Erkki Koort

Erkki Koort (born 15 August 1975) is a writer and security expert.

Koort was born in Võru. In 1995, he graduated from the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences where he acquired applied higher education in policing. In 2004, Koort defended a master’s degree in public administration at Tallinn University of Technology. Erkki Koort is a skilled security expert who has worked for the Estonian Internal Security Service and the Ministry of the Interior, later for the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and the newspaper Postimees. Erkki Koort has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union from 2021.

Koort has written several historical novels about medieval Estonia. Some of Koort’s ancestors lived at Kirumpää, Võru County, before World War II. The author has been interested in the history of this region since his youth. The first part of Erkki Koort’s medieval Markus trilogy appeared in 2018 under the title Kättemaks Kirumpääl (‘Vengeance at Kirumpää’). A year later, he published the book Veritasu Tartus (‘Blood Feud in Tartu’). This is a sequel to the earlier adventure novel, which introduces the reader to the intrigues in Tartu diocese and Livonia in the last quarter of the 14th century and speaks about the people living there. The last part of the trilogy of historical adventure stories is Salakuulaja Vastseliinas (‘Eavesdropper at Vastseliina’, 2020). Koort’s books offer the reader excitement and humour and also provide knowledge about the Middle Ages, more exactly, about the late 14th century.  In 2021, For his trilogy, Koort received the Bernard Kangro Literary Award, which is issued in Võru.

The thriller Koidik surnud postkastis (‘Dawn in the Dead Letter Box’) appeared in 2022. The book depicts the Estonia of the 1990s as a battleground where the espionage interests of Russia, Sweden and several other countries merge with organised crime. Momentum is added to the story by the protagonist’s life partner’s mysterious disappearance and the resulting life-threatening affairs.

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

Books in Estonian

Novels
Kättemaks Kirumpääl. Tallinn: Hea Lugu, 2018. 295 lk.
Veritasu Tartus. Tallinn: Hea Lugu, 2019. 310 lk.
Salakuulaja Vastseliinas. Tallinn: Hea Lugu, 2020. 359 lk.
Koidik surnud postkastis: operatsioon Soroca. Põnevik. Tallinn: Pegasus, 2022. 347 lk.