Ilmar Trull

Poems

Ilmar Trull (b. 21. II 1957) is a children’s author and poet, as well as an illustrator and caricaturist.

Trull was born in Tallinn. From 1964 to 1975 he attended secondary school number 7 in Tallinn and from 1976 to 1978 studied English at the University of Tartu. After military service, Trull held several jobs. From 1985 to 1995 he worked as departmental and managing editor of the Pikker humour magazine. From 1993 to 1996 he was the editor of the crossword magazine Ristik. Trull has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 1996 and earns his living as a freelance writer in Tallinn.

Ilmar Trull made his debut in 1977 with poems and children’s songs in periodicals and anthologies, and published his own first collection for adults in 1984. In 1991, with Mart Juur, he published the humorous collection Kuumad käkid külmas öös ('Hot Mess-ups on a Cold Night'), consisting of pieces that had appeared in the magazine Pikker. It was children’s poetry that brought recognition to Trull. Trull is a long-standing contributor to the children’s magazines Täheke and Hea Laps. Since 1996 he has been providing the children’s page of the weekly Eesti Ekspress with poems, for which he draws the illustrations himself. The best of the poems that appear in the press end up in a collection every couple of years. Trull’s poems for children are frolicsome, rhythmic, and they revel in rhyme. He has a natural gift for putting familiar everyday words in unfamiliar settings, in flight to an imaginary world.

He has won the Karl Eduard Sööt prize for children’s poetry six times and the Literature Endowment annual award three times.

L. P. (Translated by C. M.)

Books in Estonian

Children's poems
Lõbusad luuletused. Illustratsioonid: Hillar Mets. Tallinn: Varrak, 1998, 32 lk.
Iseloomuga loom. Tallinn: Eesti Ekspressi Kirjastus, 2005, 85 lk.
Musta kassi mumba. Pildid joonistas Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Eesti Ekspressi Kirjastus, 2006, 85 lk.
Jõulusalmik. Tallinn: I. Trull, 2007, 14 lk koos kaanega.
Järvevaht ja joogivesi. Tallinn: Eesti Ekspressi Kirjastus, 2007, 85 lk.
Hiire pidu. Pildid joonistanud Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: TEA Kirjastus, 2009, 35 lk.
Kaelkirjak ja tähed. Pildid joonistanud Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: TEA Kirjastus, 2010, 37 lk.
Väike viisakas kärbes. Pildid: Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Varrak, 2011, 67 lk.
Tuvi jalutab. Pildid joonistanud Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Varrak, 2012, 70 lk.
Tantsiv kaamel 1. Tallinn: BRI&Ko, 2013. 80 lk.
Rähni ravi. Pildid joonistanud Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2015, 400 lk. [Kogumiku luuletused pärinevad raamatutest 'Lõbusad luuletused' (1998), 'Iseloomuga loom' (2005), 'Musta kassi mumba' (2006), 'Järvevaht ja joogivesi' (2007), 'Väike viisakas kärbes' (2011) ja 'Tuvi jalutab' (2012). Juurdetrükk: 2016.]
Jänese valitud palitud. Pildid: Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2016, 62 lk.
Mannekeeni talu. Pildid: Ilmar Trull. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2017, 62 lk.
Metsa toodi kuuseke. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2018. 39 lk.
Pori kärbes ja tori hobu. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2019. 62 lk.
Kala ei lärma. Tallinn: Tammerraamat, 2020. 77 lk.

Poems
Millest mõtled seljaaju?. Illustreerinud A. Tali. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1984, 48 lk.

Prose (humour)
Ilmar Trull, Mart Juur, Kuumad käkid külmas öös. Illustreerinud ja kujundanud R. Lauks. Tallinn: Pikker, 1991, 111 lk.