Sudrabkaln, Ianis

(Jānis Śudrabkalns, pen name of Arvīd Sudrabkalns; until 1925, Arvrd Peine). Born May 5 (17), 1894, in Incukalns, now in Riga Raion; died Sept. 4, 1975, in Riga. Soviet Latvian poet. People’s poet of Latvia (1947). Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR (1973). Hero of Socialist Labor (1974). Member of the CPSU from 1951.

Sudrabkaln fought in World War I (1914–18). He had begun publishing in 1909. His collection The Winged Armada (1920) celebrated the brotherhood of man and future freedom. The collections Changes (1923) and Lantern in the Wind (1931) were marked by emotional and intellectual intensity and by virtuosity of form. Under the pen name of Olivereto, Sudrabkaln published collections of humorous and satirical poems, including Troubadour on a Donkey (1921) and The Gentleman in the Lilac Tailcoat (1924).

In Soviet Latvia, Sudrabkaln extolled the brotherhood of peoples and became a patriot of the Soviet motherland. New facets of his talent were revealed in the collections In a Fraternal Family (1947; State Prize of the USSR, 1948) and Yet Another Spring (1964; State Prize of the Latvian SSR, 1965) and in his books of short lyrics The Swallows Are Returning (1951) and Spring Meditations (1964). Sudrabkaln’s topical writings, such as the collection of essays The Roll Call of the Banners (1950), focused on the peace movement. His works have been translated into many languages.

Sudrabkaln was a deputy to the seventh and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia. He was awarded three Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and several medals.