Andra Manfelde (born in1973, Kuldīga) is a Latvian writer and poet. In 1993, she moved to Krimulda and joined a Christian creative rehabilitation comune, in 2002, she graduated from the Riga School of Design and Art as a sculptor. In 2002, Manfelde had her first publications in several papers, including a selection of poems in the "Luna" literary magazine for which she received the Annual Literature Award. In 2005 her debut collection of poems Tranšejas dievi rok [Gods Dig the Trenches], was published and received the Ojārs Vācietis Prize. 2005 also saw the publishing of her first novel Adata [Needle], an autobiographical work about a young woman's struggles with drug addiction. The novel was very popular, and in 2007 Manfelde adapted it for a musical with the same title by the renowned Latvian composer Zigmārs Liepiņš. Her second collection of poems Betona svētnīcas [Concrete Sanctuaries] was also well received and nominated for the Poetry Days Award. In 2017, her novel Virsnieku sievas [The Officers' Wives] was published in the "We. Latvia. The 20th Century" historical series and received several awards and nominations.
Prose
Vilcēni [Wolf-cub]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2020.
Mājās pārnāca basa [Home came barefoot]. Riga: Latvijas Mediji, 2018.
Virsnieku sievas [The Officers' Wives]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2017.
Dzimtenīte [Sweet Motherland]. Riga: Literatūras kombains, 2012.
Ceļojums uz mēnesi: Visbija — Ventspils — Visbija [A Trip to the Moon]. Riga: Literatūras kombains, 2011.
Zemnīcas bērni [The Children of the Bunkers]. Rīga: self-published, 2010.
Adata [The Needle]. Rīga: AGB, 2005.
Children's books
Vai mamma mājās? [Is Mom At Home?] Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2023.
Uzzīmē baltu lietu [Draw A White Thing]. Riga: Aminori, 2021.
Pasaka par sniega kurmi [A Fairy Tale About A Snow Mole]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2020.
Kaķis mākoņos [Cat in the Clouds]. Riga: Latvijas Mediji, 2020.
Ceriņslotas zīmējumi [Lilac broom drawings]. Riga: Latvijas Mediji, 2019.
Vēja vīrs un mēs [The Wind Man and Us]. Riga: Latvijas Mediji, 2018.
Kurš no mums lidos? [Which One of us is Going to Fly?]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2017.
Sirds pasaka [The Heart's Tale]. Riga: self-published, 2009.
Poetry
Andra Manfelde Dilstošais medus mēness [Waning Honeymoon]. Riga: Aminori, 2024.
Poēma ar mammu [The Poem With Mom]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2022.
Ziemeļu tirgus [The Northern Fair]. Riga: Literatūras kombains, 2013.
Betona svētnīcas [Concrete Sanctuaries]. Riga: Neputns, 2008.
Tranšejas dievi rok [Gods Dig the Trenches]. Riga: AGB, 2005.
Miscellaneous
Transcendentālā oratorija [Transcendental Oratorium]. Composer Zigmars Liepiņš, Latvian National Opera, 2014.
Books to fall for
Officers’ Wives
Officers’ Wives (Virsnieku sievas)
The minor military port Karosta is a closed army settlement situated in the northern part of Liepāja, a port town in Latvia. During the 1970s, some of its inhabitants would do Cossack dancing in the local Sailors’ Club, a venue created from the local church building, while others tried to save their uniforms from the damage of excrement in the military jail. Reminiscent of the famous Russian nesting doll, Karosta was a model in miniature of the larger empire; closed off as it was from the rest of the world by the Iron Curtain, an off-limits area that only a selected, pass-holding few could access. Here, the officers drank cognac and their wives wore French perfume. But beyond the fence, in Latvian Liepāja, life was completely different. Andra Manfelde’s novel takes an insider’s look into those territories closed off to civilians, where military classification meant physical danger for outsiders, as a retrospective parallel look at the stagnating USSR and the secrets of adultery.
Title
:Officers’ Wives
Title*
:Virsnieku sievas
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Rīga, Dienas grāmata
Pages
:256
Year
:2017
Foreign rights
:All rights available
Lilac broom drawings
Lilac broom drawings (Ceriņslotas zīmējumi)
Neat and tidy Anna, with blonde braids which look like tights dancing in the breeze, and the redhead Katrina, whose spiky thick hair resembles a red hedgehog, are the best of friends. One day, as they wander around the city, they notice that shadows have disappeared, the houses don’t have all their walls – they are like decorations – and the adults have disappeared! But then someone drives into this ghost town on an asphalt roller, Karr... Karmen. He takes a dried lilac broom and draws a black swatch on the wall of a house, which slowly grows wider and darker and like a river or a ribbon flows out into the city, covering everything in a dark cloud of dust.
Contact: gunta.apse@latvijasmediji.lv
Title
:Lilac broom drawings
Title*
:Ceriņslotas zīmējumi
Authors
:Illustrators
:Andra Manfelde
Genre
:Childrens-book
Publisher
:Latvijas Mediji
Pages
:144
Year
:2019
Foreign rights
:All languages available
About Draw A White Thing // Online magazine Satori, 2021 [LV]
About Cat in the Clouds // Online magazine Satori, 2020 [LV]
Video interview with Andra Manfelde about Karaosta and Concrete Sanctuaries // Vimeo, 2014 [EN, LV]
Interview with Andra Manfelde // Diena.lv, 2013 [LV]
About The Northern Fair // Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji, 2013 [LV]
About Concrete Sanctuaries // Neputns publishing website, 2008 [EN, LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Ātrums ir viņu stihija, review of Wolf-cub // Diena.lv, 2020 [LV]
Elīna Malāne, Viņi dzīvi. Par spīti visam, review of Home came barefoot // Ubi Sunt University of Latvia, 2018 [LV]
Zanda Gūtmane, Mēs nākam no vecāku neizdzīvotās bērnības, review of Home came barefoot // Online magazine Punctum, 2018 [LV]
Arnis Koroševskis, Tā dzīvo cilvēks, review of Home came barefoot // Online magazine Satori, 2018 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Maizes un ābola evanģēlijs, review of Home came barefoot // Diena.lv, 2018 [LV]
Ērika Bērziņa, Tā nav grāmata, bet piedzīvojums!, review of Which One of us is Going to Fly? // Online magazine Satori, 2018 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Sievietes uz tilta, review of Wives of Officers // Diena.lv, 2017 [LV]
Sarmīte Kolāte, Okupantu sievas un mīļākās, review of The Officers' Wives // Online magazine Satori, 2017 [LV]
Inese Lūsiņa, Transcendentālā oratorija. Tikai Dievs un mātes mīlestība/Transcendental Oratorium // Diena.lv, 2014 [LV]
Katrīna Rudzīte, Kā izdzīvot dzimtenītē?, review of Sweet Motherland // Online magazine Satori, 2013 [LV]
Aina Siksna, Andras Manfeldes atmiņu tēlojums, review of The Children of the Bunkers // Jaunā Gaita, Nr. 270, 2012 [LV]
2019, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Home came barefoot
2018, the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Which One of us is Going to Fly?
2017, The Egons Līvs Award for Wives of Officers
2012, The Egons Līvs Award for A Trip to the Moon
2012, Indriķis Zeberiņš Prize for The Heart's Tale
2010, The International Jānis Baltvilks Prize for The Heart's Tale
2010, Silver-Ink pot Award from the International Writers' and Translators' House and City Council of Ventspils for The Children of the Bunkers
2008, Anna Dagda Prize for Concrete Temples
2005, Ojārs Vācietis Prize for debut collection Gods dig trenches
2002, the Annual Latvian Literature Award for the publication in "Luna" magazine
Иностранная литература 3 (2019)
Иностранная литература 3 (2019) (Ārzemju literatūra)
Title
: Иностранная литература 3 (2019)Title*
: Ārzemju literatūraAuthors
: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Russian
Publisher
:Иностранная литература, Russia
Pages
:287
Year
:2019
Synopsis
:Literary magazine on foreign literature
Женщина в янтаре. Антология латвийской прозы
Женщина в янтаре. Антология латвийской прозы (Latvian prose anthology)
Title
: Женщина в янтаре. Антология латвийской прозыTitle*
: Latvian prose anthologyAuthors
: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Russian
Publisher
:Вагриус, Russia
Pages
:240
Year
:2008
Synopsis
:Latvian prose anthology
