Mara Zalite represents the generation of Latvian writers that matured as artists under Soviet occupation. There are signs of political and intellectual malaise with the constraints of that regime in her own early poetry as well as in her commentaries on Latvian authors, such as Austra Skujina, who were lauded by the socialist realist critics for the wrong reasons. For Zalite, folklore is an important source of potential liberation, as evidenced most strongly in her play Pilna Maras istabina (Mara's Room Is Full, 1983), which depicts the pagan nature goddess Mara. Since Latvia regained its independence in 1991, Zalite has remained an active force in Latvian culture as a poet, playwright, librettist, and editor.

Zalite was born on 18 February 1952 in Krasnojarsk in the former Soviet Union into a family of political exiles. After her family returned to Latvia in 1956, she spent her childhood in the countryside. In 1975 she graduated with...