Jānis Baltvilks (1944 – 2003) is a contemporary classic of Latvian children’s literature. Jānis Baltvilks brought the forest into Latvian literature, drawing his understanding and knowledge of nature from earlier experience as a professional natural scientist. His works convey a comprehensive, wise view of the world, based on the courses of nature. The writer, whose contribution amounts to more than 30 children's books of poetry, prose and reference literature, was also one of the most active members of the Latvian section of IBBY. Reinis Pētersons currently works in the fields of illustration and animation film. He is one of the most prominent illustrators and new generation animation film artists to come from Latvia. His auteur animation film Ursus (2012) has been selected and participated in more than 90 film festivals across the globe, receiving numerous awards and distinctions. In the past two years Pētersons has been nominated twice for The Hans Christian Andersen Award (Switzerland), which is the highest international recognition given to a book illustrator, and also for The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (Sweden). Žanete Vēvere Pasqualini is a translator and literary agent. She graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages, University of Latvia, in 1995, at the same time completing a course in Italian language at the University of Perugia.She was the first Latvian Consul in Rome after Latvia regained independence, and now divides her time between Latvia and Italy. She currently she works as a literary agent for Latvia, promoting Latvian literature abroad and dedicating some of her time to literary translation. In her translations, Žanete enjoys the challenge of rendering the text precisely while keeping the target language as natural and flowing as possible. Her translations into English include: novel “The Green Crow” by Kristīne Ulberga (Peter Owen Press); the short stories “The Birds of Ķīpsala island” by Dace Rukšāne and “The Shakes” by Svens Kuzmins (anthologised in “The Book of Riga”, Comma Press); children’s poetry “The Noisy Classroom” by Ieva Flamingo (Emma Press); the children’s book “Dog Town” by Luīze Pastore (Firefly); “Minimisms” by Imants Ziedonis (Viegli), and the play “History Research Commission” by Alvis Hermanis and company (Jaunais Rīgas Teātris).Kate Wakeling is a poet and musicologist. Her debut poetry collection for children, Moon Juice, won the CLiPPA in 2017 and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her second collection, Cloud Soup, was shortlisted for the CLiPPA in 2022 and named a book of the month in the Guardian and the Scotsman. A pamphlet of Kate’s poetry for adults, The Rainbow Faults, is published by The Rialto. Kate studied music at Cambridge University and holds a PhD in Balinese gamelan music from SOAS.
