As indicated on the Latvian Literature of the Year Award website, the writer was born in 1941 in Riga. Studied at the Latvian State University, Faculty of History and Philology. He worked as an editor in the book publishing houses “Vaga” and “Artava”, in recent years he has devoted himself entirely to writing.
Zvirgzdiņš entered literature in 1982 – he wrote plays, miniatures, stories and essays, in the nineties of the last century he focused on children’s literature and wrote more than 25 books in this genre, in which young readers are introduced to various cultural places in an exciting way – the Riga History Museum, the National Library of Latvia , Riga Zoo.
In 1999, his book for children, the adventure novel-tale “Once upon a time in Kurzeme” won the 2000 “Spring Award” for the best original literary work for children and in 2001 also the Pastariņas prize.
The writer’s performance has been repeatedly evaluated with the Latvian Literature of the Year Award – in 2002 for the children’s work “The Return of the Beavers”, in 2006 – for the book “Tobiass dodas svëti”. In 2009, the author won the Pastariņa prize for the books “Mūsu Latvija”, “Knorke or Tobiass and Fufu looking for Mozart” and “Konteineru metenīte Rudīte”.
In 2013, the author’s literary performance was awarded the International Jānis Baltvilkas Award in children’s literature and book art of the Baltic Sea Region for the works “The Adventures of the Rīgas Runča Mauritius”, “When the Moon Shines in the Museum or Tobias and Friends Protect the History of Riga” and “Six Stories about the History of the USA” .
In 2012, the author was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in children’s literature. Zvirgzdin’s book “Muffa: The Story of the White Rhinoceros” was included in the “White Ravens” catalog in 2012. In 2013, the author received the Aleksands Čaks award for an artistically high-quality, innovative interpretation of Riga in literature. In 2020, however, the writer received the Lifetime Award in Latvian literature.
The author’s works have been translated into Finnish, Italian, Lithuanian, Armenian and other languages. Zvirgzdiņš’s works have been illustrated for children by several well-known Latvian artists – Aleksejs Naumovs, Anita Paegle, Reinis Pētersons, Gita Treice, Gundega Muzikante and others.
2023-11-22 17:32:56
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