Latvian, also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 1.3 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Altogether, 2 million, or 80% of the population of Latvia, speak Latvian. Of those, around 1.16 million or 62% of Latvia's population use it as their primary language at home, however excluding the Latgale Region it is spoken as a native language in villages and towns by over 90% of the population.
Tatjana Ždanoka or Tatyana Zhdanok is a Latvian politician and a Member of the European Parliament. She is co-chairwoman of the Latvian Russian Union and its predecessor parties since 1993.
In Latvia, Russians have been the largest ethnic minority in the country for the last two centuries. The number of Russians in Latvia more than quadrupled during the Soviet occupation of Latvia when the size of the community grew from 8.8% of the total population in 1935 (206,499) to 34.0% in 1989 (905,515). It started to decrease in size again after Latvia regained independence in 1991 falling to 25.2% at the beginning of 2018.
Aleksandrs Čaks, was a Latvian poet and writer. Čaks is arguably the first Latvian writer whose works are distinctly urban, compared to the usual depictions of country life or small villages in earlier Latvian literature.
Lithuanian literature concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history.
Vizma Belševica was a Latvian poet, writer and translator. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Latvian literature began in a significant way in the 19th century.
Lāčplēsis Day is a memorial day for soldiers who fought for the independence of Latvia. It is celebrated on November 11th, marking the decisive victory by the Latvian Army over the West Russian Volunteer Army – a joint Russian-German volunteer force led by the warlord Pavel Bermondt-Avalov – at the 1919 Battle of Riga during the Latvian War of Independence, thus safeguarding the independence of the nascent nation. It initially was a day of honoring the 743 soldiers that fell in the battles around the Riga area.
Zenta Mauriņa was a Latvian writer, essayist, translator, and researcher in philology. She was married to the Electronic Voice Phenomena researcher Konstantin Raudive.
Articles 4 and 114 of the Constitution of Latvia form the foundation for language policy in Latvia, declaring Latvian to be the official state language and affirming the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve and develop their languages. Livonian language is recognized as "the language of the indigenous (autochthon) population" in the Official Language Law, but Latgalian written language is protected as "a historic variant of Latvian." All other languages are considered foreign by the Law on State Language. Latvia provides national minority education programmes in Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Estonian, Lithuanian, and Belarusian.
Māra Zālīte is a Latvian writer and cultural worker.
Anatoly Ignatovich Pristavkin was a Russian writer and public figure.
Nils Ušakovs is a Latvian Russian politician, former mayor of Riga and former journalist. He has been the board chairman of the left-wing party alliance Harmony Centre (2005–2014) and afterwards board chairman of the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (2014–2019). In 2009 Ušakovs was elected the Mayor of Riga, becoming the first Riga Mayor of Russian descent since Latvia's restoration of sovereignty in 1991, a position he continuously held until his dismissal in 2019.
The Social Democratic Party "Harmony", also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It was the largest political party in the Saeima, representing the Russian minority of Latvia, before losing all of its parliamentary seats in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election, and it is currently led by Jānis Urbanovičs.
Jukka Rislakki is a Finnish journalist, non-fiction writer, and political cartoonist who has published a number of books, mostly on recent history of Finland, the Baltic states, and books on intelligence activities.
Kristina Sabaliauskaitė is an art historian, doctor honoris causa of Vilnius Academy of Arts and one of the most prominent contemporary Lithuanian writers. Born in Vilnius, she has been based in London since 2002. She worked as a foreign correspondent in London and columnist for Lithuania's biggest daily newspaper until 2010.
Andra Neiburga was a Latvian writer and translator who was best known for her short stories.
Doom 94 is a semi-biographical novel by Latvian writer Jānis Joņevs about the generation living in Jelgava, Latvia in the 1990s that searches for their own identity and are fans of alternative culture. This is his debut novel. Since 2016, this book has been translated into 10 languages and a movie was released in September 2019.
Inga Gaile is a Latvian poet, novelist, and playwright.
Raimonds Tiguls is a Latvian ambient and electronic musician, composer, and producer.
