Baumanis Grant from AABS

“Congratulations to James Montgomery Baxenfield, recipient of the 2022–2023 Baumanis Grant for Creative Projects in Baltic Studies”

The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) awarded James Montgomery Baxenfield (Tallinn University) a 2023–2024 Baumanis Grant for Creative Projects in Baltic Studies. The project, Finding Morta, investigates legends and folklore positing the Latgalian origin of the first and only Queen of Lithuania, Morta Mindaugienė (c. 1210/1215–1262). The project will result in a book, Finding Morta: In Search of the Lost Baltic Queen (working title), a creative work with an academic core that is composed of three distinct components: 1) a comprehensive historiographical study; 2) a travelogue of expeditions to Latgale; and, 3) a piece of creative non-fiction that incorporates information from the first two sections. Specifically, the Baumanis Grant for Creative Projects in Baltic Studies will be used to undertake fieldwork expeditions in the Latgale region, to both collect and investigate folktales about Morta. These activities will primarily be presented within the travelogue component of the book that recounts the search for physical and anecdotal evidence of Morta within the Latgale region.

Read the announcement on the AABS website.