Eugenijus Ališanka Lithuania

Eugenijus Ališanka (b. 1960 in Barnaul, Russia) is a poet, essayist and translator. Following his graduation from Vilnius University with a degree in mathematics, he worked for the Culture and Art Institute of Lithuania and then, from 1994-2002, as a director of international programmes in the Lithuanian Writers' Union and a director of an international poetry festival 'Spring of Poetry'. Since 2003 he has been working as editor-in-chief of the magazine Vilnius, published in English as The Vilnius Review. Ališanka is a member of the Lithuanian Writers' Union's Board and of PEN.

He has published five books of poetry and two collections of essays. In 1992, Equinox (1991) won the Zigmas Gele Award. The Return of Dionysus (2001) received the Lithuanian Minstry of Culture Award.

Ališanka has translated poetry by Zbigniew Herbert, Wislawa Szymborska, Carolyn Forshe, Dannie Abse, Bernardine Evaristo, Jerome Rothenberg, Desmond Egan, Ales Debeljak, Marcin Swietlicki, Jacek Podsiadlo, Michael Schmidt, Pascale Petit, John Freeman and others. He has also received a 'Spring of Poetry' award for translation of poetry. His work has itself been translated into English, French, Polish, Swedish, Russian, Finnish, German and other languages.

Ališanka lives and works in Vilnius.

(2008)