Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, who recently returned from a state visit to the People’s Republic of China, now has the United Kingdom on her agenda. She plans to visit London and Wales
from May 11-13.

Details of the trip still being finalized, the president’s press secretary, Aiva Rozenberga, told Latvians Online.

A planned visit by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to Latvia this week was canceled at the last minute and has not yet been rescheduled. Straw also was to visit Estonia and Lithuania. The trip was canceled, according to media reports, because Straw needs to be in London in anticipation of a major speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair about the European Union’s constitution.

A husband and wife from Jūrmala, Latvia, both earned top spots in the 108th running of the Boston Marathon on April 19, according to official results.

Jeļena Prokopčuka, 27, finished 23rd overall, but was fourth among all female runners. Her official time was 2:30:16. She also was fourth in her division, according to results posted on the Boston Marathon’s Web site.

Her husband, 36-year-old Alexander Prokopčuks, finished 11th overall with an official time of 2:23:48. He also was ninth in his division.

The 26-mile (42-kilometer) course was won by runners from Kenya. Timothy Cherigat won the men’s open race with an official time of 2:10:37, while Catherine Ndereba won the women’s open in 2:24:27.

The Boston Marathon is organized by the Boston Athletic Association.

According to the magazine Runner’s World, Prokopčuks holds the record for the best time by a runner from Latvia, finishing in a time of 2:15:56 in the 1995 marathon in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The 14th running of the Rīga Marathon is scheduled May 15, beginning at noon at the Freedom Monument in downtown Rīga. Further information about the marathon is available from runner and statistician Gunārs Akerbergs’ Web site www.marathon.lv.

The spring issue of Descant, a literary quarterly published in Toronto, Canada, features the work of several Latvian writers and photographers.

Writers Pauls Bankovskis, Nora Ikstena and Knuts Skujenieks traveled to Canada to participate in an April 15 ceremony launching the issue, says the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The journal is showcasing several different styles across several generations of Latvian writers. Translation and coordination of the project was the work of Margita Gailīte.

Others featured in the journal, according to the daily newspaper Diena and Descant, are poets and writers Amanda Aizpuriete, Vizma Belševica, Gunta Berele, Uldis Bērziņš, Modris Ekšteins, Jānis Elsbergs, Klāvs Elsbergs, Diana Kiesners, Juris Kronbergs, Liāna Langa, Laima Muktupāvela, Andra Neiburga, Aleksandrs Pelēcis, Edvīns Raupa, Gundega Repše, Māra Zālīte and Mārtiņš Zelmenis, as well as photographs by Inta Ruka and Zelmenis.

Publication of the Latvian issue of Descant was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Travel to Canada for the three writers was supported by Latvijas Kultūrkapitāla fonds, Latvijas Literatūras centrs, the Latvian National Association in Canada and the Latvian Embassy in Ottawa.

Bankovskis, Ikstena and Skujenieks also will meet with writers and members of the Latvian communities in Ottawa and Montreal, the foreign ministry said.

Further information about the journal is available by visiting www.descant.on.ca.