Aivar Kull

Aivar Kull (born 1. November 1955) is a critic and historian of literature.

Kull was born in Tartu. He attended Tartu 8-year School No. 10 and from 1971–1974 the specialised class of physics and mathematics at Tartu Secondary School No. 1. From 1974–1975 he studied mathematics and from 1980–1983 Estonian language and literature at Tartu State University. He has worked as a stagehand at the Vanemuine theatre, also as a warehouse keeper and a group attendant at a travel agency. Thereafter, Aivar Kull has been a freelance literator. Member of the Estonian Writers’ Union from 1996.
 
In the 1970s, Kull published poems in the press. From 1982, he concentrated on literary criticism. He has also written theatre reviews. The characteristic features of Kull’s reviews of literature are deep reverence for the created word and awareness of the traditions of both Estonian and world literature. A great number of his reviews that were published in the press appeared later, in 2005, in the bulky collection Kulli pilk (‘Hawk’s Glance’), which was followed by the similar book Kull ja kiri (‘Heads or Tails’) ten years later.

Aivar Kull has written monographs about the writer Oskar Luts (2007), the actor Lembit Eelmäe (2011) and the writer August Gailit (2022).

In 2020, a collection of Oskar Luts’s short prose, compiled by Kull, was published.

Kull has translated Russian prose into Estonian.

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

Books in Estonian

Criticism
Kulli pilk. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2005. 462 lk.
Kull ja kiri. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2015. 310 lk.

Monographs
Oskar Luts: pildikesi kirjanikupõlvest. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2007. 487 lk.
Lembit Eelmäe: näitlejaraamat. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2011. 189 lk.
August Gailit: Lahtiste allikate poole. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2022. 399 lk.