Estonian writer Jim Ashilevi speaks about his book and coping with loss
In Estonia, writer, theatre director and game developer Jim Ashilevi spoke about working on a new book, which he wrote from 2017 to 2025, and about coping with loss after the deaths of people close to him. As ERR News reports, the book was published in the Loomingu Raamatukogu series, which prints only two or three original manuscripts each year.
A book about loss
According to Ashilevi, an early version of the manuscript emerged after the death of Margus Karu in 2017. At the time, the publication Sirp asked the author to write an obituary, and this text remained the first chapter of the future book for a long time. Later, together with editor Maja Tammjärv, he reworked the structure and shortened the manuscript.
The writer said that several other people close to him died during the six months following Karu's death. He described a period when funerals began to seem like an almost ordinary part of life. Shortly before the book went to print, his father also died; the author writes about their relationship as well. Ashilevi decided not to add this loss to the completed text, considering it a subject for a possible different book.
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Work and family
Ashilevi called writing a way to understand his own feelings and cope with grief. He wanted the text to combine difficult experiences with everyday life and not be reduced solely to despair. The author also spoke about depression: according to him, for a person in such a state, the lightness, humour or cheerfulness of others may seem impossible or a manifestation of frivolity.
Alongside the book, Ashilevi wrote the text for the choral work “Kauge kaja,” translated Dennis Kelly's play “Orphans” for the Tallinn City Theatre, and worked on ZA/UM studio's game “Zero Parades: For Dead Spies.” Towards the end of his work on the game, he spent several weeks, including an entire month, in London, while his partner and children remained in Tallinn. Now, he said, his work pace has slowed: he is translating another play for the Tallinn City Theatre and wants to devote more time to family and friends.
