{"product_id":"jaan-kaplinski-selected-poems-9781852248895","title":"Jaan Kaplinski: Selected Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tEstonia's Jaan Kaplinski (1941-2021) was one of Europe's major poets, \u003cbr\u003eand one of his country's best-known writers and cultural figures. He was\u003cbr\u003e a member of the new post-Revolution Estonian parliament in 1992-95 and \u003cbr\u003ehis essays on cultural transition and the challenges of globalisation \u003cbr\u003eare published across the Baltic region.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tThis selection includes work previously unpublished in English as well \u003cbr\u003eas poems drawn from all four of his previous UK collections: \u003ci\u003eThe Same Sea in Us All, The Wandering Border, Through the Forest\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEvening Brings Everything Back\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tJaan Kaplinski (1941-2021) was one of Estonia's best-known writers and \u003cbr\u003ecultural figures. He was born in Tartu shortly after the Soviet \u003cbr\u003eannexation of Estonia. His mother was Estonian, and his Polish Jewish \u003cbr\u003efather, Jerzy Kaplinski, a professor of philology at Tartu University, \u003cbr\u003edied from starvation in a Soviet labour camp when Jaan was still a \u003cbr\u003echild. 'My childhood, ' he has said, 'passed in Tartu, a war-devastated \u003cbr\u003euniversity town. It was a time of repression, fear and poverty.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tJaan Kaplinski studied Romance Language and Linguistics at Tartu \u003cbr\u003eUniversity and worked as a researcher in linguistics, as a sociologist, \u003cbr\u003eecologist and translator. He lectured on the History of Western \u003cbr\u003eCivilisation at Tartu University and was a student of Mahayana Buddhism \u003cbr\u003eand philosophies of the Far East. He wrote and published several books \u003cbr\u003eof poetry and essays in Estonian, Finnish and English, starting to write\u003cbr\u003e also in Russian in recent years. His first original collection of poems\u003cbr\u003e written in Russian, \"Белые бабочки ночи\" (White Butterflies of Night), \u003cbr\u003ewas published in 2014, receiving a \"Russian Award\" in Moscow celebrating\u003cbr\u003e the best works written in Russian by foreign authors. His work has been\u003cbr\u003e translated many languages, including English, Finnish, French, \u003cbr\u003eNorwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Icelandic, Hungarian, Japanese, Latvian, \u003cbr\u003eLithuanian, Russian, Hebrew, Bulgarian and Czech. He had much in common \u003cbr\u003ewith Gary Snyder, who wrote of Kaplinski and his work that 'he is \u003cbr\u003ere-thinking Europe, revisioning history, in these poems of our times. \u003cbr\u003eElegant, musing, relentless, inward, fresh. Poems of gentle politics and\u003cbr\u003e love that sometimes scare you.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tAfter publishing English translations of three collections with Harvill\u003cbr\u003e in Britain, one of these from Breitenbush and one from Copper Canyon in\u003cbr\u003e the US, Kaplinski published \u003ci\u003eEvening Brings Everything Back\u003c\/i\u003e with Bloodaxe Books in 2004, a book combining work from three earlier titles published in Estonia, \u003ci\u003eEvening brings everything back\u003c\/i\u003e (1984), \u003ci\u003eIce and Heather\u003c\/i\u003e (1989) and \u003ci\u003eSummers and Springs\u003c\/i\u003e (1995). His semi-autobiographical, mystical novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Same River\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cbr\u003e translated by Susan Wilson, was published by Peter Owen in 2009. His \u003cbr\u003eother English translators and co-translators have included Hildi \u003cbr\u003eHawkins, Sam Hamill, Fiona Sampson and Riina Tamm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tHis \u003ci\u003eSelected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 2011) includes work \u003cbr\u003epreviously unpublished in English as well as poems drawn from all four \u003cbr\u003eof his previous UK collections: \u003ci\u003eThe Same Sea in Us All\u003c\/i\u003e (1985\/1990), \u003ci\u003eThe Wandering Border\u003c\/i\u003e (1987\/1992), \u003ci\u003eThrough the Forest\u003c\/i\u003e (1991\/1996) and \u003ci\u003eEvening Brings Everything Back\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e (2004). He was awarded the European Prize for Literature (Prix Européen\u003cbr\u003e de Littérature) in 2016, and in the same year was nominated for the \u003cbr\u003eNobel Prize in Literature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tHe translated literature from French, English, Spanish, Chinese \u003cbr\u003e(including the Tao Te Ching) and Swedish (a book of poems by Tomas \u003cbr\u003eTranströmer), and travelled widely. Awarded many prizes and honours, he \u003cbr\u003ewas a member of several learned societies including the Universal \u003cbr\u003eAcademy of Cultures. Jaan Kaplinski was a member of the new \u003cbr\u003epost-Revolution Estonian parliament (Riigikogu) in 1992-95 and his \u003cbr\u003eessays on cultural transition and the challenges of globalisation are \u003cbr\u003epublished across the Baltic region. Further details and texts are on his\u003cbr\u003e website http: \/\/jaan.kaplinski.com\/\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tIn 1980 Kaplinski was one of the authors and initiators of the so-called Letter of 40 intellectuals (\u003cem\u003eNeljakümne kiri\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003cbr\u003e action, a letter signed by well-known Estonian intellectuals protesting\u003cbr\u003e against the behaviour of the authorities in Soviet-annexed Estonia sent\u003cbr\u003e to the main newspapers of the time. He was later involved in an \u003cbr\u003eIrish-Estonian initiative predating Estonian independence, appearing on \u003cbr\u003ethe Ulster TV talk show \u003ci\u003eKelly's People\u003c\/i\u003e. He gave lectures, \u003cbr\u003ereadings and talks in Vancouver and Calgary, Ljubljana and Trieste, \u003cbr\u003eTaipei and Stockholm, Bologna and Cologne, London and Edinburgh, and at \u003cbr\u003efestivals in Ireland, including Cúirt in Galway and at Poetry Now in Dún\u003cbr\u003e Laoghaire where he launched his \u003cem\u003eSelected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e in 2011. He was also writer-in-residence at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tA virtual conference marking Kaplinski's 80th birthday was held in \u003cbr\u003eJanuary 2021 organised by the city of Tartu, the Writer's Union and the \u003cbr\u003eEstonian Literary Museum covering the wide range of his work, including \u003cbr\u003ehis contributions to ecological thinking, global issues, linguistics, \u003cbr\u003eliterature and the study of Eastern philosophies. Arne Merilai, the main\u003cbr\u003e organiser of \u003cem\u003eLuuletused on elanud maakeral juba eotseenist saadik\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cbr\u003e said that the conference offered new insights into Jaan Kaplinski as \"a\u003cbr\u003e great Estonian poet, essayist and thinker. His writings have been \u003cbr\u003etranslated into many different languages and his world view has affected\u003cbr\u003e us and the world.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tOther writers have streets named after them. Kaplinski went one better \u003cbr\u003ewith celestial recognition in main-belt asteroid 29528 Kaplinski.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloodaxe Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51552813121810,"sku":"9781852248895","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fde0e4e3-8cbe-46a6-b308-7e0028e43ab4.jpg?v=1754905455","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/jaan-kaplinski-selected-poems-9781852248895","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}