Marius Ivaškevičius
The Lithuanian writer, playwright, and director Marius Ivaškevičius, born in 1973, studied Lithuanian literature at Vilnius University. Today, he is considered one of the most important voices in contemporary European literature and theatre. He has written four novels and more than a dozen plays, which have been staged across Europe and beyond. His works have been directed by renowned figures such as Kirill Serebrennikov, Rimas Tuminas, Oskaras Korshunovas, Mindaugas Karbauskis, and Árpád Schilling.
In addition to his literary work, Ivaškevičius is also active as a screenwriter and film director. He has made several documentaries and short films, as well as one feature film, and regularly publishes essays in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He lives and works in Vilnius.
His literary debut came in 1996 with the short story collection Für wen Kinder (Kam vaikų). His first novel, Geschichte aus der Wolke (Istorija nuo debesies), appeared in 1998 and was translated into Polish in 2001. The novel Die Grünen (Žali, 2002) was published in German in 2013 (translated by Markus Roduner), while Thomas Moore (Tomas Mūras, 2022) appeared in Latvian in 2023. Most recently, in 2024, he published Vertreibung. Londoner Nadel (Išvarymas. Londono Adata).
Among his best-known plays are Der Nachbar (1998), Malysh (2001), and Madagaskar (2003), which was translated into Italian in 2012 and received several awards in Lithuania. Nahstadt (2005), Mistras (2010), and Vertreibung (2011) were staged in major European cities—Vertreibung was named “Play of the Year” in both Lithuania and Estonia and was nominated for Russia’s Golden Mask Award. Other major works include Kant (2013), Masara (2015), Russische Romanze (2016)—which won the Golden Mask in Russia as Best Play—Schläfer (2021), and Die Morgenröte der Götter (2022), which received the Eurodram Prize in 2024 as the best play translated into German. His most recent stage work, Totalitäre Romanze, premiered in Tallinn in 2024.
Ivaškevičius has received numerous national and international awards for both his prose and drama. In addition to his artistic work, he curates theatre festivals in Narva (Estonia) and Oslo (Norway).