Vilnius Review

We are delighted to present a piece of Darius Žiura's latest book “Dissertating” (Diseris). Translated by Erika Lastovskytė.

“Artistic practice, like detective stories, is based on various illusions. From the very beginning of your conscious life, illusions act as its driving force. Art is an illusion. Culture is an illusion. Every art project is created on the basis of illusions you have at a particular stage of your life. They keep hold of your attention over what you do, over the things you live through. Perhaps, if there were no illusions, we would die much sooner.”

Read the whole story: https://vilniusreview.com/fiction/606-darius-ziura

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

Vilnius Review is going to TALLINN and HELSINKI! 🧳✈️🛳️

In a series of three events, the latest issue of the magazine will be presented and the Lithuanian literature readings will take place at the cool bookstores Rüütel & Matilda English Bookshop (Tallinn) and Rosebud Books - Kirjakauppoja. Bookshops.. (Helsinki). Another event will occur at Tekstin talo (Helsinki) as part of the famous Runokuu Poetry Moon festival. There will also be a meeting of Lithuanian writers with Finnish writers, publishers, and translators.

Dates, participants, and the links to the events:

Tallinn
08.20 > 19:00 > Marius Burokas, Austėja Jakas, Jurgita Jasponytė, Saulius Vasiliauskas > https://rb.gy/u9bzx1

Helsinki
8.21 > 18:00 > Marius Burokas, Austėja Jakas, Ieva Toleikytė, Saulius Vasiliauskas > https://rb.gy/b07pqy

8.23 > 17:30 > Marius Burokas, Austėja Jakas, Ieva Toleikytė, Saulius Vasiliauskas > https://rb.gy/x5r30a

The events in Helsinki are organized in collaboration with the Lithuanian Cultural Attaché in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

The event in Tallinn is partly supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Estonia.

Feel free to join! ;)

Literary critic Lina Buividavičiūtė reviews the latest book by poet Tomas Venclova “Beyond St. Anne's and the Bernardines”:

“One of the most striking features of the collection is the interplay between the city, its architecture, and the natural world. In Venclova’s work, this relationship is depicted as organic and integral, like “an art deco ornament in the gaps of branches” (p. 20). A standout element from the natural background is the abundance of water imagery, which includes a harbor, a foaming river, “dugouts, cutters, grimy sails,” a stream pool, a foam line, a tide, a confluence of rivers, rapids, the sea, a quay, and “an underwater staircase to Neptune’s realm,” among other examples.”

Read the full review: https://vilniusreview.com/reviews/605-intelligent-and-lively-poetry

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

“I will emigrate to that country which doesn’t yet exist
and will give it the name
SUTEMA,
and it will be independent
from the sky and the earth,”

Vilnius Review continues its archive section and publishes translations of poems by the émigré poet Liūne Sutema (1927–2013; real name Zinaida Nagytė-Katiliškienė). Poems were translated by Eugenijus Ališanka and Kerry Shawn Keys, published in “The Vilnius Review”, 2007, Spring / Summer issue.

Here is a link to read all: https://vilniusreview.com/archive/604-liune-sutema

//

Photo by unknown photographer, 1949, Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, Limis.lt

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

The award has finally arrived:
D&AD "Wooden pencil"
VILNIUS REVIEW MAGAZINE
For Creative Excellence ✏️🏆

Trio in the photo (from left): magazine designer Jurgis Griškevičius, editor-in-chief of the Vilnius Review Saulius Vasiliauskas, editor of the issue (and long-time editor of the magazine) Marius Burokas.

We would like to thank once again to all the translators, authors, sponsors and, of course, readers!

A MINIATURE LITHUANIA INSIDE CONNECTICUT:
exclusive interview with Lithuanian-American writer and editor Jocelyn Bartkevicius conducted by Laima Vince.

“My father was born in a small village called Gelvonai in Central Lithuania. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1930 when he was three. [...] My parents divorced when I was two. I was a weekend Lithuanian. I spent the weekends with my father, and he would take me to my grandparents’ house. It was really like going to another country. [...] there was the garden. My grandmother canned everything. When I was about ten she told me this story and laughed at herself. When World War II started, she thought it would be like World War I. So, she did what she did in Lithuania, which was to put food in jars and bury it in the yard. She told me she had found some bread that she had buried in the beginning of World War II.”

//

“I loved my grandmother’s stories. I loved sitting in the garden, smelling all the fragrances. She would only tell me so many stories. At one point, when she was telling me about hiding in the forests from the Prussians and the Russians, she stopped and said, “You’re an American, you don’t understand.” It was always: You are an American, but then, you are a Lithuanian.”

//

“The letters were censored. She [grandmother] showed me the letters from her sister with big black lines crossing out sentences. One time, she was reading one of her sisters’ letters to me, and she said, “This is how we get around the censors. Her sister wrote, ‘We live very well, just like Mrs. So and So.’ But we know that Mrs. So and So was an impoverished widow.”

//

Don't miss the full interview: https://rb.gy/7qg1ud

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

Literary critic Linas Daugėla reflects on Jurgita Jasponyte latest book “The Universe Settles in the Wrong Place”:

“In her third book of poems, the poet sustains her signature calm and reflective tone. Whether contemplating darkness, rain, her loved ones, or pondering death, she seeks to discern the boundary between life and death. She treads the delicate edge of existence and non-existence, confronting the darkness within herself and striving to embrace it with utmost serenity. She connects this with folk songs, with which she enters a clearer state of being.”

Read the full review here: https://vilniusreview.com/reviews/602-a-universe-trying-to-settle

New poetry by poet and translator Kristina Tamulevičiūtė from her book “Life.” We are delighted that this is an exciting translation debut for our new intern and teammate Agnieška Leščinska! Also thanks to translator Markas Aurelijus Piesinas for his guidance in preparing this publication.

//

when blood returns through the machine
it’s cold

first the cold takes away my arm
then my shoulder
and seeps deep into my heart

there’s many of us here but I’m the only healthy one

we’re connected to the machines
lying here besides one another
the oncologic and the genetic

a nurse in pink scrubs walks between the beds
she tells me
you’ll save somebody’s life
i thank you
for that person

she smiles

and hits the vein
only on the third try

//

Enjoy reading all the poems: https://vilniusreview.com/poetry/600-kristina-tamuleviciute

“Reading Lithuanian made me feel special because I could read those books the other kids in the neighborhood could not. Our stories were different.” – tells poet and translator Jonas Zdanys.

Vilnius Review publishes a completely fresh interview with him, conducted by Laima Vince at his home in Wallingford, Connecticut.

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Zdanys was born in New Britain, Connecticut a few months after his parents arrived as displaced persons from a United Nations camp in Germany for Lithuanian refugees. He is a graduate of Yale University and earned a PhD in English Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he studied with Robert Creeley.

He is the author of fifty-seven books: collections of his poetry, written in English or in Lithuanian; volumes of his translations into English of Lithuanian poetry and fiction.

//

Read the full interview: https://rb.gy/9tx54w

NEW POEMS by Jurgita Jasponyte from her recently published book "the universe settles in the wrong place". Translated by Rimas Uzgiris. 📘

//

During these days of Russia’s war in Ukraine
I often forget to breathe,
I always catch myself in a sigh,
trying to breathe more deeply –
the feeling of a lack of air:
maybe I follow the events while holding my breath,
maybe, for a little bit, I die.

//

Read all the poems: https://rb.gy/7g18cp

Photo by Dirk Skiba.

P.s. Tomorrow at 18:00 Vilnius, Unesco literatūros miestas (Šv. Jono st. 11-16) will host a book presentation - feel free to join!

The Online Magazine for Lithuanian Literature - Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation. It's aim is to promote of Lithuanian fiction, poetry and literary nonfiction.

Vilnius Review is actively preparing our very own special French issue that will be presented in autumn at the literature and translation festivals in Paris and Lyon!

Last Friday, journalists from major French media outlets visited Vilnius. The upcoming issue was presented by the magazine's team: poet, translator Dainius Gintalas (editor of the special issue), poet, translator Marius Burokas, and writer, literary scholar Saulius Vasiliauskas (editor-in-chief).

The meeting was attended by representatives of the news outlets Libération, Le Figaro, Lire Magazine, RFI, Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF, Livres Hebdo, En Attendant La Fin Du Monde, La Vie.

Thanks to Lietuvos kultūros institutas / Lithuanian Culture Institute for hosting this incredible gathering!

What a lovely promotion (and practical summer use) of the magazine!! Thank you Lietuvos leidėjų asociacija!;)

A MODERN-DAY BOOK SMUGGLER – an interesting and historically rich interview with writer Birutė Putrius by Laima Vince.

Birute Putrius was born in 1946 in a displaced person’s camp in Germany. She grew up in Chicago, where she was active in the Lithuanian community, and now lives in California. Her book "Lost Birds" is a novel-in-stories about growing up Lithuanian American.
//
“My paternal grandfather, Mykolas Putrius was a book smuggler. [...] My father used to tell this story about how they smuggled books, and how he would come along once in a while, sitting on the back of the wagon. I asked him, “Wasn’t that dangerous? You have all the tsar’s secret police after you, trying to catch you, put you in prison, or deport you to Siberia, or at the very worst, kill you.” My father responded that my grandfather knew all the best routes from East Prussia. I was enchanted by these stories.”
//
Read the full interview: https://rb.gy/ighxff

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

“Vilnius has a charming balance between urban, historical, and natural spaces,” says Marielle Vitureau, a French-Lithuanian translator and journalist based in Vilnius.

In the new conversation of the cycle “A Glance from the Other Side”, Marielle talks about her relationship with Lithuania, her work as a journalist, her experiences as a translator, and reflects on the possibilities of Lithuanian literature in the upcoming Lithuanian Season in France.

Don’t miss the video: https://rb.gy/rtt95i

What a bright day! Vilnius Review has received the "Wood Pencil" in the D&AD awards!!! ✏️

This award is given to "the best of the year in advertising, design, craft, culture and impact."

>> Since 1962, the D&AD Pencil has represented the very best in design and advertising. Winning a Pencil remains the pinnacle of many careers and the work it celebrates inspires others to study, debate, copy and reference its excellence, as the industry’s finest and most historic of treasures.

Vilnius Review Magazine | D&AD Awards 2024 Pencil Winner | Independent Magazines | D&AD D&AD Awards 2024 Independent Magazines Wood Pencil Winner Lithuania.

We are very happy to announce that Vilnius Review magazine has been shortlisted for the prestigious D&AD Design Awards (D&AD). We are delighted, congratulate the magazine's team - designer Jurgis Griškevičius, editors Marius Burokas, Saulius Vasiliauskas, all the translators and authors - and look forward to the announcement ceremony in London this evening!

“As the Bible says, in the beginning was the Word.
And it was not the right one.”

New fiction in Vilnius Review by UNDINĖ RADZEVIČIŪTĖ: an excerpt from her novel "Pavojingi žodžiai" (Dangerous words) translated by Romas Kinka.

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“There wasn’t a person on the stage who hadn’t heard of the theory of good luck in suffering. It would reach the future stars of the stage and backstage when they were still at the Theatre Academy. Good luck in suffering – that was the basic truth on which the theatre stood. However, each director could apply new colours or, to be more exact, new forms to suffering.”

Enjoy the full excerpt: https://rb.gy/vq4r8k

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Illustration: Rūta Spelskytė. Theater in Detroit. An Abandoned Ghost Town. From the series “Silent Talking”, 2010. Drypoint, 25 × 16 cm. From the MO museum collection.

Undinė Radzevičiūtė - Vilnius Review Drama actors learn how to throw things in their first course, but no one teaches opera soloists things like that. And that’s why they don’t know how to. How to throw things, how to fall down, how to show their emotions, how to show what they want. They just stand there like singing scenery and t...

On May 6–10, Vilnius UNESCO City of Literature is hosting an international congress of literature aimed at presenting the vast and exciting field of Vilnius literature – its writers, organizers of literary events, founders of initiatives, and literary scholars – to an international community of professionals.

Yesterday a meeting with Lithuanian literary press editors was held. During the meeting, Saulius Vasiliauskas, the editor of Vilnius Review, presented the journal's activities and plans, and established contacts with the congress participants.

Literary critic Greta Štikelytė reviews Tadas Zaronskis' first book of poetry “Spalvinimo knygelė draugams” (A Coloring Book for Friends):

“The majority of Zaronskis’s poetic strategy consists of taking a kernel of some concrete experience and dressing it up in self-importance and resignation, from which a vortex of descriptive language springs into existence. His textual urgency threatens to overwhelm the reader like a flood, inundating them with violent yet reserved imagery and dissociated sentimentality. Sporadically appearing pompous rhetoric and declarations (beginning with an epigraph from Gustave Flaubert’s Sentimental Education: “He found that the happiness that he deserved by virtue of his sensitive soul was slow in coming,” p. 5) contrast against the depressive austerity, creating a shimmering game of light and dark, where a melancholic authenticity emerges between layers of irony.”

Read the full review: https://vilniusreview.com/reviews/593-color-me-depressed

New poetry in Vilnius review – poems by Tadas Zaronskis from the poetry book "A Coloring Book for Friends." Translated by Markas Aurelijus Piesinas.

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waking up, complaining

yes once again i won’t start something endless
the whole day will bode brevity the end
will have arrived into things
so taking anything up won’t be worth it
really open your eyes do you see
how the children we could now beget without any condom
wrinkle up get cancer must go to sh*tty jobs dissolve into dust

//

Illustration: Eglė Kuckaitė, My Dream Color. 2011, oil, canvas, monotype, 150 x 120 cm. From the MO Museum collection.

Read all the poems: https://rb.gy/vbxfio

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

We are happy to continue our video interview series “A Glance from the Other Side.” Our new guest is Davide Castiglione, poet and lecturer at Vilnius University, who came to Vilnius for the first time in 2016.

In this rich conversation Davide not only talks about his relationship with contemporary Lithuanian literature, compares Lithuanian and Italian literary traditions, but also reveals which features in poetry he likes and which he finds annoying!:)

Want to find out or even argue? Watch the interview here:

https://rb.gy/qlfd69

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

Fresh poetry debuts in Vilnius Review: Mūza O. Svetickaitė, Lilija Rakova, and Kšìštofas Kšìvecas.

When asked about their favorite foreign authors, the young poets highlighted Bruno K. Öijer (Mūza), Nick Cave (Lilija), and Mark Manson (Kšištofas). Is their work influenced by these? Have a look and find out!

https://rb.gy/shgvw8

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

Literary critic Mantas Tamošaitis about Mantas Adomėnas’s recent novel “Moneta ir labirintas” (The Coin and the Labyrinth):

“The recent trajectory of our literary landscape has been characterized by horizontal and territorial expansion, with forays into genres and identities previously unexplored, even if not all of these endeavors have been the pinnacle of artistic excellence. While the cherries may be plentiful, the cake often lacks the essential components of substance and allure. Adomėnas, amidst his other achievements, offers readers both the icing (the gripping plot) and the biscuit (the compelling grand narrative), which brings a sense of belonging, sought by many in a postmodern world of relativity and chaos.”

Read the full review:
https://rb.gy/1vjiys

“Pesticide” – a new, somewhat Kafkaesque text by Vilnius-based American writer Kerry Shawn Keys, continuing his unique column “A Palmer's chronicle.”

“...one day I awoke and there was a bug in my cup in the bedroom. In my cracked cup, in my constitutional companion. I started to shake – I had lost my sister, I had lost my parents, my kitchen. And now there was a bug in my bedroom as if it was capable of replacing them in my affection. I was determined not too repeat previous mistakes.”

Enjoy the full text here: https://rb.gy/olxj7g

Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation.

Literary critic Martynas Pumputis on the latest book by Alvydas Šlepikas:

“What is the secret to Šlepikas’s success? He takes his time in publishing books and maintains a connection to the Lithuanian literary tradition, taking some elements from it and re-actualizing and reinventing them. [...] We see this same blend of tradition and individual talent in his most recent short story collection titled Namas anapus upės (The House on the Other Side of the River). [...] Here Šlepikas abandons chronological and spatial integrity: some of the narratives take place in indescribable timeframes, while others appear to be happening in Soviet times or in the present (or perhaps even in the future), occurring both in urban and rural settings. The formerly dramatic endings are replaced by a prevailing atmosphere of gloom, while the conclusions of these stories are mystical, ambivalent, symbolic, and difficult to interpret – perhaps requiring a separate methodological analysis in order to be fully appreciated.“

Read his full review: https://rb.gy/s68odo

>> Vilnius Review Internship Call >
If you’re interested, please send a resumé and short motivational letter to us at [email protected]

New poetry in Vilnius review – poems by Tomas Venclova translated by Rimas Uzgiris. Photo by Arūnas Sartanavičius.
//
I can’t lead you out of unbeing, out of the past tense.
Memory is water that runs through our fingers.
It is said: all will be taken – even the century
That chased us like a pack of hounds. We lived once
To experience pain, then we crushed it into a ball
And call that maturity. If eternal light is reflected
In the cataract’s spray – will we be a part of it?
Maybe music echoes just for itself, and needs us not.
There’s not so much as a silhouette. Your “goodbye”
Is answered only by Hermes, the conveyer of souls.
//
For the full publication, press the link in the comments below:

The Online Magazine for Lithuanian Literature - Vilnius Review Vilnius Review is an online journal of Lithuanian literature in translation. It's aim is to promote of Lithuanian fiction, poetry and literary nonfiction.

Some images from the event on Wednesday at "Literatų namai". Photos taken by Mykolas J Kimtys-Judeikis and Tomas Petrulis.

Cheers to everyone who joined us! Have a wonderful weekend! ⛱📚😎

Vilnius Review has become available at the great Rüütel & Matilda English Bookshop in Tallinn! Aitäh!

Usually we organise the magazine launches somewhere abroad. However, after a few years' break, because of some changes in the magazine, we decided to organise an evening in our home town of Vilnius. We are waiting for you today at 6 pm. at the "Literatų namai" (11 Šv. Jono st.).

There will be an opportunity to buy the latest issue at a reduced price. We will also give away some older issues of the magazine for free!

See you there,