'Shape of Time' is Doris Kareva's eleventh collection and, as with all her books, its publication was hailed as a major literary event in Estonia. In style, it is more restrained than her earlier collections but its themes are the same - love and its great enemies, death and time - and the poems still retain the romantic bravado and recklessness that make her work so compelling. Doris Kareva is arguably Estonia's leading female poet. Born in Tallinn in 1958, she studied English Language and Literature at Tartu University and from 1978-1993, and from 1997-2002, she worked for the cultural weekly Sirp. From 1992-2008 she was the Secretary-General of the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO in Estonia, and from 2009 Chief Editor of the family journal Meie Pere. Since 1978 she has published 14 collections of poetry, which have been translated into over 20 languages, and one collection of essays.

Translated by: Tiina Aleman