Rūdolfs Kārlis Leonīds Blaumanis (1862–1908) was a Latvian writer, journalist and playwright. He is considered one of the greatest writers in Latvian history, particularly a master of the literary realism. Rūdolfs Blaumanis was born in Ērgļi, Latvia to a family of servants in the local manor, father Matīss Blaumanis – a cook, and his mother Karlīne – a housemaid. Until 1875, he studied in a private school in Ogre parish and went on to study in a German merchant school until 1881. Blaumanis' first story Wiedergefunden/Found Again was published in 1882 in a German newspaper Zeitung für Stadt und Land. In 1886, his first poem in Latvian Nakts/Night was published. From 1887 until 1889, he lived in his childhood home and wrote several novels both in Latvian and German. In 1889, he moved to Riga and wrote for a newspaper about Latvian cultural affairs. In 1890, his first play Zagļi/Thieves was staged in Riga. For a brief period, he worked in the New Current movement's main newspaper Dienas Lapa where he published satire criticising romanticism. In 1901, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he led a satirical section of the famous Latvian newspaper Pēterburgas avīzes. In 1904, due to the financial and health problems, he returned to Latvia. In this period, he wrote some of his most famous plays. Among Blaumanis' most notable works are his play comedy Skroderdienas Silmačos/The Tailor Days at Silmači (1902), and his dramas Indrāni (1904) and Ugunī/In Fire (published 1905, staged 1906). Blaumanis drama is characterized by sharp conflict caused by contradicting characters and inner struggles. Although Blaumanis was not directly involved in the Revolution of 1905, he supported writers who were. In 1908 his health started to decline, and although with the help of fellow Latvian writers he was able to go to Finland for treatment, his state was already critical and he died on 4 September 1908 in the Punkaharju sanatorium for tubercular patients. He was buried in Ērgļi, and a House-Museum for Rūdolfs Blaumanis was opened in Braki, his childhood home, in 1959. Blaumanis' stories have been adapted for many films and animations.