Juoz Tumos-Vaižgants prize – to literary scholar Gitana Vanagaite | Culture

The Lithuanian Writers’ Union, the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union and the National Association of Creative Journalists, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Lithuanian Writers’ and Journalists’ Union, established the annual Juoz Tumos-Vaižgant Prize. in 2024 Anykščiai district municipality became the co-founder of this award.

Gitana Vanagaitė is a Doctor of Humanities, a senior researcher at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, head of the Department of Modern Literature, as well as an associate professor at the Department of Lithuanian Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Vytautas Magnus University.

For many years now, she has been devoting herself to the life and work of the well-known local resident Juozas Tumos-Vaižgant. Her articles on the research of Vaižgant’s work have been published in scientific publications, cultural or professional press, she has discussed the reception of Vaižgant in school programs, so the addressee of her works is diverse, and the circle of readers is really wide.

Vaizgant’s person is a unique opportunity to see up close the daily efforts to create oneself and one’s own grammar of life.

Researcher of J. Tumos-Vaižgant’s work dr. G. Vanagaitė has emphasized in more than one interview: “On the one hand, we are light years apart from Vaižgant’s attitude and his conscious, purposeful and willful life choices. On the other hand, the life of a modern person simply must be shaped, guided, he must constantly choose and make decisions at every moment, make one or another demands for himself. So, if we look at our lives from the perspective of constant creation and construction, the person of Vaižgant is a unique opportunity to see up close the daily efforts to create oneself and one’s own grammar of life. Not only. I think that the fundamental aspect of Vaižgant’s life is renunciation, life after giving up certain things, repressing certain experiences that a priest should not talk about. But that refusal is not crushing, it is opening, positive, although very difficult, sometimes tragically difficult.”

The Vaižgant Prize is awarded to a Lithuanian writer or journalist for revealing the synthesis of literature and journalism (documentary prose or literary journalism), for fostering Vaižgant ideas and values ​​in their work and their expression in literary and journalistic work and/or for researching the personality and work of J. Tumos-Vaižgant, evaluating the work of the past two calendar years.

Egidijus Aleksandravičius, Vytautas Bagdon, Viktorija Daujotytė-Pakerienė, Gintautas Iešmantas, Liudvikas Jakimavičius, Loreta Jastramskienė, Aistė Kučinskienė, Juozas Kundrotas, Justinas Marcinkevičius, Alfs Pakėnas, Jurgita Žana Raškevičiūtė, Kazys Saja, Julius Sasnauskas, Laimonas Tapinas and others have become prize winners. .

The Vaižgant Prize is awarded to a Lithuanian writer or journalist for revealing the synthesis of literature and journalism, for fostering Vaižgant ideas and values ​​in their work.

Gitana Vanagaitė’s candidacy was proposed by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. This year, the following were also nominated for the prize: Laimonas Inis (book “Aštuoni Kuršmarių vėjai: Mažoji Lietuva. Interpretations”), Aldona Dudonytė-Širvinskienė (novel “Išdavystė”), Povilas Sigitas Krivickas (book “Smiles and Screams”), Henrikas Giedrius Vaitiekūnas (Felcher’s Notes: Health Tips, Mind Exercises, and Life Reflections).

September 14 1 p.m. In Vaižgant’s native village of Maleišiai (Anykščiai district, Svėdasų sen.), the laureate will be presented with a diploma, a medal and a bonus of 1,300 euros.