Alvydas Valenta (Lithuania)

Alvydas Valenta was born in 1963 in the Lazdijai district. He graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in Lithuanian studies and later a master’s degree in the same field. He is a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union. Since 1988, he has been working for the magazine Mūsų žodis (Our Word). He collaborates with the publishing house Brailio spauda (Braille Press) as a proofreader of braille publications. He has published eight books of poetry. The collection Prierašai neegzistuojančioms „Iliados“ ir „Odisėjos“ iliustracijoms (Notes to the Non-existent Illustrations of the Iliad and Odyssey, 2020) was included in the Lithuanian Institute of Literature and Folklore’s top twelve most creative books and a finalist for the Book of the Year; the collection Amerikos atradimas, arba vaizduotės šokis (The Discovery of America, or the Dance of Imagination, 2023) won the Vilnius City Mayor’s Prize. He has also written a non-fiction book about the integration of people with disabilities, Noriu būti gyvenimo dalininkas (I Want to Be a Part of Life, 2003), the novel Pradžios užkalbėjimai (The Incantations of the Beginning, 2010), and together with H. Stukas, has compiled a collection of fairy tales and legends with disabled characters, Laumių vaikai (Children of Fairies, 2007, Ministry of Culture Prize).