Katrin Pauts

Katrin Pauts was born on a tiny island of Muhu in Estonia. She is a journalist, a freelance novelist, a screenwriter and an editor who published seven books within four years. Her work includes popular mystery novels and also two memoirs. She worked for television and was a news reporter in a major newspaper over ten years. She lives in Tallinn.

Katrin set her stories on Estonian islands. Her first novel, Politseiniku tütar (The Policeman’s Daughter, 2016), made her one of the most-read authors in Estonia. The second book in the series, Tulekandja (The Torchbearer, 2017), sold out almost immediately.

Besides murder mysteries she has written an autobiographical book, Minu Muhumaa (My Muhumaa, 2018), about growing up as a child of an unwanted outsider in a small and xenophobic island where almost every resident is somehow related to another. The book was accepted with mixed reviews as the topic is considered taboo.

Her latest book Minu salajane elu (My secret life, 2019) takes place in Prague, Czech Republic. “I fell in love with Prague at first sight,” said Katrin. She had been in the city many times. Pauts considers Prague the ideal place for the internal struggle of man. Moreover, she can see many links and similarities between Czech and Estonian culture and especially literature – e.g. German influences, communism, Velvet Revolution in Czech Republic and Singing Revolution in Estonia.

“To put it shortly, it's a book about travelling to a foreign city to find myself, but instead I found Vladimír Macura,” explains Katrin. He was an author and translator, one of the founding members of the Baltic Union, predecessor of today's Czech-Estonian club.

During her residency stay, Katrin Pauts would like to continue with her work on a research of Macura’s heritage. She is looking forward to meeting people who knew Macura while they are still alive and to write about their experience in the form of a memoir or a biographical novel.

Bibliography:

• Politseiniku tütar, Varrak, 2016 – The Policeman’s Daughter
• Tulekandja, Varrak, 2017 – The Torchbearer
• Öömees, Rahva Raamat, 2017 – The Night Man
• Hull hobune, Varrak, 2018 – The Mad Horse
• Minu Muhumaa, Petrone Print, 2018 – My Muhumaa
• Marduse tänav, Varrak, 2018 – Marduse Street – based on her TV series Nukumaja/Dollhouse.
• Minu salajane elu, Rahva Raamat, 2019 – My Secret Life

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