Tomas Venclova (born September 11, 1937, Klaipėda) is a Lithuanian scholar, poet, author and translator of literature. Tomas Venclova is son of poet and Soviet politician Antanas Venclova. He was educated at Vilnius University. As an active participant in the dissident movement he was deprived of Soviet citizenship in 1977 and had to emigrate. He is one of the founders of Lithuanian Helsinki Watch group (December 1, 1976). Venclova studied at Tartu University and was strongly influenced by the brand of structuralism prevalent there in the 1970s and 1980s.
