Regina Ezera belongs to the generation of writers who began their careers after World War II and is one of the most prominent figures in modern Latvian literature. Her more than thirty works of prose bring to life the land-its fields, streams, and forests-and the people of Latvia. Her writing combines realism with late-modernist aesthetics, and her work includes the genres of novel, novella, short story, and essay. Her major themes are frequently psychological, exploring the relationship between humans and nature-the place of humans in the chain of being and of destiny.

Ezera was born Regina Samreto on 20 December 1930 to Lucija and Roberts Samreto in Riga. Her father was a bookkeeper, and her mother was a nurse. From her father, she believes she inherited her sense of irony and humor, and from her mother, an extreme sensitivity and restlessness. Regina began her education in Riga's Elementary School No...