Estonia-Latvia Stories II
To celebrate and capture the achivements of the Interreg Estonia-Latvia programme 2014-2020, we have compiled a story book. It is the second edition, following the first one about the 67 projects implemented in the 2007-2013 programme, available here. The new book has 49 stories about our 55 projects that have been implemented since 2017 by 109 Estonian and 118 Latvian organisations - stories about people, partnerships, solutions and places. You can get a glimpse of the book from the 2 minutes teaser in YouTube!
Read the stories in Latvian {6 MB}
Read the stories in Estonian {6 MB}
Read the stories in English {6 MB}
We launched the book on 30 September 2021 with celebrations of 10th anniversary of the European Cooperation Day.
Video of the event is available on YouTube, photos are available in the Facebook album.
Collaboration
MAREKS GAĻINOVSKIS
For more than fifteen years I have been one of the leading photographers in Latvian "folk" sports: mainly orienteering, running, adventure, but also in professional sports and international sports and cultural events.
I have several awards for promoting sports, tourism and an active lifestyle, a lot of publications and interviews, TV stories in the local media (newspapers, journals, web, TV). My material has been at several exhibitions, and used in print and electronic media around the world.
I am a socially active person, great patriot of nature, sports and active lifestyle, enthusiast of extreme sports, including a downhill skiing, cycling, skating, marathon and ultramarathon running.
LAURI KULPSOO
For more than twenty years I have been working with different media channels and magazines, I have had also several group and personal exhibitions. My relationship with Latvia is borderline in many ways.
This project took me to the Estonian-Latvian border for precision measurement, but in the past I have come to the southern neighbours with Estonian Public Broadcasting’s shooting team exactly twice - in both cases these were unique places. First to Alūksne to a small Bible museum and then to Gulbene to the statue of Martin Luther. Both are the only ones in the Baltics in their field. Here I have excluded several cross border gastronomic experiences, when traveling in Southern Estonia, my family and I have used the opportunity to visit briefly Latvia to experience once again the heights of baking cakes, pastries, pies or bread can actually reach.
Latvia is an exciting neighbour, where you can get the feeling of being abroad with the least effort.
JASSU HERTSMANN
I have earned a living as a photographer for a very long time, most of the time as a press photographer, which has given me a lot of communication skills, because a beautiful picture has to be obtained quickly.
I was also involved in photographing for the first edition of the Estonia-Latvia stories. In addition to the great experience, I discovered wonderful Estonian-Latvian border area at that time and knew that in the long run I wanted to live here. In autumn 2017 I bought an old and dirty farmstead in Viitina - some 7.5 km from the Latvian border, which I have now made completely liveable in a couple of years, but unfortunately I still have to spend most of my time in Tartu 
.
I am glad that such great co-operation projects between Estonia and Latvia continue to take place and the final results will be reflected, and it is only a matter of time before more things start to work together in the border areas and thus more and more people start moving back from the cities to the countryside.
IEVA ALBERTE
I have 25% of Estonian blood, because my granny was Estonian. Once a year I am going to Estonia to refresh my Estonian language which is poor, but what is most important – I wish to be in contact with Estonians. It is also enough just to sit next to them or observe.
For all my life I have been writing – articles, emails, script for a movie. I have worked for a Latvian daily newspaper and a weekly investigative magazine for 9 years. And I am a good watchdog – I enjoy writing about people who do amazing things, people having big souls. I am sure that one person can do and change a lot, and that is why I would like to tell stories as motivation for my readers.
Since 2019 I have been living in Germany and working as freelance journalist for latviesi.com, what is an online platform for Latvians abroad.
MADIS ENRIK MUST
Randomly signing myself up for a Latvian language course as a first-year university student turned out to be a fateful choice. It led to years of living in Riga, to countless exciting discoveries, and to an ongoing border-crossing work and personal life.
When I knocked on the door of the largest Estonian weekly paper some years later, the language skill was one of the main reasons I got accepted to the team. Since then, Latvian peculiarities and people have served as a source of inspiration for hundreds of news articles, stories and interviews.
Currently, I spend the largest amount of my professional screen time on various Latvian-Estonian translations, keeping a notebook of story ideas by hand. Recently I began collecting witty online comments of Latvians criticizing or complimenting their northern neighbours. Those bursts of thought are so entertaining that I seriously consider getting them published as a book.
ASTRA SPALVĒNA
I am a researcher of food culture and I am interested in both practical and cultural-historical aspects of gastronomy. On practical aspects related to the history of food, ancient cookbooks and recipes, as well as the documentation and research of culinary heritage, articles and stories in lectures, seminars and consultations in marketing, tourism, hospitality and food production. I am an expert of the cultural sign "Latvian Heritage".
I also study food academically. I am currently a leading researcher at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia and I am working on a project that studies the manifestations of gastronomy in literature and cookbooks. I have written about the linguistic aspects of gastronomy, food and various fields of art and other topics.
The culinary cultures of Latvia and Estonia are closely linked due to both geographical and historical circumstances. It is therefore natural that I have worked with my Estonian colleagues to take a closer look at these points of contact. In collaboration with ethnologist Esteri Bardoni from the University of Tartu, a study has been conducted on the inclusion of Latvian and Estonian products in European Union food quality schemes that protect traditional products. We have also paid special attention to the history of Jāņusiers and sõir. The Livonian Culinary Road project described in this collection, on the other hand, is particularly close to me, as I have participated in the development of its marketing materials and led lectures and consultations for participants.
My research interests are in the history of cookbooks, Soviet cuisine and culinary heritage. Food culture is also my passion outside of professional life - I collect various cookbooks, I like to prepare food every day, try old recipes and organize theme parties.
SILJA PAAVLE
I am an editor at Naisteleht. I really enjoy working as a journalist because it gives me the opportunity to poke my nose into the most exciting things around us. I like to write about inspirational people and ventures the most, exactly like Estonia-Latvia projects and the people involved in these.
My connection with the Estonian-Latvian topics is rather direct - I was born in the border town Valga, so I visit Valga/Valka and Latvia often, and now it has become a tradition to have a summer bike trip to Latvia with my best friends. I am convinced that cycling is the best way to get around.
As a big fan of Latvia, I am very glad that I have come close to Estonia-Latvia projects, met fierce people and gained new knowledge that would otherwise have taken more time to reach. For example, now I use (and recommend!) Mayeri's natural fragrances. Or, this summer we visited the Ethnic Culture Centre “Suiti”, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
KRISTINA TRAKS
I was born in Valga and I have spent about 40 summers in Valga County. I have studied music, marketing and business, but I have been working as a journalist for 25 years, the last 10 of them as freelancer. I co-operate with many Estonian publications on all sorts of different topics, from economics to medicine. My favourite topics are stories about people, entrepreneurship, nature and human relationships with nature. Collecting stories and sharing them is my passion! I love writing and am grateful that this work has brought me together with a lot of lovely people.
My other big passion since early childhood has been nature. Starting from 10, I have wandered alone in nature, and this habit has not left me even now. I live in the middle of forests and swamps in Ahunapalu, Kastre municipality in Tartu County, and at any free time I disappear into nature to either pick something or just swim. My interest in nature led me to studying at Luua Forestry School, which I graduated from as a nature guide this year. Lately, I have often been a guide for other nature lovers as well. I act as a nature tour guide in the Peipsiveere Nature Reserve.
IEVA STARE
Already in high school I enjoyed writing essays. Even later, working as a journalist, public relations specialist, author and translator, working with text has been a pleasure. When I speak, words run like sparrows in the air, but in the writings I can hug each of them without rushing, polish the thought.
I am a Latvian with Lithuanian roots, but as an author I live in Latvian and English worlds. My own favorite and most extensive research stories have been written in English - about the Latvian Song Festival tradition and the Latvian National Library. One of the most exciting moments in the work process is the delivery of the story - when, during the research phase, you allow the flow of information to flow freely, the thread of the story itself emerges, and all that remains is to crochet it.
So far, I have been connected with Estonia only by few leisure trips to Tallinn and Muhu Island, and the film about Lotte from Gadgetville, which I have watched dozens of times together with my children. Writing about joint Estonia-Latvia projects, I realized that there are much more differences between Latvians and Estonians than I thought. A good start for new discoveries.
TIIA KÕNNUSSAAR
The written word has fascinated me since I learned to read: the world expanded and the horizon shifted, nurturing the imagination and opening new perspectives. I began to realize that the word can be used for both good and bad.
I have not managed to suppress the need to write, which arose in me when I was about 12 years old, so I have edited magazines, created texts for many Estonian press publications, written a few plays and published a few books for adults, six children's books – seventh is in print. I believe in the healing effects of writing and storytelling world.
I am participating in the Estonia-Latvia cooperation project for the second time and it has always been a great opportunity for me to meet people I would not otherwise meet, educate myself and get a little smarter. I admire the commitment and outlook radiated by the people I met during the interviews. I sincerely believe that only through cooperation and communication can life on Earth be made habitable for all its inhabitants.
ANDREJS RJABCEVS
It seems that from the whole team I am the one who geographically is located furthest from the Estonian border - in Liepāja, a city by the sea just next to Lithuania. And yet I had the opportunity to write about great things, places and people, which have been united by the cooperation between Latvia and Estonia.
Writing is not my main job, but rather a passion. I work in the municipality on a daily basis, but with background in journalism and communication. It helps to broaden the vision - to put aside policy documents, reports and tables from time to time, and instead write about some exciting place that had changed itself and changed people's lives, an idea that fascinated both its creators and followers, or to talk to a person who is not afraid to go even in space (literally). It's inspiring, indeed, and I really enjoyed it with all my heart.