Kalju Lepik

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Kalju Lepik (born October 7, 1920 in Koeru ; † May 30, 1999 in Tallinn ) was an exile Estonian poet .

biography

Grave in the Tallinn Forest Cemetery

Kalju Lepik first attended elementary school in Koeru from 1928 to 1934, from 1935 to 1939 the commercial school in Tartu and from 1939 to 1941 the commercial high school in Tartu, where he passed his Abitur. In 1942/43 he studied Nordic history and archeology at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Tartu . In 1943 he was drafted into the Waffen SS . In 1944 Lepik fled to Sweden before the Soviet occupation of Estonia . For a short time he studied archeology and ethnography at Stockholm University .

Poet and Publicist

Kalju Lepik published his first poems in 1939 in the Tartu student magazines Iloli and Tuleviku Rajad . In 1940 he founded the Tuulisui artists' association , which continued to operate in exile in Sweden from 1945 .

Kalju Lepik was very committed to the Estonian refugees in Sweden . In 1946 he founded the Estonian publishing house Eesti Raamat in Stockholm . In 1966 he became head of the Baltic Archives in Sweden. From 1982 he was chairman of the Estonian writers' association in exile ( Välismaine Eesti Kirjanike Liit ). In 1990 and 1998 Kalju Lepik received the renowned Juhan Liiv Poetry Prize and in 1998 the annual prize for Estonian literature.

Poetry

Kalju Lepik's early poems are heavily patriotic. There is also a lot of satire and humor. In later poetry, pessimistic elements predominate. Especially in the last years of his life, Kalju Lepik turned more and more away from any kind of political power and exuberant national pathos.

Most important collections of poetry

  • "Nägu koduaknas" (Stockholm 1946)
  • "Mängumees" (Stockholm 1948)
  • "Kerjused treppidel" ( Vadstena 1949)
  • "Merepõhi" (Stockholm 1951)
  • "Muinasjutt Tiigrimaast" ( Lund 1955)
  • "Kivimurd" (Lund 1958)
  • "Kollased nõmmed" (Lund 1965)
  • "Marble Pagulans" (Lund 1968)
  • "Verepõld" (Lund 1973)
  • "Klaasist mehed" (Lund 1978)
  • "Kadunud külad" (Lund 1985)
  • "Öötüdruk" (Tallinn 1992)
  • "Pihlakamarja rist" (Tartu 1997)

Private life

Kalju Lepik was married to Asta Lepik. He is the father of the Estonian politician and diplomat Aino Lepik von Wirén (* 1961).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lepik, Kalju
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian lyric poet
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Koeru
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1999
Place of death Tallinn