Literally digital — the life of Estonian literature on the internet
Written By Berit Kaschan, Editor of the Estonian Literary Magazine, Estonian Institute
What are the internationally most popular literary works by contemporary Estonian authors? Could your next favourite book (or poem) be among these? And how to find information about all this online? Here is a little web-guide that might help you on this mission.
First, there is the Estonian Literary Magazine: http://elm.estinst.ee/ This biannual magazine has been regularly published by The Estonian Institute since 1995. Estonian Literary Magazine — ELM for short, aims to introduce the best and most interesting contemporary Estonian authors, not forgetting the classics and translators, either.
Articles, interviews, book reviews — ELM has it all. Also, the magazine publishes excerpts of the newest works of Estonian authors in English, and has a video page where you can see real and moving Estonian authors reading excerpts from their texts. With English transitions, of course. ELM is published both on paper, and online.
Estonian Literature Centre (ELIC, established in 2001): http://estlit.ee/centre/
is the networking centre of Estonian Literature when it comes to introducing Estonian literature outside Estonia, finding foreign translators and publishers, and keeping Estonian authors in the picture on the international book fairs. ELIC also has a very rich website where among other materials thorough bios of the writers and lists of translations of Estonian books in other languages can be found. The equivalent of ELIC for children´s literature is Estonian Children´s Literature Centre (https://www.elk.ee/?lang=en).
In case you are interested in timeless and systematic overview, give a try to Estonian Writers’ Online Dictionary (EWOD: https://sisu.ut.ee/ewod/avaleht). EWOD aims at gathering and organizing the existing bibliographical data about Estonian literature and its academic and critical reception in foreign languages. EWOD’s foremost purpose is to grant international literary, cultural and research communities a better access to information about Estonian literature. The database is being updated by the researchers of Tartu University
And last, but definitely not least, there is the beautiful Lyrikline (https://www.lyrikline.org/en/home/) — the international poetry website where poets read their poems with their own voice, and translations to the texts are available in many languages. Estonian authors like Maarja Kangro, Asko Künnap, Jürgen Rooste, and others can also be found there. The database is constantly updated, really worth keeping an eye and ear on it.
Any book recommendations to begin with? You should definitely try the novel
The Man who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirähk (http://estlit.ee/elis/?cmd=writer&id=09854) , an Estonian novel that has been translated into 12 languages by now — its success started from translation into French by Jean-Pierre Minaudier in 2013. Or find your way to the weird and wonderful world of the children’s writer and illustrator Piret Raud (https://www.elk.ee/?profile=6867) whose books are highly appreciated by the famous Thames and Hudson publishing house, among others, and work their magic equally on adults and children, both.
