Kristiina Ehin
Kristiina Ehin (b. 18. VII 1977) is a poet, prose writer, translator, performer and teacher of creative writing.
She was born in Rapla as the daughter of the poets Andres Ehin and Ly Seppel (Ehin). She attended Rapla Secondary School number 1 from 1983 to 1995, and from 1995 to 2001 Tartu University, studying literature and folk poetry, gaining an MA in 2004. From 1997 to 1998 she studied at Tartu Art College, also studying creative dance and teaching it; she was a schoolteacher at Vodja in 2005. Since 1996 she has been a freelance writer. Ehin performs frequently, reciting poetry, telling stories and singing, either alone, with her husband the experimental musician Silver Sepp, or with a group (the folk music groups Sinimaniseele, Naised Köögis). Representing Estonia she took part in the Poetry Parnassus cultural programme of the summer Olympic Games in 2012. She was the matron of the 2014 Prima Vista literature festival in Tartu. She taught creative writing from 2011 to 2013 at Viljandi Culture Academy, and continues this at Tartu University. In 2015-2016 she was the university’s Professor of Liberal Arts, and in 2017 Tartu City Writer [in residence]. She is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union and the literary grouping Erakkond (founded 1997).
Ehin’s debut was in 1993 with poetry in the press; a selection of texts appeared in the Erakkond anthology Üheksavägine (1997). Her style is charmingly fairy-like, tender and nuanced. She intertwines fragile femininity with a strong sense of women’s rights; she gives importance to her inherited Estonian and Finno-Ugric culture, she is concerned for the care of nature and of the spirit, with an ideal of sincerity, purity and integrity. She is at once serious and maternally caring, by turns humorously mischievous and surrealistically playful, as her father’s daughter.
Her texts have been presented by groups and at song festivals. Ülo Krigul’s oratorio ‘Swan Bone City’ earned recognition both at home and abroad. Besides several English-language translations of poetry and prose works and radio plays, Ehin’s work has appeared in a score of languages. She herself has interpreted literature from English (F. Forsyth, P. Fitzgerald, R.Bly) and Slovenian.
Kristiina Ehin has been awarded the following literary prizes:
– The cultural weekly Sirp annual prize for literature for the poetry collection Simunapäev – in 2004.
– Literature Endowment Annual Award for the poetry collection Kaitseala – in 2006.
– the Gustav Suits Poetry Prize for the poetry collection Kaitseala – in 2006.
– The Poetry Society Corneliu M. Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation for ‘The Drums of Silence’, translated by Ilmar Lehtpere – in 2007
– Rapla County Development Centre annual prize for organising the International Full Moon Poetry Festival – in 2008
– The Estonian President’s Young Cultural Figure Award – in 2008
– Estonian Cultural Endowment Scholarship Ela ja sära (‘Live and Shine’) – in 2010
– The Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation award for ‘The Scent of Your Shadow’ – in 2010
– International Silver Ink Bottle Prize, Latvia for ‘The Scent of Your Shadow’ – in 2010
– ‘1001 Winters’, translated by Ilmar Lehtpere shortlisted for the Poetry Society Corneliu M. Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation – in 2013
– Virumaa Literary Prize for Paleontoloogi päevaraamat – in 2014
– The Order of the White Star, IV Class – in 2016
A. M. (Translated by C. M.)
Books in Estonian
Poems
Kevad Astrahanis: luuletusi 1992-1999. Tallinn: Huma, 2000, 51 lk.
Simunapäev. Tallinn: Huma, 2003, 44 lk.
Luigeluulinn. Tallinn: Huma, 2003, 44 lk.
Kaitseala: Mohni 2004-2005. Tallinn: Huma, 2005, 154 lk.
Emapuhkus. Toimetaja Ly Ehin; kujundaja Lemmi Kuulberg; kaanepildid: Kristiina Ehin. Tallinn: Pandekt, 2009, 107 lk.
Viimane monogaamlane, [1. köide]: luuletused 2009-2011. Joonistused: Kristiina Ehin; kujundus: Lemmi Kuulberg, Diego Almeyda, Eliisa Ehin. Tallinn: Pegasus, 2011, 78 lk.
Kohtumised: luulet 2012-2016. Toimetajad Ly Ehin, Kristel Ress; fotod: Kristiina Ehin jt. Tartu: [Kristiina Ehin], 2017, 159 lk.
Short stories
Pillipuhujanaine ja pommipanijanaine: uudisjutud ja kirjad. Toimetaja Ly Seppel; joonistused: Eve Kask, kujundus: Jüri Kaarma. Tallinn: Huma, 2006, 92 lk.
Viimane monogaamlane. [2. köide]: jutud 2009-2011. Joonistused: Kristiina Ehin; kujundus: Lemmi Kuulberg, Diego Almeyda, Eliisa Ehin. Tallinn: Pegasus, 2011, 96 lk.
Kristi Jõeste, Kristiina Ehin, Kirjatud teekond. Toimetaja Anu Pink; joonised ja skeemid: Kristi Jõeste, Anu Pink, kujundus: Mariann Einmaa; fotod: Kristi Jõeste jt. Türi: Saara Kirjastus, 2012, 119 lk.
Non-fiction
Paleontoloogi päevaraamat. Toimetaja Ly Seppel, Tartu: Petrone Print, 2013, 270 lk. [Mälestused. E-raamat: 2013; juurdetrükk 2015.]
