Tauno Vahter

Tauno Vahter was born on February 18, 1978, in Tallinn, Estonia. He studied public administration at the University of Tartu and has worked at the publishing house Tänapäev since 1999, becoming its director in 2008. Alongside his career in publishing, he is a writer, screenwriter and translator.

Vahter started by publishing short stories in literary magazines before releasing his debut collection Pikaajaline kokkusaamine (2020), which was nominated for the Betti-Alver-Debütpreis. His work, often set in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia, blends historical depth with sharp yet subtle humor. In 2021, he received the Friedebert-Tuglas Short Story Award, followed by the Eduard Vilde Prize in 2022.

As a translator, Vahter has brought works by Finnish and English-language authors into Estonian, including Sofi Oksanen, Arto Paasilinna, and history books.

He works also as a screenwriter and editor for several television programmes, amongst others series on history of Estonia, interviews with authors and a quiz show on classical music. 

His novel Madis Jeffersoni 11 põgenemist (2021) has been translated into German as Die 11 Fluchten des Madis Jefferson (Residenz Verlag, 2024, translated by Maximilian Murmann). The novel, based on real events, follows the life of Madis Jefferson, a man who cannot bear to stay in one place—least of all in a totalitarian state. His relentless attempts to escape Soviet Estonia lead to both comic and tragic adventures, taking him across Europe and even to the United States, while repeatedly landing him in Soviet prison camps. With wit and an eye for the absurd, Vahter’s novel explores freedom, defiance, and the lengths to which society goes to suppress those who refuse to conform.