Vladimir Beekman

Vladimir Beekman (born 23 August 1929 – 3 October 2009) was an Estonian writer, poet and translator.

After completing his primary education, he attended the Tallinn University of Technology and graduated in 1953 with a degree in chemistry. From 1953 to 1956, he was head of the fiction department at the Estonian National Publishing House [et], after which he decided to become a freelance writer.

After 1968, he served on the board of the Estonian Writers' Union, rising from Secretary to Chairman, in 1983. He was also involved in politics, being a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Estonia [et] and representing Estonia in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In 1975, he was named an Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR.

He was married to Aimée Beekman, a graduate of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, who was also a successful and widely translated author. They worked together on an important film, Fellow Villagers, that showed some freedom from Soviet control. The plot involved an unsuccessful espionage attempt from a Western country, but it did exhibit some Post-Stalinist freedoms. In particular, it explored the daily problems of fishermen who are portrayed as real people with alternative views which are not cast as either right or wrong.