Povilas Višinskis

Povilas Višinskis in Yalta, 1898

Povilas Višinskis (28 June 1875, Ušnėnai, Kovno Governorate – 23 April 1906, Berlin) was a Lithuanian writer, journalist, theatre director, and politician. His pen names include A. – s, Blinda, P – V, P. A., Apaštalas, P. Šiaulietis. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Democratic Party. He contributed and edited various Lithuanian periodicals, most notably Varpas, Vilniaus žinios, and Lietuvos ūkininkas. He is also remembered as a mentor of literary talent. He discovered Žemaitė and advised Lazdynų Pelėda, Šatrijos Ragana, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Jonas Biliūnas, Jonas Krikščiūnas. Višinskis also directed and played the main role in the first Lithuanian-language play Amerika pirtyje (America in a Sauna) in 1899. When advertisements for another play printed in Lithuanian using Latin alphabet were confiscated by police as violating the Lithuanian press ban, Višinskis sued and obtained a favorable judgment from the Supreme Court of Appeals in 1903. This lawsuit helped to end the ban in 1904.