In 2006, she received the Baltic Assembly Prize in literature.The literary bestseller that took the Baltics by storm now published for the first time in English. Ikstena is an active participant in Latvia's cultural and political life, and a co-founder of the International Writers and Translators’ House in Ventspils. Her story Elza Kuga’s Old Age Dementia was included in the 'Best European Fiction 2011' anthology. Her collection Life Stories (2004) was published in English in 2013, and Hindi in 2015. Ikstena is also a prolific author of biographical fiction, non-fiction, scripts, essays, and collections of short prose. The novel Amour Fou has been staged for theatre, and published in Russian (2010) other works have been translated into Lithuanian, Estonian, Georgian, Swedish, Danish, etc. Soviet Milk (2015, shortlisted for the Annual Literature Award for best prose), Besa (2012), Celebration of Life (1998), The Virgin's Lesson (2001) are some of her most widely appreciated novels. In her prose, Nora Ikstena often reflects on life, love, death and faith. After obtaining a degree in Philology from the University of Latvia in 1992, she went on to study English literature at Columbia University. Ikstena is one of the most visible and influential prose writers in Latvia, known for elaborat style and detailed approach to language. Nora Ikstena is a prose writer and essayist. 'Nora Ikstena’s fiction opens up new paths not only for Latvian literature in English translation but for English literature itself.' Jeremy Davis, Dalkey Archive Press 'Nora Ikstena is proving that Latvia is speaking in a bold and original voice.' Rosie Goldsmith, broadcaster and reviewer Yet just beneath the surface lies something far more positive: the story of three generations of women, and the importance of a grandmother giving her granddaughter what her daughter is unable to provide – love, and the desire for life. Will she and her daughter be able to return to Riga when political change begins to stir?Īt first glance this novel depicts a troubled mother-daughter relationship set in the the Soviet-ruled Baltics between 19. Banished to a village in the Latvian countryside, her sense of isolation increases.

She is deprived first of her professional future, then of her identity and finally of her relationship with her daughter. The central character in the story tries to follow her calling as a doctor.

This novel considers the effects of Soviet rule on a single individual. The literary bestseller that took the Baltics by storm now published for the first time in English.

Nora ikstena soviet milk