Mehis Heinsaar
Mehis Heinsaar (born 1 VIII 1973) is a prose writer and poet, one of the most awarded writers in Estonian literature of the 21st century.
He was born and attended school in Tallinn. At the age of 12 he moved to Karksi-Nuia, where he lived until the end of secondary school. From 1992 to 2000 he lived in Tartu and studied at the University of Tartu. He graduated the department of Estonian literature with a diploma thesis about female characters of August Gailit.
Heinsaar’s first poems were published in a poetry competition collection in 1994, and his debut short story was published in Postimees in 1997. Heinsaar became known in 2000 when he won the Tuglas Short Story Prize with his short story Liblikmees (‘The Butterfly Man’). In 2001, he published two collections of short stories – Vanaemeeste näppaja (‘The Snatcher of Old Men’) and Härra Pauli kroonikad (‘The Chronicles of Mr. Paul’), which won the Betti Alver Debut Prize and the Cultural Endowment’s Annual Award for Literature respectively. Heinsaar’s later collections of short stories have also been well received by critics and have brought the author recognition.
In 2005, he tried his hand at longer prose when the novel Artur Sandmani lugu ehk Teekond iseenda teise otsa (‘The Tale of Artur Sandman, or The Journey to the Other End of Self’) was published, which caused mixed reactions from critics. His second novel, Kadunud hõim (‘The Lost Tribe’ 2022), which belongs to the folk horror genre, was better received by critics and also brought the writer the Tammsaare Literary Prize and the Cultural Endowment’s Annual Award for Literature.
Heinsaar’s poetry collections Sügaval elu hämaras (‘Deep in the Haze of Life’, 2009) and Pingeväljade aednik (‘The Gardener of the Tension Fields’, 2018, Gustav Suits Poetry Prize) have also been very well received. In 2022, Heinsaar published his diary from 2007-2012 titled Ööpäevik (‘Night Diary’), which was followed by a sequel Läbi hingemaastike. Ööpäevik 2: 2013-2014 (‘Through the Landscapes of Soul. Night Diary 2: 2013-2014’, 2024). In them, the first-person narrator reflects with ruthless honesty his inner struggles and crises both in the so-called real world and in labyrinthine metaphorical inner cosmoses.
Heinsaar has a very distinctive and recognizable style, often described as magical realism. He is a fascinating and playful storyteller with the ability to create imaginative fictional worlds. Supernatural, miraculous, and realistic traits are blended effortlessly together with playful ease. This marriage of the real and surreal is reinforced via a strong bond with existing geographical places in Estonia, providing a space for these extraordinary events to transpire. In this way, the elements of magic do not seem to be dreams or lies but rather irreducible elements of the written world.
His stories often have a romantic character who is reaching for idealistic, unattainable goals. One of his leitmotifs is the attempt to escape mundane reality, often through an encounter with some unexpected phenomenon or event that gives rise to the dislocation of a “normal” world and life, thus creating an opening to the magical or mystical world beyond the reach of cognition. In this way, ordinary subjects or things undergo metamorphoses to expose the deeper meaning and caginess of human existence. In the end, his characters usually surrender to the state of affairs, filling the stories with somber undertones.
When asked about his fairy-tale-like writing style, Heinsaar has said that it is the only way he sees things and this is how he approaches the real world. In this sense, he doesn’t fictionalize consciously but writes about himself and real life through the eyes of someone who sees everything for the first time.
In addition to the above-mentioned awards, Heinsaar has two more times won the Tuglas Prize (2002, 2010), the Literature Endowment Annual Award (2007, 2026), the Juhan Liiv Poetry Prize (2010), the August Gailit Short Story Award (2011), and the Ela ja sära (‘Live and shine’) scholarship (2021).
A. N.
Books in Estonian
Poems
Sügaval elu hämaras. Luige: Verb, 2009, 111 lk.
Pingeväljade aednik. Luige: Verb, 2018, 95 lk.
Novels
Artur Sandmani lugu, ehk, Teekond iseenda teise otsa. Tallinn: Tuum, 2005, 245 lk.
Kadunud hõim. Tallinn: Menu, 2022, 318 lk. [2. trükk: 2025.]
Short stories
Härra Pauli kroonikad. Tallinn: Perioodika (Loomingu Raamatukogu), 2001, 104 lk. [2., täiendatud trükk: Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, 2011, 173 lk; e-raamat: Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, Digira, 2011.]
Vanameeste näppaja. Tallinn: Tuum, 2001, 155 lk.
Rändaja õnn. Tallinn: Verb, 2007, 136 lk.
Ebatavaline ja ähvardav loodus. Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, 2010, 151 lk. [E-raamat: Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, Digira, 2011.]
Ülikond: jutte 2003-2013. Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, 2013, 157 lk. [E-raamat: Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, Digira, 2011.]
Unistuste tappev kasvamine: jutte ja novelle, muinasjutte ja nägemusi siit- ja sealtpoolt Eestimaa teid. Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, 2016, 231 lk. [E-raamat: Tallinn: Menu Kirjastus, Digira, 2016.]
Võlurite juures : jutte ja novelle 1997-2020. Tallinn: Paradiis, 2021. 300 lk.
Eesti keelde sukelduja : jutte ja novelle 2011-2025. Tallinn: Menu, 2025. 214 lk.
Diaries
Ööpäevik : 2007-2012. Tallinn: Kultuurileht, 2022. 119 lk.
Läbi hingemaastike. Ööpäevik. 2: 2013-2014. Tallinn: Menu, 2024. 215 lk
About Mehis Heinsaar
Luhtatulek : ekslemisi Mehis Heinsaare tihnikutes. Koostanud Sven Vabar. Sari ‘Etüüde nüüdiskultuurist’, 3. Tallinn; Tartu: Kultuuri- ja kirjandusteooria töörühm, 2011. 192 lk. [Artiklikogumik.]
