Venezuelan-Latvian writer blends regime experience with family's return to Latvia in new novel

Lorena Briedis, a 42-year-old Venezuelan-Latvian writer and head of the European Creative Writing Programs Association (EACWP), is currently in Latvia to participate in the "Rakstivāls" festival in Līgatne. Briedis, who now resides in Spain, will discuss her upcoming book, described as a fantasy journey to Latvia, which intertwines her experiences under an authoritarian regime with her family's history of returning to Latvia.

Briedis, who also holds a Latvian passport, moved to Madrid 16 years ago. She often visits her sister Karolina in Barcelona. Currently preparing for her trip to Latvia, Briedis mentioned she can only stay for three days to meet her cousin and his fiancée. "Unfortunately, I won't make it to the wedding because I have to go to southern Spain. We are from the Caribbean region, so for us, summer means sun and the beach. We have to enjoy it to the fullest to get through the winter!" she explained.

The Briedis family's journey to Venezuela was not a typical path for Latvians after World War II. Briedis shared that her grandmother, Astrīda, originally from Riga, grew up in Jelgava. Fleeing the Soviet occupation, they took a bull and a horse from their farm in Jelgava and headed towards the German border. Their first long-term settlement was in Esslingen, Germany, where her father, Pēteris, was born.

When Pēteris was five, his great-aunt Ilga learned about Venezuela, a prosperous country in the Caribbean that welcomed immigrants. Ilga moved to Venezuela first, found it to be a great place with many opportunities for immigrants to start businesses, and wrote to Briedis's grandmother, encouraging them to join her. The family then boarded a ship in Naples, Italy, and arrived in Venezuela. Briedis confirmed that her Latvian family indeed had a good life in Venezuela and established a business there.

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We are from the Caribbean region, so for us, summer means sun and the beach. We have to enjoy it to the fullest to get through the winter!