Triin Paja (born 26 October 1990) is a poet and translator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For her debut collection N\u00f5ges<\/em> (\u2018Nettle\u2019, 2018), Paja received the Betti Alver<\/a> Debut Prize together with Raul Ore\u0161kin\u2019s collection Kui ma vananen\u2026<\/em> (\u2018When I Get Older\u2019). In the same year, she received the poetry prize of the journal V\u00e4rske R\u00f5hk<\/em>, and, in 2020, the Juhan Liiv<\/a> Poetry Prize for the poem \u00d6\u00f6 on tume nagu \u00f5dede juuksed<\/em> (\u2018The Night is Dark Like Sisters\u2019 Hair) which was published in V\u00e4rske R\u00f5hk<\/em> in 2019 and in the collection \u00dcrglind<\/em> (\u2018Archaeopteryx\u2019) in 2021. Triin Paja is a member of the Estonian Writers\u2019 Union from 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paja\u2019s characteristic features \u2014 the richness of images and introspectiveness, motifs of nature (especially birds), beliefs and myths \u2014 are entwined into a magic whole; the theme of loved ones and death are more closely dealt with in the collection J\u00f5e matmine<\/em> (\u2018Burying the River\u2019, 2022). The poetry collection Kuni nooled mu rinnas on p\u00e4ikesekiired<\/em> (\u2018Until the Arrows in My Chest Are Rays of Sunshine\u2019, 2025) continued with motifs familiar from previous collections, but was a bit brighter and more hopeful in tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s Poetry Chapbook Prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paja has translated the US poet Donika Kelly\u2019s poetry collection Bestiary into Estonian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n