Birk Rohelend
Birk Rohelend (real name Hele-Riin Pihel, before that Hele-Riin Pähn and Hele-Riin Moon; 17. IV 1981) is a prose writer, poet and screenwriter.
Birk Rohelend was born in Viljandi. She studied there, at the University of Tartu (genetic engineering); Baltic, Film, Media and Arts School; Estonian Academy of Arts and the Tallinn University of Technology (master’s studies). She has worked various jobs in sports, advertising, and marketing; currently, she is the Head of the Center of E-Channels at the Tallinn University of Technology. She belonged to the 2000s young writers grouping Purpurmust Org. She is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 2011.
Her debut novel Mina, Mortimer (‘I, Mortimer’, 2007, third place at the 2006 young adult novel competition organized by the Estonian Children's Literature Center and Tänapäev Publishers) and Enesetapjad (‘Suiciders’, 2009, first and second place at the same competition) focus on the self-searching of youths. The novels have dark undercurrents like her other works. Characters at war with themselves and/or the world are a recurring motif, they may also express misanthropic sentiments. Similarly are the views of a chauvinistic macho man exposed to the reader in the novel Minu sõraline sõber (‘My Hoofed Friend’, 2009, third place at a novel competition by the Estonian Novel Society). The character has a dark past, which leads to him considering the illness ravaging his body to be his only true friend. At the literature competition Bestseller 2015, her novel Mull (‘Bubble’, 2016) won second place.
Sa pead suudlema Silvat (‘You Must Kiss Silva’, 2016) and Kuldne laps (‘Golden Child’, 2018) belong the Silvia Stökel crime novel series that star a single mom who is an investigative journalist.
The poetry collection Morbidaarium (‘Morbidarium’, 2012) is inspired by personal experience, development, and failure of hopes, and portrays the world of the 1980s generation.
She has (co-)written several TV shows.
A. K. (Translated by A. A.)
Books in Estonian
Novels
Mu sõraline sõber. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2009, 214 lk.
Mull. Tallinn: Pilgrim, 2016, 192 lk.
Sa pead suudlema Silvat. Tallinn: Helios, 2016, 271 lk.
Kuldne laps. Tallinn: Helios Kirjastus, 2018, 301, lk.
Poems
Alexander ja Belle: ballaad. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2009, 122 lk.
Morbidaarium. Tallinn: Roheline Kuu, 2012, 111 lk.
Young adult prose
Mina, Mortimer. Tallinn: Tänapäev, 2007, 117 lk.
Enesetapjad. Tallinn: Tänapäev, 2009, 224 lk.