Māris Bērziņš (1962) is a writer. Māris Bērziņš has worked in the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia, he established and for a while managed the State Culture Capital Foundation, as well as the Electricity Regulatory Board, and the Utilities Regulatory Board of Riga. After this colourful career Māris Bērziņš decided to turn to literature and currently works as a full time writer. His novel Taste of Lead (2015) has been included in the series of historical novels We. Latvia. The 20th Century. The novel focuses on the World War II period from 1939 – 1941 when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Russia, and by Germany. Based on a thorough research and interviews with a ghetto survivor, the novel discusses the subject of the Holocaust in Latvia, emphasizing the global significance of these events. This novel has won several prestigious literary awards in Latvia and has been adapted for theatre at the National Theatre of Latvia (2016, director Valers Sīlis). It is now one of the milestones in Latvian literature since Bēriziņš was the first to dedicate a novel solely to this subject matter.
Māris Bērziņš’s collection of short fiction Gūtenmorgens is written in the manner of absurd anecdotes about a character named Gūtenmorgens. It was first published in 2007, and repeatedly put in print in 2009. Several of the stories about Gūtenmorgens have been turned into short films, e.g., Gūtenmorgens and the Time Machine (2009, director Elīna Ļihačova). Gūtenmorgens has gradually become Māris Bērziņš's alter ego, and he continues to write stories about his adventures. This character is the embodiment of the particular taste and lightness of humour that Māris Bērziņš possesses as an author.
The character Pigman / Cūkmens from Māris Bērziņš's book for children The Fat Stranger has become an image and symbol of nature-friendly attitude nationwide. Māris Bērziņš is an active member of the Latvian Writers' Union.
Prose
Nākotnes kalējs [Blacksmith of the future]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2021.
Aizliegtais pianīns [The Banned Piano]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2019.
Gūtenmorgens. Otrreiz [Gūtenmorgens. Second time]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2017.
Gūtenmorgens (pirm'reiz) [Gūtenmorgens. Once]. Riga, Dienas Grāmata, 2017.
Svina Garša [Taste of Lead]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2015.
Sveiks, Dzintar Mihail! [Hello, Dzintars Mihails!]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2013.
Titāna skrūves [Titanium Screws]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2011.
Gūtenmorgens [Gūtenmorgens]. Riga: Karogs, 2007; Riga: Mansards, 2009.
Ērika Trauma sapnis [Ēriks Traums’ Dream]. Riga: Pētergailis, 2003.
Children's Books
Resnais svešinieks [The Fat Stranger]. Rīga: Liels un mazs, 2008.
Plays
Iztēlojies. Trīs lugas [Imagine. Three Plays]. Rīga: Mansards, 2009.
Miscellaneous
Laika pavēlnieki [Commanders of Time]. Short prose for sculptures of Aigars Bikše. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2011.
Books to fall for

The Taste of Lead
The Taste of Lead (Svina garša)
Winner of several literature awards, The Taste of Lead is a narrative account focusing on a young Latvian man, Matīss, who seeks and eventually fails to avoid siding with either power at war in Europe in 1940. Facing the challenges and conflicts experienced by every young man – the discovery of the existence of love, betrayal, good and evil, and, on a personal level, the taste of lead in his mouth. A vehicle for dealing with weighty issues, this novel is characterized nonetheless by the signature irony, wit, and a taste for paradox noted in Bērziņš’ other works. This book explores lines of division; those simple, qualifying lines that set a regular man apart from a hero, the tragically thin line separating peace from war, the demarcating line seen between words and actions, and the contrasting line between giving in and taking action.
The Taste of Lead satisfies the reader with the depth of its humanist voice. Set between the late 1930s and early 1940s, The Taste of Lead was published in 2015, becoming one of Latvia’s most widely debated and in-demand books. In 2016, director Valters Sīlis produced a stage version of the same title, The Taste of Lead, for the National Theatre of Latvia and is now in its third consecutive season. The Latvian Museum of Writing organizes tours of the places mentioned in the novel, and many schools have included it in their mandatory reading curriculum. An excerpt from this novel was included in the Dalkey Archive Press anthology Best European Fiction 2017.
Contacts: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
TheTasteOfLead_by_M.Berzins.pdf

Title
:The Taste of Lead
Title*
:Svina garša
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:344
Year
:2015
Foreign rights
:All languages available

Gūtenmorgens. Once
Gūtenmorgens. Once (Gūtenmorgens (pirm'reiz))
The stories are independent of one another, but all have one thing in common: the titular character, a man named Gūtenmorgens. He appears to be a completely ordinary citizen, with a wife and children, with his TV, friends, and bottle of beer. He’s sometimes indecisive and passive. As such things often go, however, appearance and behavior can be deceiving. Gūtenmorgens is a hero at heart. Almost everything he thinks about or does is meant to make the world a better place, and to improve his own life. He doesn’t forget about others, either. Gūtenmorgens raises a monument to
his friend the writer. He reconciles a couple who divorced twenty years ago. He even handles developments in geopolitical events, along with the unity of the Baltic States. Gūtenmorgens is also never afraid to get his hands dirty. He shoots at opposing hockey players who beat his team, kills the entire Cabinet of Ministers at least three times a week, and scares other bad people, including his neighbor. Gūtenmorgens will never lay a hand on his neighbor’s dog, though; he loves animals.
Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
Gutenmorgens_by_M.Berzins.pdf

Title
:Gūtenmorgens. Once
Title*
:Gūtenmorgens (pirm'reiz)
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:224
Year
:2017
Foreign rights
:All rights available

The Banned Piano
The Banned Piano (Aizliegtais pianīns)
This novel is mostly about the bureaucracy that spreads, disease-like, throughout the whole country, including pre-school education esatblishments. Even the Latvian Ministry of Economics admits that the high levels of bureaucracy are responsible for the nation’s low level of competitiveness. What is bureaucracy all about? It’s mostly about a lack of trust, justified by the need to exert control, about the feeling of guilt so characteristic of Latvians, which they often describe as a sense of responsibility and a desire for self-improvement. It’s about fear, often defined as cautiousness but which basically is simply fear. It’s a story about the desire of one group of people to fit life into a specific legal framework while another group wishes to live freely and creatively. And it’s about the balance required between these two wishes. In many aspects, this novel is about balance. One character in the book falls into a coma, losing his physical balance, while another fails to keep her psychological balance and ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
TheBannedPiano_by_M.Berzins.pdf

Title
:The Banned Piano
Title*
:Aizliegtais pianīns
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:217
Year
:2019
Foreign rights
:All languages available
The taste of lead. A big novel about a small man (video) // Newmag, November 2023 [AM]
The TV presentation of Maris Berzinsh's novel "The Taste of Lead" // Newmag, November 2023 [AM]
New book-45/23. Khorenatsi, Berzinsh, Janson, Johnson, Taleb // Armenpress, November 2023 [AM]
The best of 2021 translated books: contemporary fiction // llvs.lt April 2022 [LT]
Laura Laurušaitė. That eternal taste of lead. A conversation with the Latvian writer M. Bērziņš // Bernardinai.lt, March 2022 [LT]
The novel about the Holocaust "The Taste of Lead" is the most discussed book in Latvia in recent years // Delfi.lt, February 2022 [LT]
About The Banned Piano // Online magazine Satori, 2019 [LV]
Excerpt from The Taste of Lead // European Literature Network, 2018 [EN]
Līga Rušeniece, interview with Māris Bērziņš // NRA newspaper, 2016 [LV]
Undīne Adamaite, interview with Māris Bērziņš // Culture newspaper Kultūras Diena, 2015 [LV]
Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature awarded to Māris Bērziņš // Saeima homepage, 2015 [EN]
Guntis Berelis, interview with Māris Bērziņš // Guntis Berelis' Literary Review Blog, 2011 [LV]
Book Club is reading. Māris Bērziņš "Taste of Lead" // gerosknygos.pavb.lt, May, 2023 [LT]
Nicolas Auzanneau. The blacksmith of the future, Vilis Lācis, review M.Bērziņš novel // Le Grand Continent, October 2021 [FR]
Zanda Gūtmane, Lielais māneklis Laiks, review of Blacksmith of the future // Online magazine Punctum, 2021 [LV]
Ieva Melgalve, Caur puķu lodziņu uz pelēko briesmoni, review of The Banned Piano // Online magazine Satori, 2020 [LV]
Ilze Jansone, Daudzdabis pianīns, review of The Banned Piano // Online magazine Punctum, 2020 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Spēle pēc noteikumiem, review of The Banned Piano // Diena.lv, 2020 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Gūtenmorgens lido atkal, review of Gūtenmorgens. Once // Diena.lv, 2017 [LV]
Lita Silova, Gūtenmorgens kvadrātā, review of Gūtenmorgens. Second time // Online magazine Punctum, 2017 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Garšo pēc lodes, review of Taste of Lead // Online magazine Punctum, 2015 [LV]
Undīne Adamaite, Galvenajā lomā – pati grāmata, theatre review of Taste of Lead // The Latvian National Theatre, 2016 [LV]
Normunds Naumanis, review of Hello, Dzintars Mihails! // Diena.lv, 2013 [LV]
Kristīne Ilziņa, Paradoksu meistars, review of Taste of Lead // Diena.lv, 2015 [LV]
Guntis Berelis, review of Commanders of Time // Guntis Berelis' Literary Review Blog [LV]
Review of the exhibition THE TIME WILL SAVE HISTORY// Galery Māksla XO homepage, 2010 [EN]
2016, the Annual Latvian Literature Award Best Prose Work for Taste of Lead
2015, the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature for Taste of Lead
2015, Dzintars Sodums Award for Taste of Lead
2009, the Annual Latvian Literature Award Best Drama Work of the Year for Imagine. Three Plays

Taste of Lead / Best European Fiction
Taste of Lead / Best European Fiction (Fragments no romāna "Svina garša")

Title
: Taste of Lead / Best European FictionTitle*
: Fragments no romāna "Svina garša"Authors
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:Dalkey Archive Press, United States
Pages
:320
Year
:2016
Copyrights
:Māris Bērziņš
Synopsis
:A fragment in English of Māris Bērziņš awarded novel "Taste of lead" in an anthology "Best European Fiction 2017".

Вкус свинца
Вкус свинца (Svina garša )

Title
: Вкус свинцаTitle*
: Svina garšaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Russian
Publisher
:Aletheya, Russia
Pages
:367
Year
:2020
Copyrights
:The author, the translator, the publisher
Synopsis
:Winner of several literature awards, The Taste of Lead is a narrative account focusing on a young Latvian man, Matīss, who seeks and eventually fails to avoid siding with either power at war in Europe in 1940.

Švino Skonis
Švino Skonis (Svina garša)

Title
: Švino SkonisTitle*
: Svina garšaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Lithuanian
Publisher
:Tyto alba
Pages
:459
Year
:2021
Copyrights
:author, translater, publisher
Synopsis
:Facing the challenges and conflicts experienced by every young man – the discovery of the existence of love, betrayal, good and evil, and, on a personal level, the taste of lead in his mouth.

Կապարի համը
Կապարի համը (Svina garša)

Title
: Կապարի համըTitle*
: Svina garšaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Armenian
Publisher
:Newmag
Pages
:428
Year
:2023
Copyrights
:The author
Synopsis
:Winner of several literature awards, The Taste of Lead is a narrative account focusing on a young Latvian man, Matīss, who seeks and eventually fails to avoid siding with either power at war in Europe in 1940.

Lyijyn maku
Lyijyn maku (Svina garša)

Title
: Lyijyn makuTitle*
: Svina garšaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Finnish
Publisher
:Aviador
Pages
:370
Year
:2024
Copyrights
:The author
Synopsis
:Winner of several literature awards, The Taste of Lead is a narrative account focusing on a young Latvian man, Matīss, who seeks and eventually fails to avoid siding with either power at war in Europe in 1940.

The Baltics Riveter
The Baltics Riveter (Baltijas literatūras almanahs)

Title
: The Baltics RiveterTitle*
: Baltijas literatūras almanahsAuthors
: , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
: , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:The Riveter, United Kingdom
Pages
:108
Year
:2018
Copyrights
:The contributors
Synopsis
:The fourth edition of the literary magazine The Riveter, that is dedicated to present literature from the Baltics, inluding guest editors, reviews and sample translations.

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