Anna Brigadere

Anna Brigadere (1861–1933) was a Latvian writer, playwright, and poet. Her first story Slimnīcā/At the Hospital was written around 1893, and published in 1896. In 1897, Brigadere turned her focus exclusively to literary work, and her first book Vecā Karlīne/Old Karlina was published. Six years later, her first and most popular play Sprīdītis/The Tale of Sprīdītis was written for the Riga Latvian Theatre director Jēkabs Duburs who staged the play in 1903. In 1985, the story was adapted for cinema, translated in several languages. 1906 – 1907, Brigadere was a language teacher in a girls' pro-gymnasium, later worked for the literary and satirical supplement Skaidiena at the Latvija newspaper. In 1915, Brigadere fled to Moscow where she wrote her poem Spēka dēls/The Son of Might. In 1917, she returned to Latvia and spend most of her summers in the Sprīdīši property, posthumously turned into a museum in her honour. The stories she wrote later in her life, along with some translations, were published in a collection Klusie varoņi/ The Silent Heroes (1933). She spent years between 1926 and 1933, writing her autobiographical trilogy:  Dievs, daba, darbs/God, Nature, Work (1926), Skarbos Vējos/During Wild Winds (1930), and Akmeņu sprostā/In a Stone Trap (1933). This trilogy is seen by critics as the writer's greatest literary contribution, however many of her works and translations are now part of Latvian literary and storytelling classics, and have significantly shaped the contemporary fairy-tale tradition. In 1926, Brigadere was awarded the 3rd class Order of the Three Stars, and Anna Brigadere Prize was re-established in 1986 to celebrate achievements in Latvian literature.

Plays
Karaliene Jāna [Jāna The Queen] (1932)
Pastari [Last] (1932)
Šuvējas sapnis [Tailor's Dream] (1930)
Kad sievas spēkojas [When Wives Wrestle] (1929)
Izredzētais [The Chosen One] (1928)
Sniegputenī [In the blizzard] (1927
Dievišķā seja [Heavenly face] (1926)
Lolitas brīnumputns [Lolita's Magic Bird] (1926)  
Lielais loms [The Big Catch] (1925)  
Sievu kari ar Belcebulu [Wives' War with Balcebuls] (1925) 
Heteras mantojums [Heritage of Hetaira] (1924)  
Ceļa jūtīs [Ready for the road] (1924)  
Maija un Paija [Maija and Paija] (1921)  
Aiz līdzcietības [With Compassion] (1921) 
Ilga (1920) 
Mazā māja [The Little House] (1920) 
Raudupiete (1914) 
Vētras ziedi [Flowers of Storm] (1913) 
Zvanīgs zvārgulīts [Crotal Bell] (1909) 
Pie latviešu miljonāra [At a Latvian Millionaire] (1909) 
Čaukstenes (1907) 
Ausmā [At Dawn] (1907) 
Sprīdītis [Tom Thumb] (1904) 
Atkalredzēšanās [Reunion] (1901) 

Prose
Klusie varoņi [Silent Heroes] (1933)
Akmeņu sprostā [In the Stone Cage] (1933)
Skarbos vējos [In the Harsh Winds] (1931)
Kvēlošā lokā [In a Glowing Arch] (1928) 
Dievs, daba, darbs [God, Nature, Work] (1927)
Ganu diena [Herd Day] (1927)
Zvērests [Oath] (1925)  
Pēdas [Footprint] (1925)  
Drebošas sirdis [Trembling Hearts] (1925) 
Brauciens naktī [Night Ride] (1925) 
Balibulaks (1925) 
Rudens migla [Autumn's Fog] (1924) 
Vīra māte [Mother-in-law] (1923)  
Patversmē [Shelter] (1923) 
Vieglie un citi stāsti [The Lightweight and Other Stories] (1923) 
Mare un citi stāsti [Mare and Other Stories] (1921)  
Lūcija Dunker (1921) 
Pirms pēdējā zvana un citi stāsti [Before the Last Call and Other Stories] (1921) 
Pīpes galviņa un citi stāsti [Pipe-head and Other Stories] (1921) 
Dzelzs dūre [Iron Fist] (1921) 
Spēka dēls [Son of Strength] (1917) 
Princese Gundega un karalis Brusubārda [Princess Gundega and King Busubeard] (1912) 
Agrā rasā [Early Dew] (1911) 
Atmoda [Awakening] (1910) 
Vizbuļi [Anemone] (1906) 
Vecā Karlīne [Old Karlina] (1897) 

Poetry
Kalngali [Peaks] (1934)
Paisums [High Tide] (1921) 
Dzejas [Poetry] (1921) 

Gunita Nagle, Varenais puika Sprīdītis, about Tom Thumb centenary // Diena.lv, 2003 [LV]

Remembering Anna Brigadere // Latvijas Vēstnesis, 2001 [LV]

Atis Rozentāls, Annele nobīstas, viņa iet un vēro, review of God, Nature, Work play // Diena.lv, 2018 [LV]

1932, The Culture Fund Prize for In the Harsh Winds 

1927, The Culture Fund Prize for Lolita's Magic Bird

1926, The Order of the Three Stars

1913, Riga Latvian Society Award