Ilze Šķipsna

Following the end of the Second World War, the Latvian refugee author Ilze Šķipsna (married: Rothrock, 1928–1981) ended up in Germany, where her first literary work was published. Šķipsna was educated in Germany and the United States, receiving Masters degrees 
in library sciences and anthropology. She spent the majority of her life in Texas in the United States. Her friends and contemporaries have written about how she always felt very close to the Latvian people as well as Latvian literature and language. Šķipsna spoke seven languages and published a small amount in English, but the majority of her literary work was in Latvian. She published two essay collections and two novels, and, following the publication of her first book, Šķipsna was already being described as a gifted young storyteller and the author of the first modern Latvian novel. She was drawn to themes relating to philosophy, psychology, and the existential problems inherent to the human condition. Her works can be seen as her attempt to find answers to the large and timeless questions in life, focusing on the problems associated with individuality, national identity, global interconnection, and meaning.

Vidējā īstenība [Middle Truth] (1974)
Neapsolītās zemes [Unpromised Lands] (1970)
Aiz septītā tilta [Beyond the Seventh Bridge] (1965)
Vēja stabules [Wind Pipes] (1961)

Collected works
Puse patiesības un citi stāsti [Half the Truth and Other Stories] (2019)
Stāsti [Stories] (2004)
Laika kavēklis [Timepass] (1995)

Saying goodbye to Ilze Šķipsna // Jaunā Gaita, nr. 134, 1981 [LV]

Zanda Gūtmane, Starp dzīvošanas īstenībām un mākoņu gubām, review of the collection of stories // Online magazine Punctum, 2019 [LV]

1963, Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš Award for Wind Pipes