Sven Kuzmins (1985) is a Latvian writer, artist and actor. He mainly writes prose fiction, critical articles, and journalism, but also experiments with various forms of visual arts and literature. He is actively involved in other media projects, and is know to the wider public as one of the initiators and authors behind the NERTEN sketch theatre project. Pilsētas šamaņi / Urban Shamans (Dienas Grāmata, 2016) is Kuzmins' first collection of stories, complimented by his own graphic drawings. Recently the author published his first novel Hohma / Hokhmah (Dienas Grāmata, 2019), a story of a little Latvian town and its inhabitants. His works have been translated into English, Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Spanish and published in various printed and online platforms.
Dizažio [Disagio]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2021.
Hohma [Hokhmah]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2019.
Pilsētas Šamaņi [Urban Shamans]. Riga: Dienas Grāmata, 2016.
Books to fall for
Urban Shamans
Urban Shamans (Pilsētas šamaņi)
Urban Shamans (2016) is Kuzmins’ first collection of short stories. It is a collection of interconnected stories where subtle mystical experiences find their way into everyday urban life. Separate plots seamlessly intertwine, creating a twisted and magical picture of the modern world. In spite of their surreal settings, the stories remain grounded in our reality, with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humor. The book is designed and illustrated with a suitably bizarre visual aesthetic by the author himself. In 2016, Urban Shamans won the Ventspils Silver Quill Award and was nominated for both the Liepāja Egona Līva Literary Prize and the 2017 Annual Latvian Literature Award.
Contact: Dace Sparāne-Freimane, dace.sparane-freimane@dgramata.lv
UrbanShamans_by_S.Kuzmins.pdf
Title
:Urban Shamans
Title*
:Pilsētas šamaņi
Authors
:Genre
:Short-stories
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:168
Year
:2016
Foreign rights
:All languages available
Hokhmah
Hokhmah (Hohma)
Kuzmins’ first novel unfolds in Hokhmah, a small, quiet coastal resort town in western Latvia. Hokhmah’s seemingly calm day-to-day life, history, and mythology intertwine with the life stories of its residents, revealing their inner conflicts, complex relationships, and long-held secrets. Hokhmah’s stories are comical, tragic and at times surreal, though they are bound together by a conflict known to anyone who grew up in the countryside: a longing for one’s hometown and a simultaneous wish to break off any connections with it forever, regardless of whether or not that is actually possible.
Contact: Sven Kuzmins, sven.kuzmins@gmail.com
Hokhmah_by_S.Kuzmins.pdf
Title
:Hokhmah
Title*
:Hohma
Authors
:Genre
:Fiction
Publisher
:Dienas Grāmata
Pages
:216
Year
:2019
Foreign rights
:All languages available
Svens Kuzmins: Art is a conversation that is not limited by space and time // Przeglad Baltycki, November 2022 [PL]
About Disagio // Online magazine Satori, 2021 [LV]
About Hokhmah // Online magazine Satori, 2019 [LV]
Interview with Sven Kuzmins // Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji, 2019 [LV]
Santa Lauga, Zigfrīds Muktupāvels, interview with Sven Kuzmins // Kultūras Rondo, Radio LR1, 2016 [LV]
Interview about Urban Shamans // Radio NABA, literary segment Bron-Hīts, 2016 [LV]
Video conversation with Sven Kuzmins // Online magazine Satori, 2014 [LV]
Reviews
Svens Kuzmins. Chochma // Wydawnictwo Marpress, December 2022 [PL]
Katarzyna Denisiuk. Svens Kuzmins. Chocma // Naczytniku, November 2022 [PL]
Aivars Madris, Bieži uzdotie jautājumi par Hohmu, review of Hokhmah // Online magazine Satori, 2019 [LV]
Bārbala Simsone, Kuzmina kabala, review of Hokhmah // Diena.lv, 2019 [LV]
Guntis Berelis, Par pakārto Ļeņinu, veco žīdu viedumu un citām sakarīgām hohmām, review of Hokhmah // Online magazine Punctum, 2019 [LV]
West Camel, review of The Book of Riga // European Literature Network, 2018 [EN]
Bārbala Simsone, Piena un Heses kokteilis, review of Urban Shamans // Diena.lv, 2016 [LV]
Aivars Eipurs, Apziņas inženieri, review of Sven Kuzmin's Urban Shamans and Pauls Bankovskis' Mad Old Men // LA.lv, 2016 [LV]
Ieva Melgalve, Pārdomātā iracionalitāte, review of Urban Shamans // Online magazine Satori, 2016 [LV]
Guntis Berelis, Svena Kuzmina prozas recepte, review of Urban Shamans // Online magazine Punctum, 2016 [LV]
Pauls Bankovskis about Urban Shamans // Dienas Grāmata publishing homepage [LV]
2022, the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Disagio
2021, shortlisted for European Union Prize for Literature for Hokhmah
2017, shortlisted for the Annual Latvian Literature Award for Urban Shamans
2016, Silver Ink-Pot, awarded by the International Writers' and Translators' House for Urban Shamans
2014, Prose Readings festival award for his story Zbigņevs un dēli/ Zbignev and Sons
Chochma
Chochma (Hohma)
Title
: ChochmaTitle*
: HohmaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Polish
Publisher
:Marpress
Pages
:Year
:2022
Copyrights
:the author
Synopsis
:Kuzmins’ first novel unfolds in Hokhmah, a small, quiet coastal resort town in western Latvia.
Hohma
Hohma (Hohma)
Title
: HohmaTitle*
: HohmaAuthors
:Translated by
:Genre
:Fiction
Language
:Slovenian
Publisher
:Litera
Pages
:201
Year
:2022
Copyrights
:the author
Synopsis
:Kuzmins’ first novel unfolds in Hokhmah, a small, quiet coastal resort town in western Latvia.
The Book of Riga
The Book of Riga (Prozas antoloģija)
Title
: The Book of RigaTitle*
: Prozas antoloģijaAuthors
: , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
: , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:Comma Press, UK
Pages
:128
Year
:2018
Copyrights
:The authors, the translators, the publisher;
Synopsis
:As its history might suggest, Riga is a work in progress; and for many of the characters in these stories, it is the possibilities of what the city might become, more than merely what it is now, that drives the imagination of its people.
Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosat
Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosat (Latviešu stāsti)
Title
: Läti jutud. Valik 2000. aastate läti lühiproosatTitle*
: Latviešu stāstiAuthors
: , , , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Estonian
Publisher
:Libri Livoniae, Estonia
Pages
:155
Year
:2018
Copyrights
:The publisher, the translator
Synopsis
:Short stories of ten Latvian writers
Foreign Literature and Art
Foreign Literature and Art (Ārzemju literatūra un māksla)
Title
: Foreign Literature and ArtTitle*
: Ārzemju literatūra un mākslaAuthors
: , , , , , , ,Translated by
:Genre
:Anthology
Language
:Chinese
Publisher
:Shanghai Translation Publishing house
Pages
:164
Year
:2018
No More Amber
No More Amber ()
Title
: No More AmberTitle*
:Authors
: , , , , ,Genre
:Anthology
Language
:English
Publisher
:Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla
Pages
:85
Year
:2021
Copyrights
:Author
Synopsis
:The baltic literary review 1
