Subačius, Paulius

Paulius V. Subačius, born in 1968, studied Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University. He worked as a lecturer from 1992, and is currently professor of the Theory of Literature at Vilnius University and member of the University Council.

He is a full member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences, member of the European Society for Textual Scholarship. Author/editor of sixteen books in fields of literature, history, textual scholarship, religion, and academic politics. Among them – the first Guide on Textual Criticism in Lithuanian and several critical editions, printed and digital, of diaries, letters, sermons and poetry of Lithuanian authors.

Subačius published some articles in English in Variants, Editio, Textual Cultures, Filologia XXI. His most recent publication is Twenty-five Years of Religious Freedom, 2016.

Ališanka, Eugenijus

Eugenijus Ališanka was born in Barnaul (Siberia) in 1960, where his parents were banished.
He grew up in Vilnius after the family's return in 1962 and studied mathematics there. He then worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Culture and Art. In 1991 he published the first volume of his three-part almanac Miestelėnai (The Townspeople; volumes two and three in 1995 and 1999) and in the same year he published his first volume of poetry Lygiadienis (Equinox), which was awarded the Zigmas Gėlė Prize for the best poetic debut of the year.
After a stay as a fellow of the International Iowa Writers' Workshop, his second collection of poems, Peleno miestas (1995; City of Ashes), was translated into English. In the meantime, parts of his works - four volumes of poetry and two books of essays - are also available in French, German, Polish, Swedish, Russian and Finnish.
From 1995-2002 Ališanka worked at the Lithuanian Writers' Union, responsible for international relations and the "Poetry Spring" festival. From 2003 onwards he has been editor-in-chief of the "Vilnius Review", presenting contemporary Lithuanian literature in English translation. He has also translated a number of authors from English, Russian, Polish and Slovenian (including Zbigniew Herbert, Wisława Szymborska, Bernardine Evarist, Jerome Rothenberg and Aleš Debeljak). Parts of his work have since been translated into English, French, Polish, Swedish, Russian, Finnish, and German.

Abraitytė, Jurgita Marija

Born in 1975 in Rusne, Silute, Lithuania. Studied Lithuanian Philology, Communication, Information and Publishing at the Vilnius University (Lithuania) and Icelandic Philology for Foreigners at the University of Iceland.

Translator and interpretor from Icelandic since 1996. Translates poetry, prose and children literature. Since 2004 she is a member of the Lithuanian Association of Literary Translations.

As a translator she took part in literary festivals like „Poezijos pavasaris“ (The Spring of Poetry) in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and „Poetinis Druskininkų ruduo“ (Poetic Fall in Druskininkai) in the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Has taught Icelandic at the Vilnius University for two years and worked at The National Theatre of Iceland and the National Theatre of Lithuania.

Mekas, Jonas

Born in 1922 in the farming village of Semeniškiai, Lithuania - a paradise “where nothing happened then suddenly everything happened” -, Jonas Mekas died in New York City in January 2019. In 1944, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City, where they settled down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954, together with his brother, he started "Film Culture" magazine, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the "Village Voice". In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers' Cooperative, and in 1964 the Film-Makers' Cinematheque, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema, and a screening venue.

During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 20 books of prose and poetry, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic, teaching at the New School for Social Research, the International Center for Photography, Cooper Union, New York University, and MIT.

Jonas Mekas died in New York City on 23 Jan, 2019.

Mekas' film The Brig was awarded the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. Other films include Walden (1969), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972), Lost Lost Lost (1975), Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol (1990), Scenes from the Life of George Maciunas (1992), As I was Moving Ahead I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000), Letter from Greenpoint (2005), Sleepless Nights Stories (2011) and Out-takes from the Life of a Happy Man. In 2007, he completed a series of 365 short films released on the internet -- one film every day -- and since then has continued to share new work on his website.

Since 2000, Mekas has expanded his work into the area of film installations, exhibiting at the Serpentine Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Moderna Museet (Stockholm), PS1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA, Documenta of Kassel, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Venice Biennale.

Palilionis, Petras

Born in North Lithuania in 1940, Petras Palilionis is a Lithuanian poet, essayist, drama writer, translator, producer and executor of various publication projects.

In 1969, he graduated from Vilnius University in law. His most significant contributions were accomplished while he was working as the editor in-chief of the Kaunas’ Branch of the Lithuanian Radio and Television, as the chairman of Kaunas' Branch of the Lithuanian Writers Union, as the chairman of Kaunas' Branch of the Association LATGA (collective administration of the rights of copyright holders of the Republic of Lithuania) and as the chairman of Kaunas' Branch of the Lithuanian Association of Artists.

Petras Palilionis wrote and published various poems, essays, translations, poetical and factual dramatic literature, radio and TV scenarios, participated in projects concerning original Lithuanian literature classics. In post-Soviet Lithuania, he was the first interested in the personality of Finland-Swedish modernist Henry Parland, his creative heritage and commemoration. In 2002, Petras Palilionis translated and compiled a book about H. Parland. Two years later, after having received a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, he published the book Henry Parland. Spring in Kaunas with Parland's poems and correspondence and memorabilia.

Steponavičienė, Svetlana

Svetlana Steponavičienė (born Nedeliajeva), Ph D, former associate professor at Vilnius university, now retired, studied Slavonic philology at Lomonosov Moscow State University, was a Ph D student of Scandinavian philology at Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) University. Wrote her PhD thesis on the style of the tetralogy The Light of the World by Halldór Laxness under the supervision of professor Michail Steblin-Kamenskij and defended it in 1966. Among other courses taught General, Germanic and Slavonic linguistics and seminars on Old Norse literature and translation at Vilnius University. Has been an active member of the Lithuanian-Danish Society and The Nordic Association in Lithuania since 1990. In  2007 founded the club of Åge Meyer Benedictsen's friends and has been its chairman since.
Svetlana Steponavičienė has translated old and modern Scandinavian literature, predominantly Icelandic and Danish, into Russian and Lithuanian. Her translation of Egil’s saga, which came out in 1975 (the second, updated edition appeared in 2012), was the first translation of Icelandic sagas not only in Lithuania, but also in the Baltics.