Virgilijus Juozas Čepaitis (November 8, 1937 in Šakiai

Šakiai

Šakiai is a city in the Marijampolė County, Lithuania. It is located west of Kaunas. It is presumed that Šakiai first expanded from Šakaičai village. By 1719 a church in Šakiai was built. By the 19th century Šakiai already had city rights; it also had a school, Catholic and Lutheran churches, a...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

) is a Lithuanian publisher and translator, best known for his involvement in the Sąjūdis

Sajudis

Sąjūdis initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania, is the political organization which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on June 3, 1988 and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis...

 independence movement. He was the Executive Secretary of Sąjūdis and a member of its Initiative Group. He was also a signatory of the Declaration of the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania

Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania

The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of March 11 was an independence declaration by the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted on March 11, 1990...

 on March 11, 1990.

In 1961 Čepaitis graduated from Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

's Maxim Gorky Literature Institute

Maxim Gorky Literature Institute

The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute is a higher education institute in Moscow. It is located at 25 Tver Bulvar in Central Moscow.It was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, and received its current name at Gorky's death in 1936....

. Čepaitis is married to Auksuolė Čepaitienė. They have three children and live in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

.

Positions held

• 1958–1988 – free-lance translator;
• 1988–1989 – the chief-editor of the film company "ARS";
• 1989–1990 – the executive secretary of the Sąjūdis Movement;
• 1990–1992 – Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee for Civil Rights and Ethnic Minorities;
• Chairman of the Sąjūdis faction, the member of the Lithuanian delegation in the negotiations with Russia in 1990–1991. Head of the Lithuanian delegation in the non-official negotiations with the Soviet Union in Hague, organised by De Burght consultations, 1991;
• 1993–1996 – the chief-editor of the publishing company "Litera";
• 1996–2001 – the director of the publishing company "Tvermė".
• Since 2001 – the owner of the publishing company "Librum"

Social and political positions

• Since 1968 – member of the Lithuanian Writers Union;
• 1988 – member of the Initiative Group of the Lithuanian Reform Movement (Sąjūdis);
• 1988–1990 – member of the Sąjūdis' Seimas Council;
• 1989–1994 – Chairman of the Lithuania-Poland Association;
• 1990–1992 – Chairman of the Independence Party;
• 1990–1992 – Chairman of Stasys Šalkauskis Cultural Foundation;
• Since 2003 – member of Lithuanian Translators Union.
• Since 1993 – member of the Association of Signatories of the Independence Act

Literary works

Čepaitis has translated 59 books, namely translations from English to Lithuanian (including stories and plays of A. A. Milne

A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...

, J. O'Neal, William Saroyan

William Saroyan

William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...

, James Thurber

James Thurber

James Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...

, Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

); books from Lithuanian to Russian (novels and stories of Lithuanian writers J. Aputis, J. Avyžius, J. Baltušis, V. Bubnys, R. Granauskas, R. Lankauskas, J. Mikelinskas, Kazys Saja, Ieva Simonaitytė, V. Sirijos Gira, etc.); books from Polish to Russian (stories and plays of T. Karpowicz, S. Lem, S. Mrozek, etc.).

He is the author of a screenplay for the film "Virto ąžuolai" (Oak Trees Fell) (1976).

Awards

• The Medal of Lithuanian Independence (awarded on July 1, 2000)
• The Award of Commemoration of Lithuania's membership of NATO (awarded on July 25, 2002)