Kārlis Vērdiņš, a Latvian poet, critic, translator and literature scholar is one of the Poetry Riders of this year. Get to know more about him and the Latvian poetry by an interview:

Your doctoral thesis “The Latvian Prose Poem in the 20th Century” (2009) and a book “The Social and Political Dimensions of the Latvian Prose Poem” (2010) investigate the history of Latvian prose poem from the 1870s to the early 21st century. What should we know about these dimensions to understand the history of Latvian poetry?

Latvian poetry was influenced by German and Russian literatures before the first independence period from 1918 to 1940 when the young generation learned also other languages and influenced also from English, French or Scandinavian literature. As in other nations, Latvians were Marxists, nationalists, Social democrats etc. Of course, Soviet period is very special time when writers occupied special position and at the same time suffered from censorship, even the biggest supporters of Soviet regime.

What are the political and social dimensions in today's Latvian poetry?

There are not many poets who really write about social and political issues. However, Inga Gaile in her last collection ”Migla” (Fog, 2012) asks painful questions about the role of woman and stereotypes of society. Some poets have written poems in support of Maidan in Ukraine.

There are some social aspects in your own poetry also, everyday Riga life with people's efforts to cope with small salaries and on the other hand a criticism towards social expectations based on materialism or successful career. There is also a very carnevalistic, parodic and apt poem ”Soldiers”, which points out how unpredictable and sudden can happen the switch from a friend to an enemy when it comes to political views or nationality. I think it is very topical poem in whatever time in the history, when the conflict is on air and all the suddenly people are nervous and accuse their neighbours of another nationality or minority. When did you wrote this poem and in which context?

This poem was written in 2006 and was meant to be a poem about relationship which uses military and political imagery, including very stereotypical features of different nations. But the political events of the last year probably have made it to sound like more political poem.

What is happening right now in Latvian poetry?

We have very interesting young authors, born at the end of eighties and the beginning of nineties who have made their debuts recently – Arvis Viguls (1987) who has participated in Poetry Ride as well, Artis Ostups (1988), also Justīne Janpaule (1989) whose debut collection is being prepared for publishing. They write serious and detailed poems which deal with visual imagery a lot, Ostups even mentioned that they could be labelled as ”visualists” in poetry. I've got a feeling that the cultural difference between post-soviet Latvia and Western world has been overcome in their poems – they draw their inspiration from foreign poetry much more than Latvian traditions.

We have our active and attractive group of Russian-speaking authors ”Orbita” that celebrated its 15^th anniversary this year and besides giving readings and publishing their own poetry has started a new series of bilingual books by Russian authors of Latvia, offering new names to Latvian readers.

How appreciated domestic or translated poetry is in Latvia compared to prose? Do people read poems?

Like in other countries, a collection of poems usually is printed approximately in 500 copies. But there are some good books each year; also young authors make their débuts, so the process is going on. However, I would like to experience more surprises from poetry. I think there are really few prose books that really can grasp the attention of readers and this is bigger problem.

Tell us about the literary magazine Latvju teksti (Latvian texts).

Well, it started in 2010 when publisher Jānis Oga came with an idea to create a new magazine for literature. We are four editors, and try to make a magazine that we would like to read ourselves.

You have close contacts also with Estonian and Finnish poets. What kind of differences you see between Estonian, Finnish and Latvian poetry?

I think, Latvian poetry is more ”juicy” than Estonian, if I could say so – Estonian poems seems to be more dry, rational, ascetic, less dealing with emotions. It is harder to speak about Finnish poetry because we have less translations of it.

You have performed your poetry in many countries and got also many poetry prizes. In how many languages your poetry has been translated?

I have poetry books translated and published in Russia (2003), Poland (2009) and Czech Republic (2013), English translation is going be published in 2015. My poems are included in periodicals, anthologies and online editions also in Estonian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Swedish, German, Turkish, Slovenian, Chinese, Basque, Bulgarian.

Has the reception varied depending on a country?

It depends a lot not only of the quality of translation but also the poetic and cultural traditions of each country. However, translated poetry is really a very specific part of all publishing business in every country so I suppose these books have pretty narrow audience.

It seems to be the poetry reading evenings are very popular nowadays. Why do people want to gather and hear poems?

It is always mystery for me. Our festival ”Dzejas dienas” (Poetry Days) in pretty well attended each September. But anyway I wouldn't say that poetry is something popular nowadays.

You have translated a lot a poetry from English and Russian. What has been the most challenging collection to translate for you and why? What are the crucial skills of a good translator in general?

I think it's hard to translate beautiful verse poems with meter and rhymes – like Joseph Brodsky (we made his Selected Poems in Latvian in 2009) or Emily Dickinson, for example. I think, crucial skills of a good translator is to be versatile and to know your own language very well.

You have been also before on the road with Poetry Ride. Do you have some expections for this years Poetry Ride festival?

I think the main thing is to go on Poetry Ride with open mind and heart. I participated in the very first Poetry Ride when the event was much more smaller – we had, I think, two readings – in Pärnu and Riga.

interviewed by Heidi Iivari, October 2014. Sponsored by Rozentāls Society.