We invite you to meet our current resident – Maarja Pärtna from Estonia. Maarja won the scholarship of the “Artist Residencies” project and will reside at the International Center for Translators and Writers in Nida for two months.
Maarja Pärtna is an Estonian poet, translator and editor. She has studied English language and literature, and comparative literature at the University of Tartu. Pärtna has published five collections of poems, including „Vivaarium” (Vivarium, 2020), which won the Gustav Suits Poetry Award and was nominated for the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s annual poetry award. Her latest book is a collection of prose poems titled „Elav linn” (The Living City, 2022). She has received the Juhan Liiv Poetry Award and the Young Culture Bearer of Tartu Award.
Pärtna’s poems have been translated into ten languages. She has translated essays by Margaret Atwood, Kathleen Jamie, Robert Macfarlane, and Edward Said into Estonian.
During her stay in the International Centre for Translators and Writers, Maarja is planing to work on two projects: a longer prose piece and a manuscript of poems. She is planing to write a novel that explores our relationship with nature during the present global ecological crisis. Maarja have previously published five collections of poems, but have just recently begun working on her first novel.
Second Maarja’s project should be a manuscript of prose poems that focuses on ways in which being in close contact with nature can restore us spiritually and offer us solace during times of crisis. Her poems are often rooted in specific locations and bodily experiences, which is why she decided to apply for the residency offered by the International Centre for Translators and Writers in Nida. The Curonian Spit for her seemed like a fascinating place with a long and exciting history, where her new experiences and knowledge would inspire her. We hope Nida won’t dissapoint her!
The “Artist Residencies” project is financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
