Mindaugas Valiukas (b. 1976) - poet, prose writer, playwright. In 1994-1996 he studied Lithuanian language and literature at the Lithuanian State University of Latvia, in 2001 he graduated from the KU with a bachelor's degree in Lithuanian philology and theatre studies. The first publications of his poems appeared in the youth magazine "Moksleivis" in 1991. In the twelfth grade he won the Republican Competition of Young Philologists in the poetry section, in 1996 he became a laureate of the P. Lembert Competition, in 1999 his first collection of poetry "Mėnulio keramika" was awarded the Z. The first prize for the best debut of the year was the Gaidamavičius-Gėlė Prize. Later, he published collections of poems "Vogta nainis" (2003), "Dambrelis" (2006), and in 2005 he published a collection of plays "Kreatyvo smrtis" (Death of a Creator). Valiukas is close to poetic speaking from a playful, non-committal distance, but with a penetrating existential concern.