Ojārs Vācietis (born November 13, 1933 – November 28, 1983) was a Latvian writer and poet. He is often considered one of the most famous and influential poets in the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

Biography

Ojārs Vācietis was born on November 13, 1933, in

Trapene Parish Trapene Parish () is an administrative unit of Smiltene Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Towns, villages and settlements of Trapene Parish * Līzespasts * Ādams * Rūpnieki References

Parishes in Smiltene Municipality Vi ...

, Latvia. His father Oto Vācietis was a

servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

. Vācietis studied in Trapane primary school and later in

Gaujiena Gaujiena () is a village along the Gauja River in the Gaujiena Parish of Smiltene Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It was the seat of a Komtur of the Teutonic Knights. The Gaujiena Castle was erected in the 13th century, but fell ...

secondary school. 1952 he started

Latvian language Latvian (, ), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia ...

and literature studies at the

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

. He graduated in 1957. Since 1958 he worked in several Latvian magazines and newspapers (for example: ''Literatūra un Māksla'', ''Liesma'', ''Draugs''). He was also an editor at the

Riga Film Studio Riga Film Studio (, ) is a Latvian film production company based in Riga and founded in 1940 on the basis of the earlier private film companies. In 1948, the Riga Documentary Film Studio was founded. In 1970–80, the company produced 10-15 fil ...

. In the 1960s he started to question many official ideological dogmas of the Soviet regime in his poems. As a result, he was not allowed to publish from 1960–1966. Some of his works from this period were published for the first time only during the

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution was a series of events from 1987 to 1991 that led to the restoration of independence of the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War. The term was coined by a ...

. However, he was awarded the

State prize in 1967. He also translated many works from Russian into Latvian. His most famous and still very highly acclaimed translation was

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

's ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in ''Moscow (magazine), Moscow'' magazine in ...

'' in 1979. He was declared People's writer of Latvian SSR in 1977. Vācietis was married to the Russian poet

Ludmila Azarova Ludmila, Ludmilla, Liudmila, Liudmyla, Lyudmila, or Lyudmyla (Cyrillic: Людмила, ''Lyudmila'') may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludmila (given name) a Slavic female given name, including a list of people and fictional charac ...

and their house in Riga,

Torņakalns Torņakalns is a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia located on the western bank of the Daugava River (neighbourhoods along this shore are collectively known as Pārdaugava). The name Torņakalns ('' English: Tower Hill'') derives from a fortified to ...

neighborhood has now been transformed into a memorial museum. Ojārs Vācietis died on November 28, 1983, in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. He was buried in

Carnikava Carnikava ( Livonian: ''Sarnikau'', , ''Zarnikau''), previously Sānkaule, is a village and the center of the Carnikava Parish of Ādaži Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It's located 25 km north from Riga at the mouth of the ...

cemetery.

Notable works

* Tālu ceļu vējš (1956) * Sasiesim astes (1967) * punktiņš punktiņš komatiņš (1971) * Kabata (1976) * Si minors (1982) * Astoņi kustoņi (1984) * Sveču grāmata (1988)

References

External links

Биография в Большой советской энциклопедии
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacietis, Ojars 1933 births 1983 deaths People from Smiltene Municipality Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Latvian writers Soviet poets 20th-century Latvian poets Soviet translators Latvian translators Soviet children's writers Translators from Russian Translators to Latvian University of Latvia alumni People's Poets of the Latvian SSR