Though born and educated in Estonia, Kalju Lepik became one of the best-known poets of the younger generation while in exile. A member of the émigré community that developed in Sweden in the 1940s as a result of World War II (that included established writer Marie Under), Lepik became an active public figure in cultural and literary circles, renowned both for his own verse and for his fierce commitment to the preservation of Estonian literature that languished under Soviet domination. Lepik's poetry is valued for his startling modernist imagery and sophisticated treatment of folkloric elements.

Kalju Lepik was born on 7 October 1920 in Koeru, Estonia, to Hilda and Bernhard Lepik. Shortly after his birth, Lepik's parents divorced. In 1926 his mother remarried, and Lepik grew up with three stepsisters. From 1928 to 1934 he attended the Koeru primary school, and in 1939 he graduated from the Tartu Commercial Secondary School, having...