Shklyar Yevgeny (1894-1941)

Shklyar Yevgeny (1894, Druya, Vitebsk Governorate — 1941) — writer.
He made his print debut in 1911 in Yekaterinoslav. In 1915—16 he studied at the law faculty of Warsaw University, which had been evacuated to Rostov-on-Don.
In 1916—19 he took part in the First World War and the Civil War. From November 1920 he lived in Kaunas. From 1921 he contributed to A. Bukhov's newspaper “Echo” and the magazine “Zerkalo” (Mirror). In 1923–38 (with interruptions) he edited the international “Baltic Almanac.” Promoting cultural exchange among the states of the Baltic region, the journal published works by Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Finnish, Polish, and Russian writers, along with articles and notes on the culture of the Baltic countries.
In 1924–25 he worked at the Riga newspaper “Narodnaya Mysl” (People's Thought). Later the Riga newspaper “Segodnya” (Today) published his poems and translations of Lithuanian and Latvian poets. In 1926–27 he lived in Paris, and his impressions were reflected in his poems and essays. From 1928 he lived permanently in Kaunas, traveling to Riga and Tallinn on business. He was publisher and editor of the newspapers “Nashe Ekho” (Our Echo, 1929–31), “Litovsky Kuryer” (Lithuanian Courier, 1932–33), “Litovsky Vestnik” (Lithuanian Herald, 1935–39), and other periodicals, and contributed to the Lithuanian press as well. He also contributed to Russian-language newspapers in Estonia and to the Paris weekly “Rassvet” (Dawn), edited by V. Y. Jabotinsky, among other periodicals. He was the principal translator of Lithuanian poetry during the interwar years, translating poets of various generations and creative orientations.
In 1922–35 he published 8 books of poetry in Kaunas, Berlin, Paris, and Riga. The collection “Lietuva — the Golden Name,” published in Paris, was the first book of poetry in Russian dedicated to Lithuania. It appeared in Lithuanian translation by L. Gira, P. Lauriņaitis, and P. Vaičūnas (Kaunas, 1931).