As a young man, Ziedonis worked in a wide variety of jobs ranging from librarian to road construction worker and from teacher to literary editor.
By the end of the decade, he had established himself as among the preeminent voices of Latvian literature through publishing three more important collections of poetry: 'Sirds dinamīts' (1963, 'Heart's Dynamite'), 'Motocikls' (1965, 'Motorcycle'), and 'Es ieeju sevī' (1968, 'I Enter Myself').
Ziedonis considered defecting to the West but chose to remain in Latvia to preserve from what he perceived as Russian destruction the best of Latvian literature in the National Library.
A leading voice in the perestroika period toward the end of the Soviet occupation era, Ziedonis was an outspoken advocate of freer expression and the growth of the Latvian Cultural Fund.
[4] Following Latvian independence from the Soviet Union, Ziedonis in 1995 was awarded the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia's highest honor for civic merit to the nation.
Ziedonis was held in highest esteem, indicated by the fact that the prime minister ordered the formation of a special committee for organization of the funeral.
It was realised by a graphic designer Andra Petersone, and the portrait of Ziedonis that is depicted on the stamp is based on the poet's photograph by Leonid Tugalev, which took the first place in an international photo contest in Spain in 1982.