Gunārs Saliņš

Gunars Saliņš (21 April 1924 – 29 June 2010) was a modernist poet within the Latvian lyric poetry tradition. He became a leading voice of the "Hell's Kitchen artists" (Elles ķēķis)—a Latvian emigre artist community in the U.S. which flourished in the 1950s and 60s, named after the neighborhood in New York where it originated. In his youth, he was inspired by the Latvian poet Aleksandrs Čaks and later by writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke, Guillaume Apollinaire, Federico García Lorca, and Dylan Thomas. Saliņš' imagery playfully explored transformational and metaphysical elements in this world and beyond, often incorporating his personal experiences with allusions to myth, art, and ancient Latvian folklore—a process he referred to as "orpheism". Gunars Saliņš's poetry was widely circulated within the Latvian diaspora post-WWII; later, his work was rediscovered and championed in Latvia in the post-Soviet era. In 2000, Saliņš was awarded the Order of the Three Stars

Literary activity Poetry published in newspapers and magazines in Latvia, Germany and the U.S., beginning with 1945 Founding member (together with his close friend, the poet Linards Tauns) of the "Hell's Kitchen artists" - a Latvian emigre artist community, centered around New York City, in the late 1950s and 60s Poetry volumes, reviews and anthologies published in the US from 1957 to 1979; in Latvia from 1993 to 2006 Reviews of contemporary Latvian poetry, and translations of Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry

Awards Gunars Saliņš was awarded multiple awards for his poetry. Thrice he won the cultural award of the World Federation of Free Latvians (PBLA), in 1968, in 1980 and in 2008. In 1982 he received the Zinaida Lazda award for his poetry collection Rendez-vous (Satikšanās). In 2000 he was awarded the Order of the Three Stars by the Latvian government, and in 2006 he was awarded the "Yearly Literature Award" from the Writers' Association of Latvia, honoring his lifetime achievement in poetry.: Rendez-vous at the Tavern of Fog by the Black Sun (Satiksimies miglas krogā pie melnās sales), publ. in 1993 in Riga by the Press Club, edited by Māris Čaklais Writings - Volume 1 - Poetry, publ. in 2006 in Riga by Valters & Rapa, edited by Kārlis Vērdiņš Writings - Volume 2 - Poetry. Translations. Prose, publ. in 2023 in Riga by ILFA, edited by Kārlis Vērdiņš.

In translation Lettische Lyrik. Atdz. E. Zuzena-Metuzala. Maximilian Dietrich Verlag (1983) Nära röster över vatten. Tulk. Juris Kronbergs. Stockholm: En bok för alla (1997) Антология на съвременната латвийска поезия [Contemporary Latvian poetry anthology] Translated by Aksīnija Mihailova. Sofija: Foundation for Bulgarian Literature (2008)

English Translations from Latvian (poetry of Gunars Salins and Linards Tauns in English, Exeter, 1968) by Ruth Speirs Contemporary Latvian Poetry edited by Inara Cedrins, Iowa Translations series, 1984, The University of Iowa Contemporary East European Poetry: An Anthology, Emery George (Editor), Oxford University Press, USA; Expanded edition (February 17, 1994). All Birds Know This. Selected Contemporary Latvian Poetry; editors Astrīde Ivaska and Māra Rūmniece, publ. by Tapals (2001)