Astrid Ivask

Astrid Ivask

Astrid Ivask(bornAstrīde Helēna Hartmane,LatvianAstrīde Ivaska;also; August 7, 1926 – March 24, 2015)was a Latvian-American poet.

Biography

She was born Astrīde Helēna Hartmane inRiga,the daughter ofMārtiņš Hartmanis,aLatvian ArmyGeneral, and Irma Marija Hartmane. Her brother was computer scientistJuris Hartmanis.Following the1940 Soviet occupation of Latvia,General Hartmanis was imprisoned by the Soviet Union.He was executed in 1941, but his family would not learn of his fate until after the fall of the USSR in 1991.

Ivask, her mother, and brother left Latvia fordisplaced persons campsin Germany in 1944. Ivask studied languages at theUniversity of Marburg.She later wrote "In Marburg-on-the-LaanEuropean intellectual life was opened for me. In three years at the university, I worked with seven foreign languages, some living, some dead long ago, and I married into the area ofFinno-Ugricculture. "She completed her master's degree in 1949. The same year she married Estonian poetIvar Ivask,who had earned his doctorate in literature and art history there, and they moved to the United States, where Ivar Ivask had been hired as a faculty member atSt. Olaf CollegeinMinnesota.

In 1967 they moved toNorman, Oklahoma,where Ivar Ivask became a professor of modern languages and literatures at theUniversity of Oklahoma.She served as an adjunct professor teaching Russian, German and French. Ivar Ivask was editor of the university's literary journalWorld Literature Todayand the couple hosted many authors and critics in their home and participated in readings and literary events.

In 1991, the couple moved toCounty Cork,Ireland, but Ivark Ivask died in 1992. Astrid Ivask returned to Riga in 2001.

Work

Ivask's first poetry collection wasEzera kristības( "Baptism of the Lake", 1966). Other collections includeZiemas tiesa( "Winter's Judgment", 1968),Solis silos( “A Step in the Forest”, 1973), Līču loki ( "Curving Bays", 1981),At the Fallow’s Edge(1981), Gaisma ievainoja ( "The Light Wounded", 1982). Most of her work was written in Latvian, but one collection,Oklahoma Poems(1990), was written in English. Her collected poems isWordings(1987).

Her other works includePārsteigumi un atklājumi( "Surprises and Discoveries", 1984), children's poems and stories, and book of poetic travel sketches,Līču loki: Ainas un ainavas( "Curving Bays: Views and Landscapes", 1981), illustrated by the photography of Ivar Ivask.

Awards and honors

She was awarded theZinaida LazdaPrize forZiemas tiesaand the Culture Foundation of Latvians Prize for Literature forSolis silos.She won theJānis Jaunsudrabiņš Prose Prizefor travel sketches.Pārsteigumi un atklājumiwon theGoppers Prize.Her workLicu lokiwon theJānis Jaunsudrabiņš Prose Prize.She was awarded Latvia'sOrder of the Three Stars,Estonia'sOrder of the White Star,andLatvian Writers Union Annual Awardfor her contributions to promoting culture and literature.