. In 2003, the Lithuanian Writers’ Union has published a collection of poems by Alicja Rybałko, translated from Polish by Vladas Braziūnas. For his achievements in translating Ukrainian poetry, Braziūnas received the Taras Sevchenko Fund award in 2002.

In 2004, Braziūnas was awarded the Jotvingiai Prize for his Lithuanian-French collection of verse būtasis nebaigtinis / imparfait (Vilnius, 2003), his translation into Lithuanian of Selected Poems by Alicja Rybałko (Vilnius, 2003) and the compilation of a posthumous poetry collection by Raimondas Jonutis Aušra kambary be langų (Dawn in a windowless room, Vilnius, 2003).

Mažeikaitė, Zita

Zita Mažeikaitė-Sajiene was born in 1952 in the district of Prienai, Lithuania. She lives in Vilnius.
After German studies in Vilnius and Greifswald she worked as an editor at a publishing house, since 1982 free-lancing.
Published three volumes of poetry in 1979, 1986 and 2009 and has translated from German and Swedish, esp. Ingeborg Bachmann and Hermann Hesse, Tomas Tranströmer, Artur Lundkvist, P. O. Sundman, Torgny Lindgren, P. O. Enquist, Iingmar Bergman, Pär Lagerkvist, Werner Aspenström and Gunnar Ekelöf. Edited of the anthology "Ten Swedish poets" in Lithuanian.
She received two prizes for her own poetry, one prize from the Swedish Writers' Union for her translations of contemporary Swedish poetry, and in 2010 the Swedish Academy awarded her the Translation's Prize.

Geda, Sigitas

In 1966 Geda graduated from Vilnius University majoring in Lithuanian linguistics and literature. For a while he edited the weekly „Kalba Vilnius“ and the magazine „Mūsų gamta“, yet he was dismissed for taking an active political posture. His first poems book „Footprints“ was published in 1966. Since 1967 he was the member of Lithuanian Writers Union. In the times of „perestroika“, he was awarded with the State Award of the 1985 for his poetry book „A Starling under the Moon“. In 1995 he received the National Award for the books of poetry „Seven Summer Chants“ and „Rebuilding of Babylon“. In 1998 Geda was decorated with the Order of Duke Gediminas and became recipient of the Baltic Assembly Award the same year. Same year he was nominated for the Prize of the Baltic Assembly. In 2002 he recieved the Award of the Lithuanian Writers Union for the best book of the year 2001. In 1988-1990 he was the Secretary of the Writers Union, an active member of „Sąjūdis“ Movement and an MP. Sigitas Geda died in December 2008 in Vilnius.

Donelaitis, Kristijonas

K. Donelaitis was born on January 1, 1714 in Lasdinehlen village in East Prussia. His father was a free peasant. Donelaitis' mother raised her children well, in spite of her husband's early death, her son Pričkus (Friedrich) became a famous goldsmith in Königsberg, a musician, physicist and a horologist, known as the first fortepiano to be constructed in Prussia maker. Other brothers of Donelaitis were crafty too. Kristijonas was a priest but he loved to build barometers and watches, was a gardener and also he was the one to make the second fortepiano in Prussia. 1736-1740 Donelaitis studied theology at the University of Königsberg. While studying he took part in Lithuanian language seminars. After graduation he could write in Greek, Latin, French, Lithuanian, German and Hebrew, knew antique, baroque and classicism literature and was recognized/adressed as "teacher" in Tollmingkehmen community. In the summer of 1740 Donelaitis (right after the graduation) was assigned as Stallupönen schools second teacher and as the cantor for a student choir, and soon afterwards the rector of the school and married former rectors widow Anna Regina Ohlefant.

During the spring of 1743 Donelaitis was assigned as Tollmingkehmen pastor and continued this duty until death. He built a church in Tollmingkehmen as well as a school and a widow-house. there are six fables of Donelaitis in Lithuanian language alongside with a few German verses and religious canticles. Donelaitis died on February 18, 1780 and was buried in Tollmingkehmen.

He has not printed any of his works. after his death, his wife consigned these works to a family friend, a pastor of Walterkehmen, J. Jordan. Later on these were passed to University of Königsberg professor Ludwig Rhesa, who published four of Donelaitis' songs (as "The Seasons") and fables. Rhesa's caption and the order in which he set songs befit and remain the same.