Writer and former member of Seimas Algirdas Pocius dies

Algirdas Pocius was born in 1930. August 28 In Ketūnai, Mažeikiai district. He has studied at Seda High School. 1952 graduated from the Klaipėda Teacher Institute, specialized in Lithuanian language and literature. Since 1952 He worked as an editor, correspondent for the Klaipėda Radio Committee, since 1954. He was a radio correspondent in Šiauliai. 1955 moved to Vilnius to work as editor of radio literature programs. From 1956 he worked for Švyturys magazine. 1958-1963 was prose consultant to the Lithuanian Writers Union, 1963-1981. – Secretary of the Board, 1981-1986 -Vice President. 1992-1996 was a member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. Since 1956 Member of the Union of Writers of Lithuania.

Algirdas Pocius made his debut with a collection of Rytmetis stories in the village of Užgiriai (1955), later he published several more collections of stories, reflecting the themes of life, work, morality and the poeticization of the spiritual beauty of the common man: Sixteen keys (1960), Verpet (1963), Only two children 1966), Scars in a tree (1969). In other short story collections Dissolved in the Mist (1972), Through the Fields to the City (1979), Out of the Nest (1980), In the Shadow of July (1984), In the Swing (1989), Oblivion (1990) ), Second Cousin (2000), prevails rural everyday life, moral conflicts, descriptions of nature. The historical novel El hostage (1987) narrates the ambiguous political situation in Samogitia in the 16th century. He also wrote stories for children: Goose Egg (1959), Traveler Jacket (1964), Letter on a Slippery Leaf (1977), At the Mound, where he plays (2006), in which the daily episodes of the little ones are related. presented in a fluid narrative. The story Ex-Commissar was also published; One-armed thief; Big Money (2005), Mrs. Amnesty (2007).
His books are translated into Russian, Latvian and Estonian. According to his story “Collapse” from 1967. The movie story “Games for adults” was created.

Algirdas Pocius 1967 was awarded the Žemaitė literary prize for the short story “Only Two Sons” in 1982. State Prize of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic for the book “Flying out of the nest”. Juozas Paukštelis Prize for the book “In the shadow of July”. 1980 he was awarded the title of Deserved Cultural Figure of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Lithuanian Writers Union expresses its deepest condolences to Algirdas Pocius’s wife Elena, their children Giedrius and Mindaugas, and other relatives, friends and colleagues.