The legendary writer Vytautė Žilinskaitė died Culture

Vytautė Žilinskaitė was born in Kaunas in 1930, but since the age of eight she lived with her family in Vilnius.

in 1950 she graduated from Vilnius Salomejos Nėries High School and entered Vilnius University, where she studied journalism. After his studies, he worked in the editorial office of the popular magazine “Jaunimo gretos”.

In 1961, he published his first collection of poems “Don’t stop for an hour”, later he wrote prose, satirical and humorous short stories, in which he wittily criticized spiritual primitiveness and negative social phenomena. Her biting humor and satires have become classics of our literature.

Ecology, politics, social sensitivity, love, friendship – these are the most important themes found in her works. Her texts are characterized by irony, striking contrasts, paradoxes, hyperboles, and mythical motifs.

Meanwhile, in children’s literature, V. Žilinskaitė did not limit herself to one genre, she wrote short stories, literary tales, poems and plays.

“My highest aspiration is to interweave laughter with tears… What might be more wonderful when a child laughs and there are still tears in his eyes?” – said the writer.

In 1963, she became a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union, and from 1966 dedicated exclusively to creative work.

“The author’s exceptional attention to words, careful selection of them, demand for an artistic sound, creation of inventive novelties that later caught on in the colloquial language – all these skills, self-imposed demands might and should be learned from V. Žilinskaitė by modern writers, especially those writing for children”, – regarding V. Žilinskaitė is claimed by Diana Gancevskaitė, author of books for young people.

The author’s books are published in English, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Estonian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, German, Moldavian, Portuguese and other languages.

Among the most famous books of V. Žilinskaitė are “Journey to Tandadrika”, “Robot and the Butterfly”, “Castle of Liars”. These works were included in the symbolic list of the hundred best Lithuanian children’s books.

When asked in one interview whether it was difficult to write satire in the Soviet era, V. Žilinskaitė said that it was easy to write, but it was more than difficult to print something sharp.

“No matter how strange, I was saved by the insurer itself – Moscow. The so-called all-Union humor and satire magazine “Krokodilas” began to print my humoresques, even awarded a couple of times. And they were translated and reprinted from Russian by foreign publications, even the annual humor and satire magazine “A’Propos” of the nations of the world. Two of my short stories were printed on the first pages of the first issue: “Sisyphus and the guards”, “Sisyphus and the woman”, said V. Žilinskaitė.

The writer has received many prizes and honorable awards for her work.

Vytautė Žilinskaitė even won three prizes of the Lithuanian branch of the International Association of Children and Youth Literature (IBBY) (1996, 2001, 2007), the Šarūnas Marčiulionis prize for the best children’s book
literary work (1997, 2001).

in 2005 she was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania, and in 2007 Children’s Literature Prize of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania. J

Her short story “Kintas” in 2008. was included in the list of honor of the International Association of Literature for Children and Youth (IBBY).

In 2022, she was awarded the Lithuanian Writers’ Union Centenary Prize.

The leaders of the country also expressed their condolences on the death of V. Žilinskaitė.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said that V. Žilinskaitė touched on many sensitive issues in her writing, encouraged to look at important matters from a different angle and “wittfully revealed the spiritual primitiveness of people, the contradictions of modern civilization and other complex topics”.

“More than one generation grew up reading her texts, from which we still draw wisdom today,” writes the Prime Minister in her condolences.

According to the Speaker of the Seimas, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, many generations of Lithuanians grew up accompanied by her work for children.

“It is a great loss for our culture. She left a talented poet, a creator of witty, sharp and accurate humorous literature,” she said.

According to the Minister of Culture Simon Kairis, V. Žilinskaitė was a perceptive and principled creator, and her texts left a deep mark on Lithuanian literature.

“Vytautė Žilinskaitė’s work is full of humor, wisdom and deep humanity, and has been delighting and inspiring readers of all ages for several decades,” reads the minister’s condolences.