Zane Daudziņa and Elisabet Reinsalu

Zane Daudziņa (1967) is a Latvian theatre and television actor and lecturer and trainer in voice and speech, and a speech consultant for the Latvian Radio. She has given lectures on eloquence and stage speech in Latvia and around Europe. One of the five books published by Daudziņa is based on her professional experience – An Actor’s speech in the 21st Century Latvian Theatre reveals the cultural historical background of the speech practices of contemporary Latvian theatre. However, Daudziņa has also written works with a wider scope. In her homeland, the biographical story Communal Childhood (Bērnudienas komunālijā), which takes readers to the author’s childhood in Soviet-era Riga, has proved to be very popular. Detailed and witty descriptions that take shape through the innocent but curious glance of a child vividly evokes the people and objects, images and sounds, tastes and smells of that era. By describing the era, however, Daudziņa takes a broader look at Latvian cultural history.