4 The Bookseller Advertisement Feature FEATURE


Shy but not retiring: Latvian literature on the global stage


Latvia’s publishing industry may be small and its authors famed for their wallflower-like tendencies, but this has done nothing to inhbit this burgeoning cultural sector


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s a self-styled “nation of introverts”, Latvians have taken to the written word to express themselves and are now taking steps to ensure their literature is put on the map. Following a London Book Fair Market


Focus to mark 100 years of independence in 2018, as well as series of cultural delegations for foreign publishers and media, and a push to emphasise the rich inner worlds of their talented authors with the award-winning I Am Introvert campaign, Latvian literature is standing tall on the international stage. Publishing is considered the biggest creative


industry in Latvia by turnover and number of employees, although the publication of books in the Latvian language only became widespread in the last decades of the 19th century, with many publishing houses established at the begin- ning of the 20th century. After Latvia regained full independence from the USSR in the early 1990s, the publishing sector was the first to be privatised; a host of new publishing houses were founded, and the number of new titles published was greater than during its first period of inde- pendence (which took place between the two world wars). While still relatively young, the Latvian book


market is thriving with lauded fiction authors, such as Nora Ikstena and Pauls Bankovkis, talented illustrators such as Rūta Briede and Reinis Pētersons, and rock-star poets (one celebrated author referred to poetry collective Orbita as a “Latvian One Direction”, albeit slightly older). Latvian literature has seen several big trends over the past few years, with historical fiction, fantasy and sci-fi, and short


Photography: Aiga Redmane


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