Tomas Venclova
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American [citation needed]
Tomas Venclova | |
|---|---|
 Venclova in Warsaw, 20 March 2007 | |
| Born | 11 September 1937 Klaipėda, Lithuania |
| Occupation | philologist, essayist, writer, poet |
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Citizenship | Lithuanian American [citation needed] |
| Alma mater | Vilnius University |
| Notable awards |     Lithuanian National Prize, Petrarca-Preis, Vilenica International Literary Prize, Zbigniew Herbert Award, Doctor Honoris Causa of Vilnius University |
Tomas Venclova (born 11 September 1937) is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer, scholar, philologist and translator of literature. He is one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. In 1977, following his dissident activities, he was forced to emigrate and was deprived of his Soviet citizenship. Since 1980, he has taught Russian and Polish literature at Yale University. Considered a major figure in world literature, he has received many awards, including the Prize of Two Nations (received jointly with Czesław Miłosz), and The Person of Tolerance of the Year Award from the Sugihara Foundation, among other honors.
Tomas Venclova was born in Klaipėda in 1937. His father, Antanas, was a poet and Soviet politician. Tomas was educated at Vilnius University. He was one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, and took part in Lithuanian and Russian dissident movements.[1] He became friends with poets Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak, as well as Natalya Gorbanevskaya and Joseph Brodsky. In Vilnius, he translated Baudelaire, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, and other authors into Lithuanian. In Lithuania he was forbidden to publish his own work, except in samizdat, although one volume appeared in 1972, entitled A Sign of Speech. In 1977, following his dissident activities, he was forced to emigrate.[1]
He was invited by Czesław Miłosz to teach at the University of California at Berkeley.[2] He did not return to Lithuania until its independence in 1991. Between 1980 and 2012, he has taught Russian and Polish literature at Yale University.[2]
He has published over twenty books including volumes of poetry, literary criticism, political commentary, literary biography, translation and books on Vilnius. His work has been translated into many languages including by Czesław Miłosz into Polish, and by Joseph Brodsky into Russian. He is active in the contemporary cultural life of Lithuania, and is one of its most well-respected figures.[1]
He lived in New Haven (Connecticut, United States), in the past also temporarily in Vilnius and Kraków. In 2018, after retiring from Yale University, Venclova and his wife moved to Vilnius.[3]
Selected honors and awards
- 2025 Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature[4]
- 2023 Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award (Poland)[5]
- 2018 Doctor Honoris Causa of Göttingen University (Germany)
- 2017 Doctor Honoris Causa of Tbilisi University (Georgia)
- 2017 Doctor Honoris Causa of Vilnius University (Lithuania)
- 2017 HOMER - The European Medal of Poetry and Art – (Tbilisi)
- 2014 Petrarca-Prize (Germany)
- 2013 Honorary Citizen of Vilnius, Lithuania
- 2012 Lithuanian Cultural Prize
- 2012 Lithuanian Diplomacy Star from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (for contributions to Lithuanian Human Rights)
- 2012 Person of Tolerance of the Year Award, Sugihara-Diplomats for Life Foundation
- 2011 Qinhai International Poetry Prize (China)
- 2008 Baltic Star (Russia)
- 2007 Member, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2005 Jotvingiai Prize (Lithuania)
- 2005 New Culture of New Europe Prize
- 2002 Prize of Two Nations (received jointly with Czesław Miłosz)
- 2001 Borderland Award (Poland)
- 2000 Lithuanian National Prize
- 1990 Vilenica International Literary Prize (Slovenia)
