Leons Briedis facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leons Briedis
Born	(1949-12-16)16 December 1949 Madona, Latvian SSR, USSR
Died	1 February 2020(2020-02-01) (aged 70) Riga, Latvia
Occupation	Writer, poet, essayist, translator, songwriter, publisher, literary critic
Nationality	Latvian
Spouse	Maria Briede-Macovei
Children	Adrian Briedis-Macovei, Kornēlijs Briedis

Leons Briedis (born December 16, 1949 – died February 1, 2020) was a very talented Latvian writer. He was known for many things: writing poetry, novels, and essays. He also worked as a literary critic and publisher. Leons Briedis was a fantastic translator, bringing stories and poems from many different languages into Latvian. These languages included Latin, Russian, English, and several Romance languages like Romanian, Spanish, and French. He even translated from Swahili and Albanian!

Besides writing and translating, he created musicals for radio and big theaters in Latvia. He wrote scripts for films and many stories, poems, and plays especially for children. He also wrote song lyrics for about 150 songs, often working with the famous composer Raimonds Pauls. Leons Briedis also translated ten plays for Latvian theaters and even wrote the words for operas, like Benjamin Britten's "The Small Chimney-Sweep."

Early Life and Education

Leons Briedis finished Sigulda Secondary School in 1968. He then started studying Latvian Language and Literature at the University of Latvia. However, he was asked to leave in 1970. This was because of his activities that were seen as against the Soviet government at the time. He was even told he couldn't get a higher education anywhere in the Soviet Union.

Despite this, in 1972, Leons Briedis found a way to continue his studies. He enrolled in Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Chişinău in Moldova. But in 1974, he had to leave again. This was because he was connected to people in Moldova and Romania who wanted more freedom and democracy. From 1977 to 1979, he studied translation and African studies in Moscow. Leons Briedis faced a lot of pressure from the government. For a while, he was not allowed to publish his works or travel abroad. He also couldn't get jobs that involved ideas or culture, like working in publishing houses or schools.

Family Life

Leons Briedis met his wife, Maria Briede-Macovei, in Chişinău, Moldova. They got married and had two sons together.

Later Career and Work

Leons Briedis was a very busy writer. He published about 34 of his own books, including poetry, stories, and essays. He also published 49 books of translations! His poetry was translated into many languages, not just in Europe but also in Asia, like Turkish, Hebrew, Chinese, and Japanese.

From 1974, Briedis was a member of the Latvian Writers' Union. He also joined the international writers' group, PEN Club, in 1987. He was even the vice-president of the Latvian PEN Club from 1993 to 1997.

He worked for many cultural publications. He led the poetry section of the newspaper "Literatūra un Māksla" and was the main editor for cultural magazines like "Jaunās Grāmatas" and "Grāmata." He also edited "Vārds," the magazine for the Latvian Writers' Union.

In 1992, he started his own cultural magazine called "Kentaurs XXI." He was its main editor until 2010. This magazine became very well-known in Latvia and even internationally. It represented Latvia at big events like book fairs in Munich and Gothenburg. Leons Briedis published 51 issues of "Kentaurs XXI." Since 1993, he also directed a publishing house called Minerva. This company published 67 books about different subjects in the humanities.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Leons Briedis received many awards for his amazing work:

• In 1988, he won the "Ojārs Vācietis Award" for helping people understand poetry, life, and society better.
• In 1989, he received an "Honorary Diploma" at a poetry festival in Romania. He also got a diploma for the "Best Translation of the Year" for translating poems by Grigore Vieru.
• In 1999, he won a "Special Award" in Romania for translating Romanian poetry and sharing Romanian culture in Latvia. He also received a prize from the Writers' Union of Romania.
• In 1992, he won a prize from the Ministry of Culture of Latvia for publishing his magazine "Grāmata."
• In 1997, he received an award for promoting good relationships between different groups of people in Latvia. He helped start the Latvian Association of National Culture Societies.
• In 1999, he received Latvia's highest award, the Order of the Three Stars (3rd Class).
• In 2003, he received an award from Portugal, the Order of Merit.
• In 2004, he won the Latvian Writers Union award for the best translation of the year. This was for a poetry book by the Portuguese poet Eugénio de Andrade.
• From 2007, he was an honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. He also received awards for translating poetry books by Fernando Pessoa and Eugenio Montale.
• Since 2007, he was an honorary member of the World Haiku Association in Tokyo. He also won an award at the Druskininkai International Poetry Festival.
• In 2008, he received an award from the Foreign Ministry of Italy for translating E. Montale's work. He also won awards for translating five poetry books by Brazilian poets. Since 2003, he was an honorary member of the Association of Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon, Portugal.

Published Works

Leons Briedis wrote many books of his own and translated many others.

Books of Poetry

• "Lime Tree, Grass-Snake's Blood" (1974)
• "Time To Cast A Shadow" (1977)
• "A Circle Which Departs" (1981)
• "After Midsummer Night's Eve" (1983)
• "The Garden Of Essence" (1987)
• "The Soul Of Passage" (1988)
• "The Tree Of Sunset" (1994)
• "A Sunday Amidst Eternity" (1994)
• "The Half-Won Freedom" (1995)
• "The Angel Of The Abyss" (1996)
• "Lifestory and 33 Most Recent Poems" (1997)
• "In reddish winter evenings" (1998)
• "Dzedzieda" – I (1998)
• "Dzedzieda" – II (1999)
• "Armour of Shreds" (2000)
• "Dzedzieda" – III" (2000)
• "Without Entering I Go Away from Each Paradise (2004)
• "Early Spring" (sonnets) (2005)
• "The Life of Love" (2008)
• "Let Us Say Nothing" (2009)
• "Twilight Handwriting" (2009)
• "Waves in Desert" (2009)

Poetry Books for Children

• "Here Lopes A Red-Bearded Hare" (1978)
• "The Little Mermaid" (1982)
• "While The Snail Was Out" (1984)
• "The Whiskered Flower" (1990)
• "The Gnome" (2004)

Fairy-Tales for Children

• "The Small, The Very Small" (1986)
• "Bearded with Two Beards" (2007)

Essays

• "Nidas" (1982)
• "Coeval of the Word" (2003)
• "A Fast, Non – Existent Part" (2008)
• "The Eternal Present", in collab. 1. vol. (2008)

Prose

• "Yearning Coloured in Blood" (novel) (2000)

Translations (Selected)

Leons Briedis translated many important works from various languages. Here are some examples:

• From Latin: Works by St. Augustine, Boethius, Juvenalis, and Seneca.
• From Romanian: Poetry by T. Arghezi, Nichita Stanescu, Lucian Blaga, Grigore Vieru, and Anna Blandiana. He also translated Romanian folk tales and works by Mircea Eliade.
• From Italian: Sonnets by F. Petrarca, and poetry by E. Montale, G. Leopardi, and F. T. Marinetti. He also translated works by Umberto Eco.
• From Spanish: Poetry by Federico García Lorca, Juan Ramon Jimenez, and Jose Luis Borges. He also translated "Platero and I" by Juan Ramon Jimenez.
• From French: Works by Mircea Eliade, E. Cioran, and H. Bergson. He also translated poetry from African countries like Cameroon and Senegal.
• From Portuguese: Poetry by Fernando Pessoa (including "The Lost Garden" and "Metaphysical Engineer"), Eugénio de Andrade, and many other Portuguese and Brazilian poets like Murilo Mendes and Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
• From English: Poems and essays by T. S. Eliot and W. B. Yeats. He also translated works by E. Fromm and Mircea Eliade.
• From Russian: Works by I. Turgenev and A. Arbuzov.
• From Swahili: Stories by S. Robert.