Vilis Lācis (1904–1966) was born in Mangaļi parish in the fishing village of Rīnūži (present-day Vecmīlgrāvis near Rīga). During the First World War, his family was evacuated to the Altai region in Russia, where Lācis finished his studies as a teacher and began work as the secretary of the village council. On returning to the newly-independent Latvia, Lācis tried his hand at several different jobs: fisherman, harbour labourer, stoking a ship’s furnace,
 and working at a library. At the same time, he was focused on his writing and making contacts among Communists. During the 1930s, his writing career was helped by the publisher Emīlija Benjamiņa, who published a serialised version of Lācis’s novel Zvejnieka dēls [The Fisherman’s Son] in the newspaper “Jaunākās Ziņas”. As a result, Lācis became one of the most popular Latvian writers. In 1940–1941, Lācis was amongst those who helped to establish the new Soviet government in Latvia. During the Second World War, he fled to Moscow along with other Soviet activists; on the return of the Soviet occupation he once
 again came to power, serving as the chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities
 of the USSR Supreme Soviet (1950–1958) and the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR (1946–1959).

Due to his political activities (he signed the arrest and deportation orders for many major figures in Latvian society and politics), Lācis’s role in Latvian history is mixed; even tragic. However, due to his captivating Soviet-era novels, he continues to be one of the most popular Latvian writers in Latvia.
 In the 1930s, as much as today, readers enjoyed the exciting adventures,
 the noble qualities of the characters, and the fast-paced and well-designed plots, all of which characterise Lācis’s prose. Following the start of the Soviet occupation, Lācis became declarative. The works of Lācis have been adapted for film and television more than those of any other Latvian author.