• Singing Revolution: The Musical
  • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
  • EstoRaiser 2021
  • EV 103 Celebration 2021
  • PBS Series
  • About
    • Members & Board
    • History
    • Become a Council Member
    • Why I Joined
  • Work
    • Your Gifts At Work
    • Partnerships
    • Awards
    • Apply for Support
  • Community
    • Find Local Community
    • Consular Resources
    • Worldwide Organizations
    • Book: Estonians In America
  • Advocacy
  • Heritage
    • Learn Estonian
    • Resources
    • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
    • Youth
    • – Scholarship
    • – Opportunities in Estonia
    • – Camp in Estonia for Youth & Families Abroad
    • Visit Estonia
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Washington Update
    • Newspapers & Media
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Contact
    • Support
      • Donate
      • Donors
      • Become a Legacy Society Member
  • ELECTION
  • UKRAINE
DONATE
  • About
    • Members & Board
    • History
    • Become a Council Member
    • Why I Joined
  • Work
    • Your Gifts At Work
    • Partnerships
    • Awards
    • Apply for Support
  • Community
    • Find Local Community
    • Consular Resources
    • Worldwide Organizations
    • Book: Estonians In America
  • Advocacy
  • Heritage
    • Learn Estonian
    • Resources
    • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
    • Youth
    • – Scholarship
    • – Opportunities in Estonia
    • – Camp in Estonia for Youth & Families Abroad
    • Visit Estonia
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Washington Update
    • Newspapers & Media
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Contact
    • Support
      • Donate
      • Donors
      • Become a Legacy Society Member
  • ELECTION
  • UKRAINE
DONATE
  • About
    • Members & Board
    • History
    • Become a Council Member
    • Why I Joined
  • Work
    • Your Gifts At Work
    • Partnerships
    • Awards
    • Apply for Support
  • Community
    • Find Local Community
    • Consular Resources
    • Worldwide Organizations
    • Book: Estonians In America
  • Advocacy
  • Heritage
    • Learn Estonian
    • Resources
    • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
    • Youth
    • – Scholarship
    • – Opportunities in Estonia
    • – Camp in Estonia for Youth & Families Abroad
    • Visit Estonia
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Washington Update
    • Newspapers & Media
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Contact
    • Support
      • Donate
      • Donors
      • Become a Legacy Society Member
  • ELECTION
  • UKRAINE
DONATE
  • About
    • Members & Board
    • History
    • Become a Council Member
    • Why I Joined
  • Work
    • Your Gifts At Work
    • Partnerships
    • Awards
    • Apply for Support
  • Community
    • Find Local Community
    • Consular Resources
    • Worldwide Organizations
    • Book: Estonians In America
  • Advocacy
  • Heritage
    • Learn Estonian
    • Resources
    • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
    • Youth
    • – Scholarship
    • – Opportunities in Estonia
    • – Camp in Estonia for Youth & Families Abroad
    • Visit Estonia
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Washington Update
    • Newspapers & Media
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Contact
    • Support
      • Donate
      • Donors
      • Become a Legacy Society Member
  • ELECTION
  • UKRAINE
HAPPY NEW YEAR! A holiday greeting from EANC President
December 23, 2021
Singing Revolution: The Musical, inspired by the historic events of the Estonian Singing Revolution, set to premiere on January 15th in Los Angeles, CA
January 14, 2022

2022 Winner of the EANC Henrik Visnapuu Arts and Letters Award Announced

January 2, 2022

Press Release (January 2, 2022)


The Estonian American National Council (EANC) is pleased to announce, on the anniversary of Henrik Visnapuu`s birth on January 2, 1890, that the winner of the re-established Henrik Visnapuu award is author Elin Toona.

Elin Toona, 2021

Elin Toona is being recognized for her life-time work as both an Estonian and English-language writer whose works explore the experience of exile and refugee life abroad, in the context of a young Estonian forced to flee her homeland due to the Soviet invasion of the country in 1944. She deals with the complicated and at times seemingly indefinable existential questions and challenges of adapting to a life in exile.

Her masterful memoir In Exile: A Life Story of War and Peace, first published in English (2013) and then in Estonian (Pagulusse, 2017), was nominated by The Economist magazine as one of the Best Books of 2013. This is Elin’s personal account of the horrors she and her family experienced during WWII followed by an even more confusing peacetime in class-conscious post-war England while adult “DP’s” (Displaced Persons) and Elin struggled to find their identity.

Other titles from her pen include the novels Puuingel (´The Wooden Angel´); Lotukata; Sipelgas Sinise kausi all (´An Ant Beneath the Blue Bowl´); Kaleviküla viimane tütar (´The Last Daughter of Kaleviküla´); Kolm Valget Tuvi (´Three White Doves´); and Mihkel, muuseas (´Mihkel, By the Way´).She has also written a biography about her renowned grandfather Ernst Enno, and the life story of her grandmother, Ella. Her other published works include short fiction, poetry, oral stories and newspaper articles in the Estonian and English languages.

Elin Toona is a two-time winner of the Visnapuu Award. She was first recognized with a Henrik Visnapuu Foundation prize in 1966 for her debut Estonian language novel Puuingel, about the life of a refugee Estonian girl navigating a new life in London.

Elin Toona was born in 1937 in Estonia. Her father was director Enn Toona; her grandfather was the well-known author and poet Ernst Enno. In 1944 Elin fled the Soviet terror, escaping to Germany with her mother, actress Liki Toona and grandmother Ella. They moved to Great Britain four years later. In London, Elin studied drama, and by the 1960s she had performed on the silver screen and the smaller screen. In 1967 Ms. Toona married and moved to Florida, USA. Her passion for writing began in Great Britain and continued in the United States.  She is a member of numerous literary associations, including The Estonian Writers’ Union, the Estonian PEN Club, and the National League of American PEN Women.

The EANC Henrik Visnapuu Award will be officially presented at the Tallinn Kirjanike Maja (Writers´ House) later in January. The Estonian American National Council (Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides, ERKÜ) offers this award in partnership with the Estonian Writers´ Union and the Luunja Municipial Government.

The judges panel consisted of Sirje Kiin, Ph.D., representing the Estonian American National Council, Inc. ; poet Jürgen Rooste, representing the Estonian Writers’ Union; and Toomas Liivamägi, Luunja educator and high school principal, representing the Luunja municipality, birthplace of Henrik Visnapuu and home of the Henrik Visnapuu museum.

The EANC Henrik Visnapuu Award includes a cash prize of $2500 from the EANC and an artistic work commissioned by Luunja municipality from an Estonian artist.  This year Leonhard Lapin received the commission to produce the award.

One of the judges, Sirje Kiin, voiced the opinion that “the need for such an international award is shown by the fact that we received nominations for fifteen strong candidates from six countries, with the works being in five languages: Estonian, English, Finnish, Russian, and German. We expanded the categories, so that besides literature, nominations were received in the areas of art, music, and historical research.  The award winner Elin Toona is a symbol both historically and metaphorically.  Her recent return to her homeland from exile and her double Visnapuu award, starting and ending her long creative journey, make a whole and satisfactory circle.“

In addition to Elin Toona, the six finalists included Sirje Okas Ainso (USA), Hilary Bird and Juhani Püttsepp (Estonia), Leonhard Salman (Russia) and Reijo Roos (Finland).

About the EANC Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts and Letters

The first Henrik Visnapuu Prize was established by the Henrik Visnapuu Foundation (USA) in 1952 and consistently awarded annually through 2007, after which the award was discontinued due to the organizers’ death.  

In 2020, the Estonian American National Council decided to re-establish a literary and cultural award in Visnapuu’s name, to be awarded every other year.  Fifteen excellent candidates were submitted by the April 1, 2021 deadline, and included submissions from the United States, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Germany and Canada.

The Award is given in recognition of Estonia and diaspora-related works of poetry, prose, memoirs, or research, and may also be given for cultural works, visual and performing arts, events introducing the Estonian diaspora, culture, or history in Estonian or another language.

The Estonian American National Council, founded in in 1952, is the nationally-elected representative organization of Estonian Americans and a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization representing  the interests of Estonian Americans in the United States and Estonia, and is dedicated to preserving and sustaining Estonian culture and heritage. For further information, see the website www.estosite.org.

About Henrik Visnapuu

Henrik Visnapuu

Visnapuu was born on January 2, 1890 in Helme parish, Estonia. He fled the Soviet occupation to Germany in 1944 and emigrated to the United States in 1949. Henrik Visnapuu died on April 3, 1951 in Long Island, New York, at the age of 61.

Henrik Visnapuu was one of the most prolific and multifaceted of Estonian authors; he has over 30 publications to his name, including more than 20 poetry collections, memoirs, scripts, romantic verse,  and essay books. As a high-level government official in Estonia during the late 1930s he helped shape and significantly influenced the entire country’s cultural policy of the time, but also in 1941-1944 during years of war and the occupation.  

Contacts for more information:

Sirje Kiin, USA:  +1 (605) 270 1391, [email protected]

Jürgen Rooste, Estonia: e mail: [email protected], +372 55 990675

Estonian American National Council: [email protected]

Share

Related posts

May 3, 2022

Estonian American National Council Announces General Elections for 2022, Invites Submissions for Candidacy to XXIII Council


Read more
April 14, 2022

XXIII Council Elections in 2022


Read more
March 1, 2022

Joint Baltic American National Committee issues URGENT Call to Action in support of aid for Ukraine


Read more

Recent News

  • Estonian American National Council Announces General Elections for 2022, Invites Submissions for Candidacy to XXIII Council May 3, 2022
  • Record Registrations for Baltic Advocacy Event April 23, 2022
  • XXIII Council Elections in 2022 April 14, 2022
  • Baltic Caucus Leaders Introduce New Security Legislation April 8, 2022
  • Estonian Officials Consulted on Ukraine and Baltic Security March 25, 2022
  • Recent Advocacy Successes for Ukraine and Estonia March 23, 2022
  • EANC Support for Ukraine March 9, 2022
  • Joint Baltic American National Committee issues URGENT Call to Action in support of aid for Ukraine March 1, 2022

Recent Events

May 12
January 6 @ 12:00 am - July 25 @ 11:59 pm EST

Tickets on sale now! West Coast Estonian Days 2022

May 14
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm EDT

“United with Ukraine” – A Night of Baltic Culture, Solidarity and Support

Jun 18
All day

Long Islandi Spordipäev ja Jaaniõhtu

Jun 25
All day

Midsummer´s Eve and Estonian Victory Day Festivities in Connecticut

Jun 25
June 25 @ 1:00 pm - June 26 @ 5:00 pm EDT

Võidupüha ja Jaaniõhtu Connecticutis

View Calendar

Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Filter by Custom Post Type

Support Us

Quick Links

Sign Up for Teataja newsletter
Order “Estonians in America” book
Vaba Eesti Sõna Newspaper website
Privacy Policy
Apply for Support
Washington Update
Contact Us


Copyright 2021 Estonian American National Council
  • Singing Revolution: The Musical
  • Henrik Visnapuu Award for Arts & Letters
  • EstoRaiser 2021
  • EV 103 Celebration 2021
  • PBS Series