Ruta Štelmahere

Ruta Štelmahere (1965) was born in Jelgava, Latvia. Since 1998, she lives in Jēkabpils – a town cut in two by a river. Water is present both in Ruta's poetry, and her paintings. She graduated from the Form Textile department of the Riga School of Design and Art, and later from the Fine Arts department at the Art Academy of Latvia. Since her childhood, Štelmahere has been interested in literature and fine arts. Ruta has had 12 solo exhibitions, she is a frequent member of collective art projects, and is a director of an art studio and works for Jēkabpils Art School. Her paintings are owned by private collections in various countries around the world. Ruta Štelmahere's works have been published in a number of Latvian literary magazines, she is the author of three books of poems. Her 2011 book “Klēpis” (“Lap”, published by “Mansards”) earned her the Annual Latvian Literature Award. Her collection “Krekls” (“Shirt”, 2016) was nominated for the Annual Literature Award. Many of her poems have been translated and published in Russian, Spanish and English.