Jan Rahman
Jan Rahman (born 30 VII 1975) is a writer and journalist.
He was born in Võru and completed Võru Kreutzwald Secondary School No. 1 in 1993. From 1993–2004, Rahman studied journalism at the University of Tartu. He has been a member of Tartu Young Authors’ Association and is a member of the Võro Language and Culture Fund (2001–2006 its chairman).
Rahman works as the chief editor of Uma Leht, a newspaper published in the Võro language (a regional variety of Estonian). He contributes to the press and radio. He writes poetry, prose, plays, criticism and song lyrics mostly in the Võro language and translates texts into Võro. Jan Rahman has translated the scenes concerning the Athens artisans in Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream from English into Võro. He has also translated Hasso Krull’s poetry from Estonian and Heli Laaksonen’s poetry from the southwestern dialect of Finnish into Võro.
In 1997, Rahman published a poetry collection in the Võro language, Vasõst vaśk (‘Copper from Copper’), which included the lyrics of the hits of the pop group Ummamuudu. Jointly with Heli Laaksonen, Rahman published the poetry collection Maapuupäiv (‘Earth Tree Day’) in Finland in 2000. The second edition of the book appeared in 2006.
Along with Aapo Ilves, Contra, Olavi Ruitlane and Jaan Pulk, Jan Rahman was among the authors of the poetry collection Viie pääle (‘Divided Between Five’) published in 2005. In 2006, Rahman published the children’s book Vävvä in both Estonian and Võro. For the plays written in Võro, Painaja (‘Haunter’) and Sõit (‘Ride’), Rahman received the Bernard Kangro literary award in 2006. The play Painaja, which is based on Juhan Jaik’s ghost stories, was written for Võru Teatriateljee (Võru Theatre Workshop). The programme booklet called the play, “Võro horror”; the play Sõit consists of funny stories about the incredible happenings of Võro people during a bus ride.
Jan Rahman kas arranged Kaika Summer Universities dealing with Võro culture.
L. P. (Translated by I. A.)
Books in Estonian
Poetry
Vasõst vaśk. Tartu: EKS-i Kaasaegse Kirjanduse Keskus, 1997. 43 lk.
Jan Rahman, Heli Laaksonen, Maapuupäiv. Võru: Võro Selts VKKF; Sammakko, 2000. 95 lk.
Short prose
Vävvä. Räpina: Väiku Välläandja, 2006. 14 lk.
