Māris Putniņš

Attended the Riga 50th Secondary School and the J. Mediņš Music School. He completed the acting course of the State Puppet Theatre. He trained at the Latvian Academy of Art and the Liepāja Pedagogical Institute, and worked at Liepāja Theatre (1974–1985). He has been scriptwriter and production designer for the stop-motion puppet film studio Animācijas brigāde. He was production designer for the films “Living Friend” (Dzīvais draugs), “The Road” (Ceļš), “Good Morning” (Labrīt), “Prop and Berta” (Props un Berta), Klucānija and “Glowworm” (Jāņtārpiņš). He was production designer and scriptwriter for the series “Emergency Brigade” (Avārijas Brigāde; 24 films), the series “Munk and Lemmy” (Munks un Lemijs; 9 films), the series “Mischief” (Resgalības; 3 films), the series “Animals” (Zvēri; 8 films) and the series “Minifilms” (Minifilmas; 6 films). He wrote the script for the film “The Latvian” (Latvietis), the full-length feature film “Three Musketeers” (Trīs musketieri), as well as the plays “80 Days Around the World” (80 dienās ap zemeslodi at the State Puppet Theatre, 1988), “Three Crazy Rabbits”(Trīs traki truši, at the Kabata Theatre, 1990), “Lollipops” (Lolipopi, at the Latvian Society Puppet Theatre, 1991), “Elbert and Silla” (Elberts un Silla, at the Kabata Theatre, 1992) and “Wolf”s Cabbage”(Vilka kāposti, at the theatre Apsēstais nams, 1998).

M. Putniņš has created the text and illustrations for a series of witty, ironic fantasy fairy-tales for children and adults: “The Wild Pies” (Mežonīgie pīrāgi. R.: Valters un Rapa, 2003), “The Wild Pies and Dumplicatepetl” (Mežonīgie pīrāgi un Pelmeņkatepetls. R.: Valters un Rapa, 2004), “The Wild Pies and Henry the Great” (Mežonīgie pīrāgi un Lielais Indriķis. R.: Valters un Rapa, 2005) and “The Wild Pies and the Stuffed Peppers” (Mežonīgie pīrāgi un pildītie pipari. R.: Valters un Rapa, 2007). The books have also won recognition in Lithuania (published by Nieko rimto) and in Germany (S. Fisher Verlag GmbH). In 2004 he won third place in the competition for the Annual Prize for Book Publishing for “The Wild Pies and Dumplicatepetl”.

But illustrations should spur the imagination and create illusions. I’m not convinced that I’m very successful at stimulating the imagination, but I do feel rather more accomplished at illusions. (Māris Putniņš)