Petras Cvirka (born March 12, 1909, Klangai, Kovno Governorate – died May 2, 1947, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian author of several novels, children's books, and short story collections. He wrote under a variety of noms de plume:

A. Cvingelis

Cezaris Petrėnas

J. K. Pavilionis

K. Cvirka

Kanapeikus

Kazys Gerutis

Klangis

Klangis Petras

Klangių Petras

L. P. Cvirka

Laumakys

P. Cvinglis

P. Cvirka-Rymantas

P. Gelmė

P. Veliuoniškis

Petras Serapinas

S. Laumakys.

His works were translated into Belorussian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, and Uzbek.

Biography of Petras Cvirka

Cvirka attended an art school in Kaunas between 1926 and 1930. However, after graduation he drifted away from visual arts to literature. He began publishing poetry in 1924 and studied literature in Paris during 1931 and 1932. He translated 9 books and 34 shorter works from French into Lithuanian. Later in the decade he traveled to Moscow, Leningrad, and western Europe. He joined the Communist Party in 1940 and supported Lithuania's incorporation into the Soviet Union.

In 1941, after the outbreak of war between Germany and the Soviet Union, he moved to Alma-Ata and then Moscow. Here he joined the Union of Writers of the USSR. Returning to Lithuania in 1944, he went on to serve as chairman of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic's Writer's Union and as editor of the journal Pergalė (Victory). After Cvirka's death in 1947, the Soviet authorities erected a monument to his memory in Vilnius. This monument became the object of controversy after restoration of independence in 1990 due to Cvirka's pro-communist activities. There were calls for its removal.

Works

Cvirka's works combine biting commentary on social issues with keen feelings for the natural world. His works are also known for their wit and strong dialogue. The novel Meisteris ir sūnūs depicts the folk art of Lithuania in a new way. It incorporates plentiful folkloric and ethnographic details of Lithuanian village life and attempts to translate rich oral traditions into the written medium. A prominent example of socialist realism, the novel Žemė maitintoja depicts an ideal new socialist man. The protagonist is a young, non-religious, determined farmer, who received his land as a result of the land reform when estates of former nobility were divided among the poor.

He has no emotional attachment to his land, rather perceiving the economic benefits of collective farming. This is an example of a person who needs to be created by communism. The two-volume Frank Kruk is a satirical novel about Pranas Krukelis, a Lithuanian immigrant to the United States who Americanized his name to Frank Kruk. Krukelis engages in criminal activity and exploits other Lithuanian immigrants. A theatrical adaptation was on stage in Klaipėda in 2003. Vytautas Paukštė received the Lithuanian National Prize for his portrayal of Kruk. Petras Cvirka was the first writer to address the Lithuanian partisans, anti-Soviet guerrilla fighters, in the short story Pabučiavimas. This was one of his last works.