It is autumn 1918. The war is supposed to be over (the truce between Germany and the Entente was signed on 11 November), but it is not. On 18 November 1918, Riga and Courland are under the Germans. Amongst all this chaos, destruction, hopelessness and mortal danger, a small group of Latvians got together in the middle of an occupied city and founded their own national state, something which would have seemed impossible even a year earlier. “Every year, on the 18th of November, we fly the Latvian flag, solemn official events take place and people celebrate with their families and friends – perhaps less solemnly but certainly with more true feeling. It’s not surprising that nowadays the date 18 November, 1918 seems to have been a great celebration of the birth of the Latvian nation. And it hardly occurs to anyone that at that time there were hardly very many celebrants. (..) The diary form became a natural medium in the novel: one writer is an eyewitness of the events of 1917–1918, whereas the other is our contemporary. One of them can only guess not just at what the next day will bring but even at the events taking place around him, whereas the other encounters not knowing as he tries to understand the past and its relation to today’s reality.” (From the afterword by the author).

Contacts: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
 

Reds, Rats and Rock’n’Roll examines in retrospect the era of socialism in Latvia. The action takes place between the years 1978-89, the most severely tarnished phase of Soviet splendor. Various colorful characters live their lives in the pages of this book: the thoroughly drunk poet Harry Mikelson, who, for the consolidation of his career, becomes a spokesperson for the Cheka; the old Cheka official who commits suicide for unknown reasons; the swimmer and potential champion Eva Kallas and her romance with the somber Israeli spy Joren, who doesn’t quite know whom he works for and what he gains from his spying; the ruffian Zmejs and his comrades; Jozef, who has decided to join the army; as well as an endless number of other individuals. Each character has a separate storyline, and at first glance it seems they do not have and could not have anything in common.

Contact: Pauls Bankovskis, telomera@gmail.com

The Soviet Union was a project firmly based in scientific Communism and atheism. In spite of this, a few people in remote areas overgrown with alders kept on fostering centuries-old spiritual traditions. Eastern Orthodox Old Believers were one such group; they found refuge in eastern Latvia. They are at the center of Pauls Bankovskis’s novel Secrets. The book follows several generations of Old Believers, in a kaleidoscope of love stories and family tragedies. Against an ever-changing backdrop of ruling powers and regimes—and in spite of them—these communities still try to hold on to their old traditions. At first, supernatural beings live near the Old Believers. With time, though, their role in people’s diminishes, as the Old Believers’ culture loses the ability to fight against the influence of time.

Bankovskis said that Secrets is “the story of the author coming into contact with and falling in love with two things: an old-fashioned routine of daily life, determined by faith, and the modern-day actions dictated by this routine.” That’s why the subtitle of this book is “a borderland romance.” He does emphasize: “The overall theme of the book is to urge readers to imagine. Imagination is the very thing that can in a single moment transform scenes of saints and the past, painted in bright gold, into reality strengthened by faith.”

Contact: info@latvianliterature.lv