Education
Čaklais studied journalism at the University of Latvia until 1964. His first publications appeared in 1960.
Čaklais studied journalism at the University of Latvia until 1964. His first publications appeared in 1960.
He translated to Latvian Bertolt Brecht, Paul Celan, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Rainer Maria Rilke, among others He also wrote the lyrics, set to Imants Kalniņš music in the Rolands Kalniņš movie "Elpojiet dziļāk!” (Breathe Deeper!) and Ferenc Molnár"s play "Liliom". Čaklais worked at the newspapers "Literatūra un Māksla" (Literature and Art) and "Literatūra un Māksla Latvijā” (Literature and Art in Latvia), and for the Radio Free Europe.
From 2000 to 2003, he was the editor-in-chief of the literary journal "Karogs".
He died in Riga in 2003.
In 2000, Čaklais was a member of the Latvian delegation to the European writers project Literature Express Europe 2000.