INESE ZANDERE writes for adults as well as for children. Critics have described her poetry as belonging to the new simplicity genre – in which an apparent simplicity and very direct emotional affect is achieved through refined and studied means. It is possibly for this reason that her poems are so often set to music by composers (Valts Pūce, Arturs Maskats, Jānis Lūsēns, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Līga Celma-Kursiete, Pēteris Vasks, Raimonds Pauls, Renārs Kaupers, among others). Zandere studied philosophy, and was one of the founders and editors of Rīgas Laiks magazine. Since 2004 she has worked as senior editor of children’s literature publisher Liels un mazs. She has authored librettos for Jēkabs Nīmanis’ chamber opera The Return of Lysistrata, Jānis Lūsēns’ musical The Snow Queen, Potato Operas written by various composers, Imants Zemzaris’ and Rihards Dubra’s Sunshine in the Hospital, among others.