Aive Raudkivi

Novels

Aive Raudkivi (17. IV 1967-14. XI 2004) was a writer and a translator.

She went to school in Tallinn and studied defectology (healthcare of children with disabilities) at the University of Tartu. She fell ill with the neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis and as a result of additional diseases, led to paralysis. She spent the last years of her life in the hospital on a ventilator. She passed away in Tallinn and is buried at Rahumäe cemetery.

Raudkivi translated several works but was most known for the novel Pilvedesse poodud lind (‘A Bird Hanged in the Clouds’, 2003) that she typed at the hospital with only one finger. It is based on her originally private letters from the hospital from 2001-2003. Despite her severe condition, they are positive – open to everything good and teaching to notice the small things. In them, next to deeper themes, optimistic humor is important as well.

A. K. (Translated by A. A.)



Books in Estonian

Pilvedesse poodud lind: 16 kirja haigla-aastatest 2001-2003. Tallinn: Eesti Ekspressi Kirjastus, 2003, 126 lk.