Vaiva Grainytė’s (born 1984) text-based practice shifts between genres, interdisciplinary theater works and publications. As a writer, playwright, and poet she takes action as an observant anthropologist: challenged by Grainytė’s poetic interpretation, mundane social issues take on a paradoxical and defamiliarised nature. She is recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art, and, with her co-authors, winner in 2019 of the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art for the opera-performance Sun and Sea. Her books – the book of essays Beijing Diaries (2012) and the poetry collection Gorilla’s Archives (2019) – were nominated for Book of the Year and included in the twelve most creative books of the year. She is the librettist of the opera Have a Good Day! (2013), which earned 6 international awards in Europe. Her newest bilingual (Lithuanian and English), cross-genre novel, Roses and Potatoes (2022) was recently published. The author’s work has been translated into more than ten languages.
Selected Press
Sun & Sea review – a delightful opera about the end of the world
The Guardian, 07.01.2023
Sun & Sea (Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Graintyė & Lina Lapelytė, Sydney Festival)
Limelight, 07.01.2023
Dogs, togs and critics agog: climate crisis opera washes ashore in Sydney
The Guardian, 06.01.2023
- Lie back and think of the apocalypse: climate crisis opera Sun & Sea
The Guardian, 15.06.2022 - Kauno literatūros savaitė. Pasimatymai. Vaiva Grainytė
LRT, 04.05.2022 (in Lithuanian) - Knygų savaitė 2022. Ar esate laimingi? Pokalbis su romano „Rožės ir bulvės“ autore Vaiva Grainyte ir menininkais Nomeda ir Gediminu Urbonais
LRT, 14.02.2022 (in Lithuanian) - Pirmas sakinys. Vaivos Grainytės saulės, jūros, upeliai
LRT, 03.02.2022, (in Lithuanian) - Review: In ‘Sun & Sea,’ We Laze Away the End of the World
The New York Times Critic’s Pick, 16.09.2021 - A Climate Opera Arrives in New York, With 21 Tons of Sand
The New York Times, 14.09.2021 - Dokumentikos ciklas „Vizionieriai“. Vaiva Grainytė-vizionieriai-vaiva-grainyte
LRT, 12.06.2021 (in Lithuanian) - The director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė and writer Vaiva Grainytė about how they use humour to highlight the climate crisis
The Cultural Frontline, BBC World Service, 08.05.2021 - Rašytoja, dramaturgė, poetė Vaiva Grainytė apie Stanislovo Kuzmos „Širdies donorą“ (1987)
- Vaiva Grainytė: I feel like the quarantine made me return to my “inner roots”
Vilnius Review, 08.05.2020 - Sun and Sea (Marina): Performing Climate Change
Paradoxa No. 31 – Climate Fictions (2019-2020) - Jonas Mekas on opera Have a Good Day! (video diary)
Awards and distinctions
- The Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art for the Best National Participation, 2019, for the opera-performance Sun and Sea
- Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art, 2019
- The Order for Merits to Lithuania, 2019
- Ministry of Culture Award, 2019
- Nomination for the Book of the Year awards, and the top twelve listings of the most creative books in Lithuania, 2019, for Gorilla’s Archives
- B.Dauguvietis Golden Earring, 2018, for innovative theater solutions
- Fast Forward prize for young theater makers, Germany, 2015, for Have a Good Day!
- Young Artist Prize, 2015
- Golden Stage Cross for the best Lithuanian theater play, 2014, for Have a Good Day!
- Baltic Theatre Festival awards: for the best libretto and social sensitivity, 2014, Latvia, for Have a Good Day!
- Winner of Radio Playwriting Competition, Lithuanian National Radio and Television, 2014, for Axis deviation
- Music Theater NOW award, 2014, Sweden, for Have a Good Day!
- Augustinas Gricius premium, 2012, for Beijing Diaries
- Nomination for the Book of the Year awards, and the top twelve listings of the most creative books in Lithuania, 2012, for Beijing Diaries
Residencies
- 2023 Creative Pastures, Kabeliai, Lithuania
- 2019 Radar Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria
- 2019 Air Literatur, Amal, Sweden
- 2016 Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland
- 2016–2017 Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
- 2015 Literaturhaus Villa Clementine, Wiesbaden, Germany
- 2015 KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna, Austria
