Rvīns Varde (Latvia)

Rvīns Varde (b 1985) is a Latvian writer, bird photographer and the anchorman of the TV show „Zaļgalvis“. He works as a transcriber for the Latvian journal Rīgas Laiks and says jokingly that he is good at anecdote telling and several other jobs. 

Varde likes to collect other people’s thoughts and reminiscences and think about them. These people may be representatives of different cultural backgrounds, different ideas or different professions. All these experiences have doubtless left their trace and given him inspiration for creating his own texts. One of them is Varde’s debut book Kas te notiek (What’s Happening Here), for which he got the Annual Latvian Literature Award LALIGABA in 2020.

Varde has a good eye for details, his expression is vivid and thought provoking. At the same time, his texts are peculiarly entertaining.

Varde finds interest in everything. If you want to experience something exciting, Varde would advise you to keep your eyes wide open. Especially in the streets and in nature – in the streets you notice people, in nature you notice birds.

Estonian was the first foreign language Varde’s debut book was translated into, the translator was Ilze Tālberga. 

The theme of this year’s festival is Small World. What does this phrase mean for you? Does your work relate to the theme? If yes, then how?

There is no such thing as a “big world”, everything is very small. You forgot to buy milk and ruin your coffee ritual – that is the whole world at that exact moment. Or when your tooth hurts – no other things exist. In my work I also use this focus, because there are no differences in how people recognize those small human things. Story you hear in a tram is a world and you are a small world too.

Friday, September 24th

18.30 Meeting with the Latvian author Rvīns Varde at the seminar room of Lodjakoda (Barge Harbour)