‘Aldona Liobytė. Smiling Resistance' was the title of one of the first books about the writer, publicist and interpreter Aldona Liobytė. Being a very active person with a strong sense of humour, Liobytė initiated and led informal networks among the Lithuanian intelligentsia. She kept up social ties and correspondence with many artists, discussing and making suggestions about creative work and everyday life, as well as supporting the ideas of the younger generation of artists. Through her personal ties and networks, she expressed an outlook (usually in the form of humour, irony or sarcasm) that had a sense of the existence beyond official Soviet ideology. Between 1941 and 1961, Liobytė worked as editor-in-chief of children’s literature at the Grožinės literatūros leidykla (Literary Fiction publishers). As editor-in-chief, she promoted Lithuanian folk culture and its adaptation as children’s literature. In 1957, she and the composer Julius Juzeliūnas wrote an opera libretto for Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas’ novel Sukilėliai (The Rebels). Putinas (1893-1967) is a famous Lithuanian poet and writer, who had very difficult relations with the Soviet regime. Sometimes he is called the father of the silent resistance, because of his attempts to promote Lithuanian culture in grey, negotiated areas with the regime. Although his novel Sukilėliai was published, the development and public performance of the opera was prevented by the authorities. Because of the libretto, and because of her attempts to promote Lithuanian ethnic culture, Liobytė was accused of nationalism. She was eventually forced to leave her position as editor-in-chief in 1961. She continued to work in the cultural sphere, writing for children and the younger generation. Translating from other languages was also an important activity and reliable source of income for her family.
According to Markauskienė, the head of the Department of Contemporary Literature at the Maironis Literature Museum, Liobytė was a genuine member of the cultural elite, with social ties and experience that went back to the prewar cultural life of Lithuania. She was born during the First World War in 1915 into a family of the Lithuanian intelligentsia, and grew up in Vilnius, which belonged at the time to Poland. Having lived in an untrusting environment under a hostile political regime, she moved to Lithuania only in 1935. Nevertheless, having studied the Polish language and literature at Stephen Bathory University in Vilnius between 1932 and 1935, it became very useful to her later during Soviet times. Through her knowledge of Polish culture, she acquired a sense of how cultural tendencies in Europe could help artistic and cultural figures in Lithuania, expressed mostly in her letters.
