Vizma's father had drinking problems, which aggravated when he lost his job as a baker during the Great Depression.

Vizma Belševica was born on May 30, 1931, in pre-war Riga, then the capital of democratic Latvia, where she spent most of her childhood.

Receiving the Nobel Prize was her childhood dream; she, as a poor but bright girl, spent much of her time reading classical literature.

Her most notable poetry collections are Jūra deg (The Sea is Burning, 1966), Gadu gredzeni (Rings of the Years, 1969), Madarās (In My Lady's Bedstraw, 1976), Kamola tinēja (The Clew Winder, 1981), Dzeltu laiks (Autumn Time, 1987).

Her poems were translated into English by Inara Cedrins for the anthology Contemporary Latvian Poetry published by the University of Iowa Press in 1983.

[3] From the 1980s onwards, Belševica has been regularly present on the Swedish literary scene, (translator Juris Kronbergs), books of her poetry and Bille stories have enjoyed immense critical success and wide readership there.