Paul-Eerik Rummo

{{Short description|Estonian poet, playwright, translator and politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Paul-Eerik Rummo

|image = File:RE Paul-Eerik Rummo.jpg

|caption = Paul-Eerik Rummo in 2011.

|office = Minister of Population and Ethnic Affairs

|primeminister = Juhan Parts
Andrus Ansip

|term_start = 2003

|term_end = 2007

|predecessor = Eldar Efendijev

|successor = Urve Palo

|office2 = Minister of Culture and Education

|primeminister2 = Mart Laar

|term_start2 = 1992

|term_end2 = 1994

|predecessor2 = Rein Loik

|successor2 = Peeter Olesk

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|1|19|df=y}}

|birth_place = Tallinn, Estonia

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party =

|spouse = Viiu Härm

|children = 3

|alma_mater =

}}

Paul-Eerik Rummo (born 19 January 1942) is an Estonian poet, playwright, translator and politician who was the former Estonian Minister of Culture and Education, as well as the former Estonian Minister of Population Affairs.

Rummo was born in Tallinn, the son of Estonian writer Paul Rummo. Paul-Eerik studied literature at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1965. Rummo has worked in Estonian theatres.

Personal life

Paul-Eerik Rummo is married to the actress, poet, author, and translator Viiu Härm. The couple have three daughters.{{cite web |url=http://annestiil.delfi.ee/uudised/paar-viiu-harm-ja-paul-eerik-rummo?id=82300416|title=Paar: Viiu Härm ja Paul-Eerik Rummo|date=6 December 2005|periodical=Anne & Stiil|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=Estonian}}

Legacy

In October 1980, Rummo 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.postimees.ee/1506389/ajaleht-pravda-ja-40-keisri-hullu|title=Ajaleht Pravda ja 40 keisri hullu|first=Lauri|last=Vahtre|date=28 October 2005|work=Postimees|accessdate=25 August 2019|language=Estonian}} 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 the novel Purge (in Finnish Puhdistus) by Sofi Oksanen, Rummo's poetry becomes a symbol of resistance against Russification in Estonia, sprinkled throughout the narrative.{{cite news |title=Purge by Sofi Oksanen |first=

Maya |last=Jaggi |authorlink=Maya Jaggi|newspaper=The Guardian |date=21 August 2010 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/aug/21/purge-sofi-oksanen |accessdate=5 September 2010}}

Selected bibliography

;Poetry

Ankruhiivaja (The Anchor-weigher), 1962
Lumevalgus … lumepimedus (Snow Light ... Snow Darkness), 1966
Saatja aadress ja teised luuletused 1968-1972 (Sender's Address and Other Poems 1968-1972), 1989.
The September Sun. Facing bilingual with English translations by Ritva Poom. Cross-Cultural Communications, 1994.

;Plays