Sandra Kalniete

Sandra Kalniete (born December 22, 1952) is Latvia's EU commisionner.

Kalniete was born in Togur, Tomsk Oblast, Russia where her family was deported from Latvia during Stalin's era. She studied art at Latvian Academy of Art from 1977 to 1981 and worked as an art historian, publishing a book Latvian textile art in 1989. She joined politics in 1988, during Latvia's independence movement, and was a deputy chairman of Latvian Popular Front, the main pro-independence political organization.

After Latvia declaring independence, Kalniete worked in Latvia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Latvia's embassador to UN (from 1993 to 1997), France (from 1997 to 2000) and UNESCO (from 2000 to 2002). She became the Foreign Minister of Latvia in November 2002 and served in this position until being nominated for Latvia's EU Commisionner in 2004.

She is an author of three books:

• Latviesu tekstilmaksla (Latvian Textile Art), 1989.
• Es lauzu, tu lauzi, mes lauzam. Vini luza (I broke, you broke, we broke. They fell apart), a book about Latvia's independence movement, published in 2000.
• Ar balles kurpem Sibirijas sniegos (With dancing shoes in Siberian snows), a book about the deportation of her family to Siberia during Stalin era, published in 2001.

The last book was also published in French as En escarpins dans les neiges de Sibérie and was nominated for the documentary book of the month by the readers of ELLE magazine.