Daina Tabūna (Latvia)

Daina Tabūna (1985) is a Latvian writer. She graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture with a degree in Theatre, Film, and TV Drama. Since 2000, her prose and articles have been published in various cultural media outlets.

Her short story collection “Pirmā reize” (“The First Time”), a contemporary coming-of-age book, was shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award 2015 as the best debut of the year. Tabūna’s stories have also been published in the UK under the title “The Secret Box” and translated into Lithuanian, Slovenian, German, and Chinese.

In 2022, her children’s story “Lasis Stasis un Atlantijas okeāns” (“Salmon Sammy and the Ocean”) was published. It was included in the reading list of the Children, Youth and Parents’ Jury organised by the National Library of Latvia and nominated for the Jānis Baltvilks Award in children’s and youth literature. In 2024, the book was adapted for a performance at the Latvian Puppet Theatre.

In 2023, her first novel, “Raganas” (“Witches”) was published. It was nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature 2024 and for the Annual Latvian Literature Award 2024 as the best prose book. The novel has been translated into Estonian and Serbian.