Tomas Venclova Writer

Tomas Venclova (born September 11, 1937) is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer, scholar and translator of literature. He is one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. In 1977, following his dissident activities, he was forced to emigrate and was deprived of his Soviet citizenship. Since 1980 he has taught Russian and Polish literature at Yale University. Considered one of the major figures of world literature, he has received many awards, including the Prize of Two Nations (received jointly with Czesław Miłosz) and The Person of Tolerance of the Year Award from the Sugihara Foundation, among other honors.