Juhan Aru

Juhan Aru (born 24 July 1986) is a mathematician and poet.

Aru was born to a family of intellectuals in Tartu. His mother Krista Aru is director of the University of Tartu Library, father medical scientist Jaak Aru and brother neuroscientist and author of popular-scientific books Jaan Aru. In 2005, Juhan Aru completed Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu with a gold medal. From 2006–2009, he studied mathematics at Cambridge University where ta graduated from Trinity College with a bachelor’s degree (with honours). Aru has a master’s degree from both Paris Descartes University and Cambridge Trinity College. After defending his doctoral thesis in Lyon, France, in 2015, Aru has lived in Switzerland and worked at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Juhan Aru is one of the authors of the popular treatment of mathematics, Matemaatika õhtuõpik (‘Evening Textbook of Mathematics’, 2013). He has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 2023.

Juhan Aru’s debut collection of poetry Rahutu rõõm (‘Restless Pleasure’, 2015) consists of poems with simple idiosyncratic charm. In his second poetry collection Vihmapiisk nina peal (‘Raindrop on My Nose’, 2017) the author represents himself as a “digital nomad”. The author is not an agonised traveller; he feels at home in the company of himself, still longing and looking for something really of his own somewhere in his Estonian country home. Both poetry collections stand out for their steady soft and quiet tonality; both are carried by a similar usage of images and words. The keywords are simplicity, closeness to nature, commonplaceness, spontaneity. The same features also characterise Juhan Aru’s two following collections.

L. P. (Translated by I. A.)

Books in Estonian

Poetry
Rahutu rõõm. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2015. 68 lk.
Vihmapiisk nina peal. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2017. 76 lk.
Sõnad kui karikakrad. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2019. 79 lk.
Oma olemise nägu. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2022. 116 lk.