Arvo Valton

Arvo Vallikivi, commonly known under the pen name of Arvo Valton, was an Estonian writer known for a number of books and, among other things, the script for Viimne reliikvia, the highly successful film adaptation of Eduard Bornhöhe's Vürst Gabriel ehk Pirita [kloostri viimsed päevad].
In October 1980, Valton was a signatory of the Letter of 40 Intellectuals, a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the Estonian language and protested the Russification policies of the Kremlin in Estonia. The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band Propeller.
In 1992, Arvo Valton was elected member of parliament. Valton died on 26 July 2024, at the age of 88.