Kārlis Vērdiņš is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the Washington University in St. Louis and a researcher at the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art, University of Latvia. He is interested in Central and East European Literature, Modernism, and Queer Studies. He has published five collections of poems and three books for children as well as translations. He is the co-editor of the book Queer Stories of Europe (with Jānis Ozoliņš, 2016).
In Latvia, the black carnation is much more than a flower. Kārlis Vērdiņš traces the symbol from private gay gatherings to tabloid scandals to contemporary pride.
