VLADAS BRAZIŪNAS (b. February 17, 1952) is a
Lithuanian author of nine books of poetry, essayist and translator of Byelorussian, Croatian, French, Latvian, Polish,
Serbian, Russian, Ukrainian poetry; a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and the Lithuanian PEN center.
Vladas Braziūnas grew up in the town of Pasvalys in northern Lithuania. At Vilnius University he studied journalism and Lithuanian philology. Vladas has mostly worked at various cultural and literary publications and has served as an editor-in-chief for the weekly Literatūra ir menas
(Literature and Art). Since 1996, Vladas has concentrated on creative work.
Vladas Braziūnas’ poetry was first published in 1974. However, the first book of poems Slenka žaibas (As Lightning Moves) was held up at the publisher’s for seven years due to its "ideological and artistic (!) immaturity". The year it was published (Vaga, 1983) Vladas received Zigmas Gėlė prize for the best poetry debut.
Between 1986 and 2002 Vladas has published eight more poetry books: Voro stulpas (Vaga, 1986); Suopiai gręžia dangų (Vaga, 1988); Užkalbėti juodą sraują (Vaga,1989); Išeinančios pušys (Vyturys, 1992); Alkanoji linksniuotė (Vaga, 1993); Užkalinėti (Vaga, 1998; Salomėja Nėris
prize); Ant balto dugno (Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla,
1999); lėmeilėmeilėmeilė (Vaga, 2002); Būtasis nebaigtinis / Imparfait
(translated to French by Genovaitė Dručkutė;
Petro ofsetas, 2003).
In 2002, Vladas Braziūnas’ poem Karilionas tūkstančiui ir vienai aušrai was selected as the winner at the literary competition organized by the chancellary of the President of the Republic of Lithuania on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the Lithuanian state. It was published in 2003 by Kronta.
Vladas Braziūnas has published translations of Byelorussian, Croatian, French, Latgalian, Latvian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian poetry, and Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian proze (in 1990, Vyturys published
the book Černobylis (Chernobyl) by the Ukrainian writer Yuriy Scherbak; in 1989 – the diary of the Latvian exile Ojārs Mednis). Together with Sigitas Geda and Kęstutis Nastopka, Vladas Braziūnas translated the collection of poems Vabzdžių žingsniai (Baltos lankos, 1997) by the Latvian poet Uldis Bērziņš. In 2003, the Lithuanian Writers’ Union has published a collection of poems by Alicja Rybałko, translated from Polish by Vladas Braziūnas. For his achievements in translating Ukrainian poetry, Vladas received the Taras Sevchenko Fund award in 2002.
In 2004, Vladas was awarded the Jotvingiai Prize for his Lithuanian-French collection of verse būtasis nebaigtinis / imparfait (Vilnius, 2003), his translation into Lithuanian of Selected Poems by Alicja Rybałko (Vilnius, 2003), and the compilation of a posthumous poetry collection by Raimondas Jonutis Aušra kambary be langų (Dawn in a windowless room, Vilnius, 2003).
Vladas Braziūnas has contributed to the following antologies,
literary and cultural almanachs, and poetry collections:
Namai, kuriuose visados: [Antology of ecological poetry
by young Lithuanian poets] / Editor: Vladas Braziūnas. - Vilnius: Vyturys, 1989;
Mes esam šiaurės krašto: Pasvaliečių literatūros almanachas,
skiriamas Pasvalio miesto įkūrimo 500-mečiui / Editors: Vladas Braziūnas,
Mykolas Karčiauskas, Albinas Kazlauskas, Eugenijus Matuzevičius; Prepared by Vladas Braziūnas. - Vilnius: Danielius, 1997;
Mes esam šiaurės krašto: Kultūros atminties almanachas /
Prepared by Vladas Braziūnas. - Vilnius: Danielius, 1998;
Poezijos pavasaris 2001 / Editors: Vladas Braziūnas,
Eugenijus Ališanka. - Vilnius: Vaga, 2001;
Jonutis, Raimondas. aušra kambary be langų : eilėraščių rinktinė/ Prepared and edited by Vladas Braziūnas. - Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2003.