Tauno Vahter (1978) is an Estonian writer, publisher, translator and quizzer who leads the prestigious Tänapäev publishing house. Vahter, who has been publishing and mainly translating Finnish literature for years, turned to writing fiction at a relatively old age, in the early 2020s, when he published a collection of short stories entitled Pikaajaline kokkusaamine (2020). This has been followed by novels, often marked by extraordinary, sometimes even extreme, life destinies, including the prototype of the title character of Vahter’s first novel, Madis Jeffersoni 11 põgenemist (2021), a man named Johannes Lapmann, who repeatedly tried to escape the Soviet Union. Vahter’s erudition and absurdist sense of humor also come together in his latest work, his third novel Elevandi üksildus (2024). As his previous works, the novel stands out with its colourful characters: Aliide, whose character is based on the life of Alviine Pedriks, who was considered the heaviest woman in Estonia in the 1930s, and Ralf Vessenberg, a reclusive financier, who develops a perfectly understandable desire to acquire a personal elephant.
Performs at
| Date | Event Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 1 June at 14:00 | Armin Kõomägi and Tauno Vahter | Estonian Writers’ Union |
