Knuts Skujenieks

Knuts Skujenieks (born September 5, 1936 in Riga) is a Latvian poet, journalist, and translator from fifteen European languages.He spent his childhood near Bauska, Zemgale (Southern Latvia). Skujenieks later studied at University of Latvia in Riga and at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. In 1962, he was convicted of anti-Soviet activities, and sentenced to seven years in prison camp in Mordovia, Russia. Although he was and is a prolific poet, he could publish his first collection of poetry only in 1978. The poems he wrote during his captivity were published in 1990. Skujenieks' poetry has been translated into many European languages. Books of his poetry have been published in Sweden and Ukraine. In 2008 he was awarded the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature. Director Ivars Tontegode is shooting a biographical documentary feature The Deviant/Nepareizais about the life of Knuts Skujenieks.