Nora Ikstena

Nora Ikstena
Born (1969-10-15) 15 October 1969 (age 55)
NationalityLatvian
EducationUniversity of Latvia
OccupationWriter
Years active1993–present

Nora Ikstena (born 15 October 1969) is a Latvian writer and cultural manager. She was born in Riga and studied philology and English language and literature at the University of Latvia. After a subsequent period of residence in New York City for further studies, she returned home and worked to establish the Latvian Literature Centre.

Her debut novel Celebration of Life appeared in 1998, and she has written more than twenty books since, several novels, short story collections, biographies and essays. Her recent novel Soviet Milk (Latvian: Mātes piens, 2015) was translated into English and published in 2018 by Peirene Press in London.[1] The launch took place on March 7 in the English-language bookstore Robert's Books in Riga.[2] She also represented Latvia at the London Book Fair in 2018 as a featured author[3] and was officially invited to be a participant of the Library of Congress National Book Festival of Washington D.C. in 2016. The book Soviet Milk has been licensed for 15 foreign languages, among them translations in Italian and German.

In 2008 she was honoured with the Order of the Three Stars (officer) of the Republic of Latvia.[4] In 2018 she was honoured with another national Excellence in Culture Award for being the internationally best-known Latvian writer of the 21st century.[5]

References

  1. ^ Mustillo, Michael (28 March 2018). "Latvian writer Nora Ikstena's critically acclaimed novel Soviet Milk opens up new paths". The Baltic Times. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Two Latvian English-language book launches this week". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  3. ^ Collier, Mike (11 April 2018). "London Book Fair Voices: Nora Ikstena". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Nora Ikstena (15.10.1969. Rīga) latviešu rakstniece". Nacionālā enciklopēdija (in Latvian). Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Izcilības balvu kultūrā iegūst Nora Ikstena, Rolands Kalniņš un Nacionālais mākslas muzejs". Public Broadcasting of Latvia (in Latvian). 28 November 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2020.