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Baiba Bičole

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Baiba E. Bičole (May 1931 – December 24, 2021) was a Latvian-born American poet.

Biography

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Baiba E. Bičole was born in Riga in May 1931,[1][2][3] to Semigallian parents who were both literary critics - her father was a literary historian and her mother a poet and essayist.[1][3] Her family fled the 1944 Soviet invasion of Latvia and emigrated to the US in 1950.[2][3]

Bičole became part of the "Hell's Kitchen artists" school of Latvian exile poets, centered around the New York City area.[1] Her first volume of poetry, Atrita, was published in 1966 and won the fourth biennial Zinaīda Lazda Prize for Poetry in 1967. Her other collections include Ceļos (1969), Burot ("To Cast Spells", 1976), Grie'os ("I Turn", 1981), and Atgriežos ("I Return", 1991).[1][2][3] She also served as associate editor of the Latvian language New York newspaper Laiks ("Time").[2]

Bičole married the Latvian artist Ilmārs Rumpēters and they had three children, Arvils, Artis, and Rita.[1][4] Arvils Rumpēters was also a poet and died in 2000.[5] Bičole died at her apartment in Rockville, Maryland on December 24, 2021, at the age of 90.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Ivask, Astrid (Spring 1970). ""My Age-Old, Hidden Voice": The Poetry of Baiba Bičole". Lituanus. 16 (1). ISSN 0024-5089. Archived from the original on 2019-08-06. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  2. ^ a b c d Cummins, Walter M. (1993-01-01). Shifting Borders: East European Poetries of the Eighties. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. ISBN 9780838634974.
  3. ^ a b c d Wilson, Katharina M. (1991-01-01). An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780824085476.
  4. ^ "Latgales Centrālās bibliotēkas filiāle - Pārdaugavas bibliotēka uzsāk darbu jaunajās telpās - Daugavpils novadnieki - Latgales Centrālā bibliotēka". www.lcb.lv. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  5. ^ Bičole, Baiba; Rumpēters, Arvils (June 2008). "Poetry". Jaunā Gaita (253).
  6. ^ "Baiba E Rumpeters". Legacy. Retrieved 25 December 2023.