Anna I•••

About

On the record

Since changing the course of my life more than a decade ago—after many years as an arts journalist covering the scene in the Baltics and Scandinavia—I’ve been living with my family – Emīls, Kristians, Niklāvs, and our dog Nemo – in an old wooden house in the coastal city of Jūrmala, Latvia. Our home sits on a dune peninsula between the River Lielupe and the Gulf of Riga. The sugar sand beach stretches for 24 kilometers, and the ever-shifting sea slowly transformed me. I began reading everything I could about our blue planet, and in 2018, I opened the Sea Library with 100 books. Seven years later, it has grown into a collection of titles in Latvian, English, German, Spanish, and French. The library lives in a room of our hundred-year-old home. For seven years, the Sea Library was open to the public, but in 2025, I began a new chapter—exploring global connection through letters, parcels, and postcards. Books can now be borrowed worldwide, while the Sea Library doors are physically closed. The Sea Library is not just a library; it is an ever-growing social artwork, exploring how communities can form around an idea as vast and enchanting as the sea. Its an journey of passion, kindness, trust and curiosity. Since 2024, I’ve been represented by Allison Remcheck Pernetti of Stimola Literary Studio. The Sea Library has been featured in Sirene Magazine, on BBC Radio 4, LitHub, IR Magazine and elsewhere. On the summer solstice of 2022, I joined the National Library of Latvia. My little Sea Library paved the way for me to enter a new professional field. I believe in libraries and am passionate about their place in the world. I’m currently working on a book about libraries across the globe that are connected to water and the sea. During the day, I advocate for librarians in Latvia as editor of the Latvian Libraries Portal at the National Library. It is the best job I’ve ever had. After work, you’ll often find me wandering the winding paths to the sea with bordercollie Nemo by my side.