Jurga Ivanauskaitė

Vilnius (Lithuania) 14-11-1961 ‖ Vilnius (Lithuania) 17-02-2007

Period of activity: From 1982 until 2007

Geographical classification: Europe > Lithuania

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period

Groups by dedication

Writers

Writers > Essayists

Writers > Poets

Context of feminine creation

Jurga Ivanauskaitė was inspired by the painter Frida Kahlo. There was a similar fate because both were seriously ill and died of the disease. They can be compared to the closeness of a particular creative style, both surrealists and modernists.

She was also a traveller. Travelling through India and Tibet inspired her to take a different creative path. She was actively fighting for a free Tibet.

Other Lithuanian women writers of the same period who write about similar topics are Renata Šerelytė, Vanda Juknaitė and Jolita Skablauskaitė.

Review

Jurga Ivanauskaite was not only a traveller or writer but also a very dedicated activist, not only travelling and presenting Tibet and its culture to Lithuanian readers but also organizing exhibitions of Tibetan photographs, protests to liberate Tibet, protests against the genocide in Tibet, pickets at the Chinese Embassy in Lithuania. The writer received the pain and injustice of other people, cultures and countries incredibly sensitively and personally and taught people in Lithuania compassion, tolerance and fighting for their beliefs.

Justifications

She was a feminist. In her books, she talks a lot about gender equality.
One of the most famous writers in Lithuania.
Also, she is well known in the world as a writer.
She met with Dalai Lama and wrote a trilogy about Tibet in one of the books. Dalai Lama wrote the preface.

Biography

She was born in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union. While studying at the Vilnius Art Academy, she wrote her first book, The Year of the Lilies of the Valley, published in 1985. She subsequently published six novels, a children's book and a book of essays. Her works have been translated into several languages, including English, Latvian, Polish, Russian, German, and Swedish.

After she visited the Far East, she became an active supporter of the Tibet liberation movement.

She died from soft tissue sarcoma in Vilnius at 45 and is interred in the Antakalnis Cemetery.

Works

Mėnulio vaikai (1988)
Ragana ir lietus (Witch and rain) (1993)
Placebas (Placebo) (2003)
Miegančių drugelių tvirtovė (Sleeping Butterfly Fortress). (2005)
Tibeto mandala (Tibet mandala - trylogy) (2006)

Bibliography

Ramina Jonykaitė, Jurga rašė jauniems, amžinai jauniems, 2021, bernardinai.lt (https://www.bernardinai.lt/jurga-ivanauskaite-rase-jauniems-amzinai-jauniems/)

Didactic approach

Lithuanian Literature.