Triin Paja
Triin Paja (born 26 October 1990) is a poet and translator.
For her debut collection Nõges (‘Nettle’, 2018), Paja received the Betti Alver Debut Prize together with Raul Oreškin’s collection Kui ma vananen… (‘When I Get Older’). In the same year, she received the poetry prize of the journal Värske Rõhk, and, in 2020, the Juhan Liiv Poetry Prize for the poem Öö on tume nagu õdede juuksed (‘The Night is Dark Like Sisters’ Hair) which was published in Värske Rõhk in 2019 and in the collection Ürglind (‘Archaeopteryx’) in 2021. Triin Paja is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union from 2022.
Paja’s characteristic features — the richness of images and introspectiveness, motifs of nature (especially birds), beliefs and myths — are entwined into a magic whole; the theme of loved ones and death are more closely dealt with in the collection Jõe matmine (‘Burying the River’, 2022). The poetry collection Kuni nooled mu rinnas on päikesekiired (‘Until the Arrows in My Chest Are Rays of Sunshine’, 2025) continued with motifs familiar from previous collections, but was a bit brighter and more hopeful in tone.
Paja began writing poetry in English. Her poetry has appeared in many magazines, including Poetry Magazine, Ploughshares, Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Colorado Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Cincinnati Review. She has won two Pushcart Prizes. Her first English-language poetry collection, Sleeping in a Field (2025), was published by Wolfson Press in the US and won the same publisher’s Poetry Chapbook Prize.
Paja has translated the US poet Donika Kelly’s poetry collection Bestiary into Estonian.
A. K. (Translated by I. A.)
Books in Estonian
Poetry collections
Nõges. Tallinn: Kultuurileht, 2018, 94 lk.
Ürglind. Tallinn: Tuum, 2021, 78 lk.
Jõe matmine. Luige: Verb, 2022, 52 lk.
Kuni nooled mu rinnas on päikesekiired. Luige: Verb, 2025, 63 lk.
Books in English
Poetry collections
Sleeping in a Field. Indiana: Wolfson Press, 2025, 46 pp.
