Regīna Ezera is one of the most significant Latvian authors of prose, equally accomplished as a writer in the novel, short prose, journalism and diary genres. Her novel “Smoulder” (Zemdegas, 1977) is included in the Latvian Culture Canon for “being a striking documentation of her era while weaving together timeless themes and characters in a vivid and, at times, strangely surreal narrative.”
The conference program will include in-depth and wide-ranging lectures by foreign guests, panel discussions featuring renowned writers and theatre professionals as well as presentations of academic papers by local and guest researchers.
The conference will be taking place online and available to viewers on Facebook and other websites. The first day of the conference will mainly address the life and work of women writers, contemporaries of Regīna Ezera in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, while on the second day, the discourse will be focused on Ezera's literary legacy and interpretations of her works in film and theater.
“We wanted to organise this conference a year ago, to mark the 90th anniversary of the excellent author Regīna Ezera. However, due to the pandemic, our initial plan had to change. Even this year, gathering scholars from several countries into one space is a rather difficult task. Nevertheless, this year has also shown us that virtual events can be put together in a way that is ambitious and of high quality, thus allowing more people who follow cultural events to participate in this occasion,” said literary scholar and critic Jānis Ozoliņš, one of the initiators and organizers of the conference alongside his colleagues Anda Baklāne, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Artis Ostups and Ivars Šteinbergs.
The conference will be streamed live on 3rd and 4th December on LNB.lv. Full information is available at the Latvian Naional Library website: https://www.lnb.lv/en/international-conference-dedicated-writer-regina-ezera.
