Sirje Olesk
Sirje Olesk is an Estonian literary scholar and critic. She held several research management roles at the Estonian Literary Museum from 1980 to 1997, later serving as a senior researcher at the institution.
Early life and education
Olesk was born in Kohtla-Järve and raised in Jõhvi. She studied Estonian language and literature at the University of Tartu, graduating cum laude in 1977. In 1989, she defended her Candidate of Philological Sciences thesis, titled Luuleteoreetilise mõtte areng Eestis 1878–1917.Career
After graduating, Olesk worked as a teacher in Tallinn until 1980. She then joined the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu, where she served as research secretary, head of the research department, and research director. She continued as a senior researcher from 1998 until her retirement, subsequently becoming a senior researcher emeritus.Olesk has also taught at the universities of Tartu and Helsinki. She served as a lecturer in Estonian culture and literature at the University of Helsinki for two terms.
Research and editorial work
Olesk's scholarship focuses on Estonian poetry and poetic theory, the "Finnish Bridge" of cultural relations between Estonia and Finland, and the institutional history of literature in the Estonian SSR. She is a recognized authority on the Finnish-Estonian writer Aino Kallas and the poet Lydia Koidula.She has compiled and edited several significant volumes of correspondence and historical documents, including the letters of prominent Estonian intellectuals in exile such as Ants Oras and Ivar Ivask.
Major works
In 2022, she published the monograph Aegade lugu: kirjanike liit Eesti NSVs. The book, which explores the relationship between the Soviet state and the literary community, received the Cultural Endowment of Estonia's annual award for essay and non-fiction in 2023.Awards and honours
- 1994: Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Foundation
- 1996: E. W. Ponkala Award
- 2000: Order of the White Star, 3rd Class
- 2006: Aino Kallas Award
- 2023: Annual Literature Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia