Photo by Laura Vansevičienė

Marius Ivaškevičius is an author, playwright, film screenwriter and director. Undoubtedly, he is one of the best contemporary Lithuanian playwrights, and shot to fame with his plays “Madagascar” and “Expulsion”. At the beginning of his writing career he was famous as a remaker of myths and a deconstructor of history. Ivaškevičius was awarded the The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore prize in 2004; he was awarded the The Order for Merits to Lithuania in 2014; and in 2018 he received the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts.

      Žali (The Men in Green). Vilnius: Tyto alba, 2002. – 327 p. English sample translation available

The novel Žali (The Men in Green), based on historical facts about the Lithuanian guerilla fighting, became a true sensation. The book depicts a still painful postwar time: in 1944, after the Soviet Union had occupied the country, the Lithuanian guerilla groups working underground hoped to regain independence with the help of foreign military powers. The protagonist, guerilla leader Jonas Žemaitis, is a real historical figure. The novel elicited a divided response due to Žemaitis’s depiction as a conflicted figure, torn between good and evil in the postwar chaos. The style of the novel is also unusual, verging on the aesthetics of the absurd.

Selected translations

Latvian: Tomass Mūrs. Translated by Dace Meiere. Rīga: Jāņa Rozes apgāds, 2024

German: Die Grünen. Translated by Markus Roduner. Oberhausen: Athena Verlag, 2012

Italian: Madagascar. Translated by Toma Gudelytė, Stefano Moretti. Corazzano (Pisa): Titivillus, 2012

Contact for rights: auguste@tytoalba.lt

Contact for samples & other inquiries: kotryna.pranckunaite@lithuanianculture.lt