Mati Sirkel

Sirkel was married to artist Kadri Mälk until her death in 2023.

In October 1980, Sirkel was a signatory of the Letter of 40 Intellectuals, a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the Estonian language and protested the Russification policies of the Kremlin in Estonia. The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band Propeller.

In the early 1980s, he translated a large number of Carl Michael Bellman's songs from Swedish, and together with Ott Arder he translated Bellman's stories into Fredman's Epistles & Songs, as well as wrote foreword to the book. In addition, Sirkel has also translated scientific literature, including Johan Huizinga's The Task of Cultural History. A Selection of Articles, Essays, Speeches.

He was born in Paide. In 1972 he graduated from Tartu State University with degrees in literary theory and German philology. From 1972 until 1975, he worked as a junior researcher at the Institute of Language and Literature. Beginning in 1975, he worked for a year at the Estonian Literary Museum. From 1976 until 1979, he worked at the publishing house Perioodika. Since 1982 he is a professional translator. In 1989, he joined the Estonian Writers' Union, in 1990, he became the secretary of the union, and from 1995 until 2004, the chairman of the board.

Mati Sirkel (born 12 October 1949) is an Estonian translator and writer.