Inga Žolude (born 1984) is a Latvian prose writer. She studied English literature at the University of Latvia, and upon receiving the Fulbright scholarship attended Southern Illinois University in the USA (2008 - 2009). In 2015, she obtained her PhD. Žolude's first novel Warm Earth/Silta zeme was published in 2008. Since then two more novels, Red Children/Sarkanie bērni (2012) and Santa Biblia (2013), have been published. For her collection of stories A Solace for the Adam’s Tree/ Mierinājums Ādama kokam (2010), she received the EU Prize for Literature. Her story Dirty Laundry was included in the "Best European Fiction 2014" anthology (Dalkey Archive Press). In 2015, her book Stories was published. In 2018 Žolude published Materia botanica and 1904. Melancholic waltz. She frequently writes reviews on Latvian and foreign literature. Žolude is a member of the Latvian Writers' Union since 2010. Her works have been translated into numerous languages, including English, German, French, Swedish, Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Czech and Bulgarian.
Prose
Livonijas debesis [Livonian Sky] In collaboration with Tiit Aleksejev. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2020.
1904. Melanholiskais valsis [1904. Melancholic waltz]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2018.
Materia botanica. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2018.
Stāsti [Stories]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2015.
Santa Biblia. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2013.
Sarkanie bērni [Red Children]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2012.
Sarunas no frontes [Conversations From the Battlefront], short story in Mēs. XX gadsimts [We. The 20th Century]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2011.
Mierinājums Ādama kokam [A Solace for the Adam's Tree]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2010.
Silta zeme [Warm Earth]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2008.
Children's Literature
Pirmo reizi uz zemes [The First Time on Earth]. Riga: Liels un mazs, 2020.
Books to fall for

Stories
Stories (Stāsti)
This story collection is compiled of seven independent and meditative stories, each with a clearly laid out plot and individual characters. In “The Hike,” three life-long friends go for a hike in the Swiss mountains and review their lives and relationships, revealing life-long, dark secrets; in “Energy,” a wealthy husband and his biologist wife go on vacation with two friends to a rural resort in Norway, to reassess their marriage, and almost establish a love triangle in the process. In yet another story, a couple lives in a house near which a new motorway has been built, changing their household and disrupting their lives, which they suddenly decide to reconstruct. “The Hair” follows a man whose wife is dying of cancer and has freed him from their marriage – but when the man engages in a new relationship, everything becomes complicated. These stories are masterpieces of human psychology, viewing many different possible situations experienced by as many and different characters.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
Stories_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:Stories
Title*
:Stāsti
Authors
:Genre
:Short-stories
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:246
Year
:2015
Foreign rights
:All languages available

Santa Biblia
Santa Biblia (Santa Biblia)
“The protagonists of Santa Biblia are Tūrs, Levs and Nīma, who is also the narrator. The prototype for Nīma is clearly Mary, and the prototype for Levs is Joseph. They are on a mission to save the world: to find and destroy a microchip plant which produces microcircuits for controlling people and installing a certain kind of personality programme in them. In the course of the novel, the protagonists visit twelve stations, which may represent an analogy with the Catholic Stations of the Cross (albeit there are fourteen of those, each dedicated to a meditation on the passion of Jesus Christ). With the help of a talking, inexhaustible rucksack, the young people fulfil their mission encountering various illustrations to the decadence, animal nature and sins of mankind at a certain time and place. The location where the novel unfolds is abstract and unspecified, it resembles time tunnels and encompasses various regions. References to the Bible and Christianity dominate in the novel and they are intertwined with history: there is a Casper Hauser prototype from the 19th century, the hedonism of the ancient Romans, skyscrapers, and neutralization of the brain among other things.” (Literary critic Kristine Karklina)
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
SantaBiblia_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:Santa Biblia
Title*
:Santa Biblia
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:176
Year
:2013
Foreign rights
:All languages available

A Solace for Adam's Tree
A Solace for Adam's Tree (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)
A Solace for Adam’s Tree was a winner of the 2012 European Union Prize for Literature. It brings together 13 short stories that are all united by an idea that is profound and compelling: to have a conversation about life and death. This short story collection reflects on different scenes of life in urban and rural areas in modern-day Latvia. The author's rich and ripe language describes a bright and panoramic view of the past, present and future. A very specific pattern of Žolude's writing (also demonstrated in her first novel) is her skill at destroying any borders between reality and fiction, known and unknown, national and global. Žolude's stories strongly reflect the atmosphere of 21st century Europe. The collection of the short stories is partly autobiographical, and the author has reflected on the loss of her closest people and the experiences that the notion of death has brought forward.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
ASolaceForAdamsTree_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:A Solace for Adam's Tree
Title*
:Mierinājums Ādama kokam
Authors
:Genre
:Short-stories
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:211
Year
:2010
Foreign rights
:All languages available

Warm Earth
Warm Earth (Silta zeme)
Daniel - the central character of the novel exists in front of constant choices between time and space, reality and imagination and between two women – Nelly and Vu. The opportunities to choose resemble an endless game, but within the game itself – will a choice always exist? A courageous story about the nature of incest. Instead of admiring the detail, it digs deep. The author has attempted to pierce the seemingly flirtatious veil of taboo and present a story cleverly resisting bringing the naive ‘for and against’ of physical love to the front (while marginalised, descriptions of these are as colourful and lively as the text of the whole novel); instead she uncovers the deeper and much more painful reason of loneliness and the monsters it creates – the lack of soulful warmth and a yearning towards warmth of the earth. One could describe it as gravitation, but in fact it is warmth that keeps us attached to the ground. It is exactly the warmth that lets us be, makes us be with one another, and makes us hold one another. So we live – keeping warm.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
WarmEarth_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:Warm Earth
Title*
:Silta zeme
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:168
Year
:2008

The Red Children
The Red Children (Sarkanie bērni)
The history of the orphanage of the red children starts in 1534 when Margot, the queen of Navarre, establishes Hôpital des Enfants-Dieu, later known as Hôpital des Enfants-Rouges, because of children’s uniforms in red – the colour of compassion. In 1615, the title of the orphanage was given also to a market, founded by Louis XIII. The scenes from the 16th century orphanage in Paris, featuring French characters open the novel and are continued between the four big parts of the novel, each focusing on one of the three main characters carrying “a gene” of the red children that is reborn in Latvia in the 21st century, and a separate myth of the way children come into this world, for example, children are brought by a stork, or found. The last part of the novel intertwines all the three previously separate stories. The three main characters of the novel are Nadja, Mārīte, and Liesma. Nadja is a patient at a drug-addict institution, Mārīte is a nurse at the same institution, but Liesma is Mārīte's neighbour. Mārīte supports Liesma since she raises her son alone and encounters many difficulties. Liesma helps Mārīte to rescue Nadja. In the end they all reconcile with the core line of the life and fate, overcoming the notion of being an orphan in this life.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dienasgramata.lv
TheRedChildren_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:The Red Children
Title*
:Sarkanie bērni
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:176
Year
:2012

Materia Botanica
Materia Botanica (Materia botanica)
Materia Botanica was written as a sequel to the novel Warm Earth, picking up exactly where Warm Earth left off—just after its protagonist Daniel is in an accident. In Materia Botanica, Daniel wakes up in the hospital after the accident and finds a letter from his ex-girlfriend, Kira, and their son. He decides to return to them. He leaves his family home once again, a decision with which the rest of his family—especially his current partner, Voo, and his sister, Nelly, to whom he is tied with strange and intimate strings—are not happy. Nevertheless, he goes back to Kira and their son, and their reunion renews their bonds. But their new idyllic life is interrupted, first by Kira’s pregnancy with their second child, and then by the arrival of Nelly, who is too dependent on Daniel. The strange intimacy between brother and sister flourishes once more, threatening to ruin his newly rebuilt family life. However, Daniel searches for a way out, often finding refuge in nature as he immerses himself in botany, but at times his immersion is too deep, as Daniel starts to think of himself as truly one with nature. He embodies the metaphor of a family tree, with its roots, branches, fruit, and seeds. Captivating are the unusual plants and their manifestation in the novel, both within Žolude’s language and in the mind of Daniel.
Materia Botanica manages to resolve the conflicts in Daniel’s family, who were the main focus in Warm Earth, and turns the spotlight on Daniel’s life in a continuation of his personal and intimate path of existential pursuit. But the narrative does give voice to the other characters, as they reflect on events in their diary entries, giving readers a close and intimate view into each of their minds.
Contacts: Pierre Astier, pierre@pierreastier.com
Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dienasgramata.lv
MateriaBotanica_by_I.Zolude.pdf

Title
:Materia Botanica
Title*
:Materia botanica
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:352
Year
:2018
Foreign rights
:All languages available

The Lotus of Wenden
The Lotus of Wenden (Vendenes Lotospuķe)
“The Vendene Lotus Flower” is a novel about the Latvian writer and poet Jānis Poruks (1871–1911). Once upon a time, there were novels that made you forget the existence of time and space, novels where every detail could almost be touched, smelled and tasted, every character was a rich multicolour universe gradually and slowly unfolding in harmony with his or her surroundings. The spirit of the 19th-century epic novel is long since left in the past, but Inga Žolude’s “The Vendene Lotus Flower”, dedicated to the romanticist poet and prose writer belonging to that era, Jānis Poruks, somehow manages to bring it back. Getting to know the life of the Druviena's peasant son in the dazzling Elbflorenz, Dresden, following his years of apprenticeship and mentorship, Sturm und Drang, peace and creativity, all while being mindful of where strange eyes are not welcome, the reader is allowed closer to Poruks than ever before. Žolude as if becomes Poruks, shunning the opportunity to entertain self-expression and giving herself over to the different time, different eyes, voice and writing hand. Of course, we don’t and never will know if Poruks would recognise himself and his time in this novel, but for us, the 21st-century readers, Inga Žolude has created a rather likely image of a world that existed in his time. She does it without the ironic suggestion that it is impossible to depict the past today and everything is but an interpretation or a game. And she does it without resorting to clichés – the writer is neither a pale weak boy from a family of poor folk pure in heart nor a possessed madman; he, the Vendene lotus flower, is multidimensional and human, humbly approached by Inga Žolude. (Zanda Gūtmane)
I.u017dolude_Vendenes lotospuku0327e_excerpt_EN_By Uldis Balodis.docx

Title
:The Lotus of Wenden
Title*
:Vendenes Lotospuķe
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas grāmata
Pages
:536
Year
:2021
Literature Festival "In-Between: Baltic States" // Kultur-lettland, September 2021 [GER]
Audio conversation with Inga Žolude about "Vendenes Lotospuķe" // Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji, 2021 [LV]
About For the First Time on Earth // Online magazine Satori, 2020 [LV]
About Livonian Sky // Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji, 2020 [LV]
Excerpt of "The Road" from Stories // European Literature Network, 2018 [EN]
LAF Participatnt's profile // Literature Across Frontiers [EN]
Tramlines Project // Literature Across Frontiers [EN]
Excerpt from A Solace for Adam’s Tree, about the author, inteview // European Union Prize for Litearture [EN]
Reviews
Jūlija Dibovska, Trīs Poruki man zāļu skapītī stāv, review of Vendenes Lotospuķe // Online magazine Punctum, 2021 [LV]
Ieva Melgalve, Kāpēc tu man neraksti, review of Livonian Sky // Online magazine Satori, 2020 [LV]
Zanda Gūtmane, Vai mums ir kopīgas debesis, review of Livonian Sky // Online magazine Punctum, 2020 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Vai drīkstu tevi iztulkot?, review of Livonian Sky // Diena.lv, 2020 [LV]
Velta Voicioneka, Dvēseles valsis, review of 1904. Melamcholic waltz // Ubi Sunt University of Latvia, 2019 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Atbalss no dvēseles dārza, review of 1904. Melancholic waltz // Diena.lv, 2019 [LV]
Madara Līgotāja, Dabas un cilvēku dvēseļu simbioze, review of Materia botanica // Ubi Sunt University of Latvia, 2018 [LV]
Arnis Koroševskis, Bioloģiskais sapnis, review of Materia botanica // Online magazine Satori, 2018 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Ieaugt siltajā zemē, review of Materia botanica // Diena.lv, 2018 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Nepārejošs teksts, review of Stories // Diena.lv, 2016 [LV]
Ieva Viese-Vigula, Stāstu vara pār realitāti, review of Stories // Online magazine Satori, 2016 [LV]
Ilze Jansone "Sievietes izglābs pasauli", review of Santa Biblia // Online magazine Punctum, 2014 [LV]
Ieva Viese-Vigula, Svētās spoguļspēles, review of Santa Biblia // Online magazine Satori, 2013 [LV]
Ilva Skulte, review of Red Children // KDi, 2012 [LV]
Guntis Berelis, review of A Solace for the Adam's Tree // Guntis Berelis' literary blog, 2010 [LV]
Kaspars Zābers "Kurš no mums ir koka Ādams?", review of A Solace for Adam's Tree // Culture newspaper "Kultūras Diena" [LV]
2021, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for The First Time on Earth
2016, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Stories
2012, The Diena Annual Award in Culture for Red Children
2012, Silver Ink-pot Award from the International Writers' and Translators' House and City Council of Ventspils for Red Children
2012, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Red Children
2009, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Warm Earth

Dirty Laundry / Best European Fiction 2014
Dirty Laundry / Best European Fiction 2014 (Stāsts "Netīrā veļa")

Title
: Dirty Laundry / Best European Fiction 2014Title*
: Stāsts "Netīrā veļa"Authors
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:Dalkey Archive Press, United States
Pages
:315
Year
:2014
Copyrights
:Inga Žolude
Synopsis
:A story of Latvian author Inga Žolude included in anthology "Best European Fiction 2014".

Legyen vigasz
Legyen vigasz (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)

Title
: Legyen vigaszTitle*
: Mierinājums Ādama kokamAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Short Stories
Language
:Hungarian
Publisher
:Noran Libro Publishing, Hungary
Pages
:208
Year
:2017
Copyrights
:Inga Žolude, Dienas grāmata
Synopsis
:"A Solace for Adam’s Tree" was a winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature. It brings together 13 short stories that are all united by an idea that is profound and compelling: to reflect on life and death.

Ukojenie dla drzewa Adama
Ukojenie dla drzewa Adama (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)

Title
: Ukojenie dla drzewa AdamaTitle*
: Mierinājums Ādama kokamAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Short Stories
Language
:Polish
Publisher
:Wydawnictwo KEW (Kolegium Europy Wschodniej), Poland
Pages
:Year
:2017
Copyrights
:Inga Žolude, Dienas grāmata
Synopsis
:"A Solace for Adam’s Tree" was a winner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature. It brings together 13 short stories that are all united by an idea that is profound and compelling: to reflect on life and death.

Утехата за Адамовото дрво
Утехата за Адамовото дрво (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)

Title
: Утехата за Адамовото дрвоTitle*
: Mierinājums Ādama kokamAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Short Stories
Language
:Macedonian
Publisher
:Goten Publishing, Macedonia
Pages
:224
Year
:2017
Synopsis
:It brings together 13 short stories that are all united by an idea that is profound and compelling: to have a conversation about life and death.

Toka e ngrohtë
Toka e ngrohtë (Silta zeme)

Title
: Toka e ngrohtëTitle*
: Silta zemeAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Albanian
Publisher
:Shkupi, Macedonia
Pages
:168
Year
:2020
Synopsis
:The author has attempted to pierce the seemingly flirtatious veil of taboo and present a story cleverly resisting bringing the naive ‘for and against’ of physical love to the front.

Παρηγοριά για το δέντρο του Αδάμ
Παρηγοριά για το δέντρο του Αδάμ (Mierinājums Ādama kokam)

Title
: Παρηγοριά για το δέντρο του ΑδάμTitle*
: Mierinājums Ādama kokamAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Greek
Publisher
:Vakxikon publication
Pages
:192
Year
:2021
Copyrights
:author
Synopsis
:This short story collection reflects on different scenes of life in urban and rural areas in modern-day Latvia. The author's rich and ripe language describes a bright and panoramic view of the past, present and future.

Revija malih književnosti. Latvija
Revija malih književnosti. Latvija (Mazo literatūru pārskats. Latvija)

Title
: Revija malih književnosti. LatvijaTitle*
: Mazo literatūru pārskats. LatvijaAuthors
: , , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Croatian
Publisher
:Booksa, Croatia
Pages
:93
Year
:2015
Copyrights
:Authors
Synopsis
:Anthology in Croatian of contemporary Latvian literature.

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.

Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosat
Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosat (Latviešu stāsti)

Title
: Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosatTitle*
: Latviešu stāstiAuthors
: , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Estonian
Publisher
:Libri Livoniae, Estonia
Pages
:155
Year
:2018
Copyrights
:The publisher, the translator
Synopsis
:Short stories of ten Latvian writers

Foreign Literature and Art
Foreign Literature and Art (Ārzemju literatūra un māksla)

Title
: Foreign Literature and ArtTitle*
: Ārzemju literatūra un mākslaAuthors
: , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Chinese
Publisher
:Shanghai Translation Publishing house
Pages
:164
Year
:2018

Լատվիայի յամանակակից արձակ
Լատվիայի յամանակակից արձակ (Mūsdienu latviešu proza)

Title
: Լատվիայի յամանակակից արձակTitle*
: Mūsdienu latviešu prozaAuthors
: , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Armenian
Publisher
:Antares, Armenia
Pages
:382
Year
:2013
Synopsis
:Anthology of contemporary Latvian prose

Människomuseet. Lettland berättar
Människomuseet. Lettland berättar (Cilvēku muzejs. Latvijas proza)

Title
: Människomuseet. Lettland berättarTitle*
: Cilvēku muzejs. Latvijas prozaAuthors
: , , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Swedish
Publisher
:Tranan, Sweden
Pages
:265
Year
:2008
Synopsis
:Anthology of Latvian prose

Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Latvian Women's Literature
Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Latvian Women's Literature (Antoloģija)

Title
: Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Latvian Women's LiteratureTitle*
: AntoloģijaAuthors
: , , , , , , , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:https://www.dedalusbooks.com
Pages
:308
Year
:2022
Copyrights
:the author
Synopsis
:This anthology is the first of its kind in English to show a fuller spectrum of Latvian women's writing spanning more than a century.