Renowned writer to be buried

  • 2008-01-02
  • In cooperation with BNS

TALLINN -- The funeral service for Estonian writer Jaan Kross, who died on Dec. 27 at the age of 87, will be held in Kaarli Church inTallinn on Saturday, 5 Jan.

People can pay their last respects to the writer in thechurch from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday. A book of condolences will also be open in the church,said the funeral committee named by the Estonian Writers Union and the familyof Jaan Kross.

The funeral service on Saturday will be broadcast live by EstonianTelevision.

The family have requested that mourners do not bring any flowers orwreaths. Those who wish can light a candle next to the monument to writerEduard Vilde in Harju Street in the old town of Tallinn, opposite the house where Jaan Kross lived.

The writer will be laid to rest in his family plot.

Jaan Kross was perhaps the best known Estonianwriter of the twentieth century. Born on February 18, 1920in Tallinn, he studied at Tartu University and worked as a lecturer there until 1946.

He made his debut as poet after returning from the Gulag in1954 but most of his later work is historical prose. Following his nomination as a Nobel Laureate in 2007 (the last of several nominations, though he never actually won), his work found a new audience at home and abroad.

Kross's best known works include Kolme katku Vahel (BetweenThree Plagues), Keisri hull (The Czar's Madman), Vastutuulelaev (SailingAgainst the Wind), Wikmani poisid (The Wikman Boys), Paigallend (Treading Air)and Tahtamaa (Wanted Land), but he also wrote poetry, short stories and plays.A book of memoirs, Kallid kaasteelised (Dear Fellow-Travellers), was publishedin 2003.

Kross' widow, Ellen Niit, is also a well-known writer.