Baltic | Writing and Translation under the Shadow of War: Poetry Today in Lithuania and Ukraine with Marius Burokas

Marius Burokas (b. 1977), poet and translator, has studied Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University. He is a freelance writer, translator and also writes for culture newspapers and magazines. 2016-2023 he was an editor-in-chief of online magazine of Lithuanian literature in English “Vilnius review” ( (www.vilniusreview.com). Marius made his debut with the poetry collection Ideograms (Ideogramos) in 1999. His second book of poetry, States of Being (Būsenos), appeared in 2005. His third book – I‘ve Learned Not To Be (Išmokau nebūti) was published in 2011. His third book was awarded “The Young Yotvingian prize” as a best young poet’s book, published in two years. His fourth poetry book of clean life (švaraus buvimo) was published in April 2018 and was awarded Poetry Spring-Maironis prize for the best poetry book. His fifth poetry book The Seismograph („Seismografas“) was published in 2025 and was awarded Lithuanian Writers Union prize for the best book of the year. His selected poetry book in English “Now I Understand” was published by “Parthian Books” in 2018. His poetry book in Ukrainian „Найменші речі“ was also published in 2018. His selected poetry book „Tu miezkal Jonasz“ was published in Poland in 2021. He is a compiler and editor in chief of Lithuanian contemporary poetry anthology How the Earth Carries Us – New Lithuanian Poets (published by Lithuanian Culture Institute). His poetry has been translated into Polish, Latvian, Finnish, Swedish, Slovenian, English, German, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Georgian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Chinese. Some of his poetry is also published in “New European Poets” anthology (“Greywolf Press”, 2008), “Washington Review”, “Saint-Petersburg Review”, etc. Marius also translate poetry and prose from English, Ukrainian and Belarusian. In 2001 he participated in International Writing Program in Iowa. Marius is a Lithuanian Writers’ Union member since 2007, the member of Lithuanian Association of Literary Translators since 2013 and the member of Lithuanian PEN since 2023. He is one of the employees and volunteers of the Lithuanian Writers' Union Literary Fund - the fund helps Ukrainian soldiers with vehicles, tactical medical supplies and equipment. He lives in Vilnius.