Leons_Briedis

Leons Briedis
Leons Briedis
Born	16 December 1949; Madona, Latvian SSR, USSR
Died	1 February 2020 (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

Latvian writer (1949–2020)

Leons Briedis (16 December 1949 – 1 February 2020) was a Latvian poet, a novelist, an essayist, a literary critic and publisher, translator of prose and poetry from Latin, Russian, English, Romance languages (Romanian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romanic), Swahili (of Bantu peoples), Albanian and other languages. He was also an author of several musicals produced on the radio and staged at the biggest theatres in Latvia, script writer (author of several scripts, one short-length film is produced) wrote much for children (poems, prose, plays), author of song texts (in collaboration with the composer Raimonds Pauls, texts for ~150 songs), translated 10 plays staged at Latvian theatres and rendered in verse opera librettos (e.g., the opera by Benjamin Britten "The Small Chimney-Sweep").

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Awards and honors

For his contribution to understanding of contemporary qualities of poetry, life, and society, Briedis received the "Ojārs Vācietis Award" from the Latvian Association of Writers in 1988.
In 1989, at the Mihai Eminescu International Festival of Poetry in Romania, Briedis was rewarded with an "Honorary Diploma" of the Romanian Association of Writers. The Latvian National Administration for publishing, printing and circulation awarded Briedis with a diploma for the "Best Translation of the Year" – a selection of Grigore Vieru's poetry.
In 1999, at the 10th International Poetic Festival dedicated to Lucian Blaga and held in Cluj – Napoca, Romania, L.Briedis received the "Special Award" for his translations of Romanian poetry and for popularization of Romanian culture in Latvia. L. Briedis received the prize of the Romanian Writers' Union, but in 1992 for publication of the culturological magazine "Grāmata" — the Prize of the Ministry of Culture of Latvia.
In 1997, he received the Award for Social Concord of the Soros Foundation — Latvia for special merit in promotion and development of multicultural relations between nations living in Latvia, since Briedis was one of the initiators of forming the Latvian Association of National Culture Societies and since 1988 actively participated in it.
In 1999, he received the highest award of the Republic of Latvia, the Order of the Three Stars 3rd Class
In 2003, he received the award of the Republic of Portugal – the Order of Merit.
In 2004, he received the award of the Latvian Writers Union for the best translation of the year – the poetry book of the Portuguese poet Eugenio de Andrade "Water nightingale".
From 2007, he was the honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of the Philosophy and Sociology of Latvia, and also was a life's stipendiary and recipient of the Best Translation of the Year award for the poetry book of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa "The Metaphysical Engineer" and the poetry book of the Italian poet Eugenio Montale "The Men with the Fish - pots" of the Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation.
Since 2007 he has been an Honorary member of the World Haiku Association (Tokyo) and he received the III award at the 18th Druskininkai International Poetry Festival.
In 2008 he received the award of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Italy for the translation of the work of E. Montale in Latvian and the award of the Latvian Writers Union and Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation for the best translation of the year – the five poetry books of the Brazilian poets Murilo Mendes, Manuel Bandeira, Cecília Meireles, Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Jorge de Lima. Since 2003 he is an Honorary member of the Association of Fernando Pessoa (Lisbon, Portugal).

Published works

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)
Books of 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:
Чинэ ку стеле Кишинэу Литература артистикэ 1985
После Иванова дня Москва Советский писателъ 1986
Поки равлика не було вдома Киив Веселка 1989
from Latin: St. Augustine "Confessiones" (Book VIII and XIII); Boethius "On Console in Philosophy (2009); Basilius Plinius "Eulogy of Riga (1997); Juvenalis; Seneca "Letters to Lucilius"; I. Loyola "The Spiritual Exercises"(fragments); F. Petrarca "Book of Letters on Everyday Matters"(fragments);
from Romanian: T. Arghezi "The Real Words" (1975); L. Damian "I Am A Verb" (1976); Nichita Stanescu "Nothing Is Something Else" (1977); Selected works of Moldavian poets "From The Pink Hills" (1979); Lucian Blaga "The Seller Of Grasshoppers" (1982); Grigore Vieru "Friday Star" (1988); Anna Blandiana "The Snowy Hour" (1989); S. A. Doinas "Born In Utopia" (1999); Gellu Naum "The Traveller Who Sets Ablaze" (1999); I.Malancioiu "Jeronim" (1999); Mircea Dinescu "Terrorisation of the Common Sense" (1999); M. Sorescu "Wells in the Sea"(1999); O. Goga, G. Bacovia; E. Jonesco; E. Botta; I. Voronca; J. Horea; A. Dumbrăveanu; J.Alexandru; G. Tomozei; P. Stoica; E. Jebeleanu; G. Tartler; V. Mihaiu; D. M. Jon, C. Ilica, Nichita Danilov; J. Vieru; J. Flora; J. Pillat; C. Baltag; P. Stoica, E. Jebeleanu, J. Flora, G. Vulturescu, Vasile Moldovan (haiku), Leo Butnaru etc.;

The poets of Moldova ( A. Robot, G. Vode, D. Matcovshi, J. Vatamanu etc.); Z. Stancu "I Loved You So. Kostandina." (1978); P. Salcudeanu "The Death Of A Fashion – model" (1979); S. Vangeli (1979, 1986); Romanian folk -songs for children "ABC muzical" (2007); Christmas songs; the epitaphs of the cemetery of Sapinta (Maramureș); Romanian fairy – tales (1986); Mircea Eliade "At The Gypses"; A. E. Baconsky "Black Abbey" (fragments); Anna Blandiana (stories); the prose of the writers of Moldova: M. Sorescu "Lap"; D. Solomon "Water"; J.Druta (plays); H. Vald (essays); T.Vianu (discources in literary sciences);

from Aromanian: Hristu Cândroveanu;
from Italian: sonnets by F. Petrarca ("Canzoniere", 1981); E. Montale "Men with Fish – pots" (2007); G. Leopardi; F. T. Marinetti (poems and manifests); G. Ungaretti; E. Montale; S. Quasimodo; A. T. Guerra; V. Sereni; G. Ballo; V. Ceiken, A. Porta, G. Raboni, M. Muchi, V. Magrelli, G. Giudici, S. Gallon, A. Zanzotto; P. Ruffilli; E. Filipo "The Art Of Comedy"; F.Fellini "Mrs. Rome"; M. Bontempelli "Four Preambles"; M.Ficino; Umberto Eco "Innovation and Repetition";
from Sardinian: P. Mossa (poems);
from Friulano: P. P. Pasolini (poems);
from Rhaeto – Romanic: P. Lansel; A. Per;
from Catalan: S. Espriu "The Garden with five trees"(2002); P. Quart; G. Ferrater; C. Riba; J. Salvat – Papasseit; V. Panyella, Tx. Martinez Ingles (poetry); P. Kalders (stories);
from Spanish: Federico García Lorca; R. Alberti "Sailor On Land"; Juan Ramón Jiménez (poems); Juan Ramon Jimenez "Platero and I" (1988, 2004); Jorge Luis Borges; O. Paz; E. Diego; J. Martí; J. Cortázar; C. Vallejo; M. Hernández ; L. Cernuda; M. L. Melo; Hernando Quiroga "Anaconda"; R. Darío; J. Goytisolo (essays); José Ortega y Gasset "The Poverty And Brightness Of Translation", "A Theme Of Our Time", fragments of the book "The Man and the Men";
from French: Mircea Eliade "The Myth Of The Eternal Return" (1995), "The Sacral And Profane" (1996), "Sexualised World" (fragments of the book "Smiths and Metallurgists"; E. Cioran; J. Maritain "Philosopher In The State"; M. Blanchot (essays); P. Aries "Judgements At The End Of Times. The Book Of Life"; H. Bergson (fragments from the books "The Creative Evolution" and "Laughter") ; J. Starobinski "The Irony and Melancholy"(fragments); P.Valery (essays); A. Artaud " Theatre and Its Double"; poets of Cameroons (R. Philombe, Ch. Ngande), Senegal (L. Sedar Senghor, D. Diop, B. Diop, M. Fall, S. Usman), Haiti (A. Cesaire), Morocco (M. Bennis);
from Portuguese: Fernando Pessoa "The Lost Garden (1983, 1999); "The Anthology of the Portuguese Contemporary Poetry" (2001; edition bilingual; 27 authors; 480 pages; the second edition in 2003); E. de Andrade "Water Nightingale" (edition bilingual, 2003); H. Helder "The Continues Poem" (2004); A. Hatherly "Tiny Fibres" (2005); Fernando Pessoa (Alvaro de Campos) "Metaphysical Engineer" (2006); The Anthology of Azorean Poetry (2009); S. de M. Breyner Andresen "The Anemone of the Days"(2010); A. Neto "With Dry Eyes" (1978); C. Pacheco, L. M. Nava, M. Alegre (poems); poets of Angola (A. Santos, A. Cardoso, A. Dascalos, D. Mestre, J. Rocha, G. Rodrigues, M. E. Neto, R. David), Mozambique (J. Craveirinha), Santome e Principe; poets of Brazil: M. Bandeira "A Carnival Wednesday Night's Dream"(2008); J. de Lima "Black Fulo"(2008); C. Meireles "Herdswoman of Clouds"(2008); C. Drummond de Andrade "A House without Roots"(2008); M. Mendes "Church, Woman"(2008); R. Bopp; V. de Morais; M. de Andrade; G. de Almeida; J. Cabral de Melo Neto; H. Costa; Eduíno de Jesus;
from Galician: Rosalía de Castro:
from English: T. S. Eliot (poems and essays); W. B. Yeats (essays); S. Beckett (poems); W. Soyinka (poems and plays); E. Fromm "Freedom And Spontaneity"; J. Campbell "Erotic Irony"; G. Greene (essays); M. Eliade "The Aspects of Myth"(1999), "World, City, Home";
from Icelandic: Sigurdur A. Magnusson (poems);
from Russian: I. Turgenev; A. Arbuzov; V. Korostilov; J. Akim; J. Kasyanich;
from Ukrainian: I. Pavliuc, O. Olzych, M. Hvilhovij (poems);
from Czech: Christmas songs; Milan Hrabal: Cestou bolesti a víry (Ciešanu un Ticības ceļā) - with Adrians Briedis – Macovei
from Macedonian B. Guzel, B. Višinski, M. Stefanovski (poems);
from Dutch: H. Huizinga "Homo ludens" (Chapter VII and XII);
from Albanian: J.Kadare, B.Ymeri, G. Hajdari (poems);
from Swahili: S. Robert (stories);
from Afrikaans: B. Breitenbah (poems);
from Yoruba: Oriki (folk songs);
from Igbo: Chibo Oneyi (poems).
from Malagasian: J. Rabemananjara, J. J. Rabearivelo, Radu ( G. Andriamanantena), R. Zanamiotra (poetry) and folks -songs (hainteny).

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Leons_Briedis

Leons Briedis

Early life

Family

Later life

Awards and honors

Published works

External links

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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