Ērika Bērziņa

Ērika Bērziņa was born in Riga, 1977. She holds a BA (1999) and a Master's degree (2001) in Humanities, and has attended doctoral studies in Philology at the University of Latvia. She is a mother of three, and works as the chief editor of the family and parenting magazine “Mans Mazais”, as well as of the children’s magazine “Pūcīte”. Her poems have been published in various periodicals and outlets since 2001. Bērziņa's first collection of poems Ziemeļu lapsa [Northern Fox] was published in 2006. She has been involved in organizing untraditional interdisciplinary events and creating various art and literature projects, and has participated in numerous poetry readings and international poetry festivals. Since 2004, she organizes the Poetry Days event “Ceļojums ar dzejniekiem” (A Journey with Poets). Since 2014, her works are featured in the annual children's poetry selection Garā Pupa [The Tall Beanstalk]. Ērika Bērziņa's poetry in English was published in the anthology “Bridges” (2007), a story for children appeared in “The Horse” (2017) – a publishers’ catalogue of Latvian illustrators and authors children's literature authors. In 2020, her collection of poems for children titled “Mammas dzejoļi” [Mother's Poems] was published and was nominated for the Latvian Literature Award 2021 and Jānis Baltvilks Prize. In 2023, her second collection of poems for adults, "Ardievas bohēmai" [Bohemian Farewell] was published. She has been a member of the expert commission for the Latvian Literature Award. Since 2018, she has been actively involved in the Poetry Days Council.