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= Aldis Bukss = Aldis Bukss (Aldis Bukšs) (born August 21, 1985) is a Latvian crime writer, lawyer, financier, and politician. His last thriller “Brāļi” (“The Brothers”) become the first crime novel published in Latgalian. Also in 2021 it was translated and published in Lithuanian.

Biography
Bukss was born in 1985 in Balvi and grew up in Baltinava. During high school, he completed also Baltinava Music and Art School. In 2007 he graduated from the University of Latvia with a degree in Political science and in 2013 with a degree in Law. Parallel to his studies, he enrolled Latvian National Armed Forces and in 2005 obtained the rank of junior reserve instructor (corporal).

He began his career working in the banking sector where he spent almost ten years. After that, he joined The Ministry of Economics, but from the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2022 worked as the Head of Office and advisor for the Minister of Justice. During this period he worked on such issues as establishing The Court of Economic Affairs, establishing The Academy of Justice, real estate tax reform, joint ownership reform , decision promoting process of building the first non-soviet times prison in Latvia, promoting government lead actions to save the Latgalian language and strengthening security in Latgale , etc.

In 2021 he took part in the municipal elections of Balvi Municipality and was elected to the council from Konservatīvie (The Conservatives).

Literary career
After this career experience in the banking sector, in 2015 he published his debut novel – the crime novel “Parādu piedzinēji” (“The Debt Collectors”). The novel takes place during the economic crisis of 2008. Mainly in Latvia, but also in the United Kingdom, and Spain. The main character Ritvars arrives in his native Riga and finds out that his father has been unable to cover his bank loan, and the Leidumi family is on the brink of losing their mortgaged flat where they are living. Ritvars understands that he needs to do something to help find the money. So he becomes a debt collector…

In 2016 “The Debt Collectors” was nominated for autumn selection for the Latvian public broadcaster's annual award “Kilograms kultūras” in the category “Best Debut”.

Also, he is a co-screenwriter of the Latvian fiction feature "Maiņa" (“The Shift”) (2020), which received the Latvian National Film Award for the best debut. “The Shift” is a crime drama, which tells about one-night events in the life of a young taxi driver in Riga.

In December 2020, one of the leading Latvian publishing houses “Dienas grāmata” published Bukss second novel – a thriller “Brāļi” (“The Brothers”). Latvian ex-prisoner Edgars comes out from prison in Helsinki and goes straight away to Tartu (Estonia) to search for his missing youngest brother. He has suspicions that his missing is related to Edgar’s crime and unpaid debts some years ago. One of the clues is an ancient abandoned bunker of the national partisans in the middle of a deep forest in Estonia.

It’s a story about a situation in Latvian rural areas next to the European Union border with Russia, Latvian immigrants in the United Kingdom, narcotrafficking, illegal immigrants who are crossing the Latvian-Russian border, heritage of Latvian/Estonian national partisans, tensions between Estonian and Russian secret services and after all – about love between two brothers. “The Brothers” become the first crime novel published also in Latgalian – a type of Latvian language which mainly is spoken in the Latgale region. In 2021 “The Brothers” won the Annual Latgalian culture award “Boņuks”.

In late 2021 “The Brothers” was published in Lithuanian by publisher “Litera” under the title “Broliai’.

Novels

 * Parādu piedzinēji (2015) (English: The Debt Collectors)
 * Brāļi (2020) (English: The Brothers)
 * Bruoli (2020) (Parallel edition in the Latgalian)
 * Broliai (2021) (translation of The Brothers in Lithuanian)

Film

 * Maiņa (2020) (English: The Shift; co-screenwriter)