Lithuanian Writers’ Union awards poet who helps Ukraine

The annual award of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union in 2025 was given to poet, translator, and literary critic Marius Burokas. The award was presented on Jan. 6, 2026, in the grand hall of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union.

Burokas received the award for his poetry collection “Seismografas,” published by Lapas Publishing House in July 2025. The book is the author’s fifth publication and largely consists of poetic prose.

Burokas noted that writing the collection, he thought about the present, the turbulent times; he said he was trying to capture what was happening in the world through poetry.

“This book is about the search for support. In one’s hometown, in loved ones, in poetry. Most of the poems are prose poetry. The majority of them are connected to specific places, and this is a book of poetic geography and psychogeography. Receiving this award is a great honor and joy for me,” Burokas said.

“‘Seismografas’ is brief like an emergency backpack, containing anything one would reach for in a moment of danger. It brings forth images of empty seasons, a neglected Vilnius, and the railway station, while contemplating the powerlessness of literature amid death and the feeling that history is bound to repeat itself. The poetic carpenter and the free-verse potter note that someone is almost always kicking a ball, no matter what is happening. Sympathy for Ukraine is not just words. Burokas is an attentive observer of the front and an indirect participant,” Giedrės Kazlauskaitės, poet and literary critic, said.

The annual award of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union is given for a significant, socially important work published in the last two years. This year, the evaluation committee included previous winners of the award, among them Viktorija Daujotytė, Gintaras Grajauskas, Rimantas Kmita, Mindaugas Nastaravičius, and Tomas Venclova.

Burokas is a Lithuanian poet and translator, a graduate of Vilnius University. His first collection, “Ideogramos,” was published in Vilnius in 1999. The third book, “Izmokau nebūti,” has received several European awards.

Burokas is a member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union and the Lithuanian Literary Translators’ Association. He co-founded and volunteers for the fundraising and support center for Ukrainians operating under the Literary Fund of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union. Since 2016, he has also represented the Lithuanian Writers’ Union on the Council of Baltic Writers.

In September 2025, Burokas was awarded the Lithuanian Paulius Širvis Literary Prize “for poetic courage.”

Earlier, Burokas translated Serhiy Zhadan’s poetry collection “Tarsi žuvį į juodą krantą” (Like a Fish on a Black Shore).

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn