Heiki Vilep

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Heiki Vilep (born March, 1960 in Tartu, Estonia) is an Estonian writer.

[edit] About

Heiki Vilep represents the Estonian new children’s literature which during the last ten years has gone through numerous significant changes and developments. These developments include the progress of information technology and visual media which tends to dominate over traditional literature. Estonian children's literature has recovered from the low point it experienced in the nineties. The upheaval is characterised by an increase in the number of original publications and improvement in the quality and design of publications. Children’s literature which is supposed to associate with ethical, aesthetic and social development of young generations has become a part of an entertainment industry called children’s culture. One cannot become a successful children’s writer without realising and following this development. In this thesis I observe the extraliterary factors influencing the development of new Estonian children’s literature. The development of re-independence time Estonian children’s literature is characterised by the domination of translated literature which introduced the market with badly translated and edited yet colourful books. It became evident that for a book's success it does not only have to be well written but also well designed. Modeled on colourful translated books of western origin Heiki Vilep's books for children have always had high quality colour illustrations. Publishing children's books with superior illustrations has always been one of his foremost aims. Heiki Vilep is also the first children's writer to open his own homepage on the Internet, a fact that has greatly increased his popularity among children of the Internet generation. In addition to these extraliterary features Heiki Vilep is also quite simply a talented children's writer. He has written prose and poetry; realistic and fantasy stories. His poems are humorous and have excellent punchlines but he is also an appreciated lyrical poet. His main goal is to create joy. Heiki Vilep's perception of the world is a source of joy. He has created a bright, harmonic, and secure world where the relations between parents and children are always good. Vilep's fantasy stories have been created with didactic purpose; for example they teach children to appreciate silence or how not to be afraid of darkness. Heiki Vilep's most popular realistic stories are Liisu stories. They describe the world through the eyes of a little girl, Liisu. Through doing that the author enables the reader to become one with the fictional child in the narrator's position. The main prototypes for Heiki Vilep's characters are his children. His stories are mainly addressed to children 5-10 years of age but they are also provide a pleasant reading for adults. Vilep's literature is always printed in capital letters in order to be more accessible for children who are learning to read. Heiki Vilep's books are written from a child's viewpoint. He uses childish language and naļve style. In his poetry the important facets are the ideas and moods not experiments in rhyme and rhythm. Heiki Vilep is an author who has had considerable influence over development of Estonian children's literature scene. Humorous contents and attractive packaging appeals to children who may have previously shunned reading. I would like to express the hope that with this thesis I have managed to analyse and record the development of one of the Estonia's future children's literature classic authors.

Eike Metspalu (baccalaureus artium)