Imants Ziedonis (May 3, 1933 - February 27, 2013) was a Latvian poet who first rose to fame during the Soviet period of Latvia.

Ziedonis was born in the Sloka fisherman's district of Jūrmala, Latvia. He was educated at the University of Latvia in Riga where he earned a degree in philology in 1959. He earned an additional degree in advanced literature in Moscow in 1964. As a young man, Ziedonis worked in a wide variety of jobs ranging from librarian to road construction worker and from teacher to literary editor.

Following Latvian independence from the Soviet Union, Ziedonis in 1995 was awarded the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia's highest honor for civic merit to the nation. He has also been nominated for The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award - the world's largest prize for children's literature.

He passed away in 2013. Ziedonis was held in highest esteem, indicated by the fact that the prime minister ordered formation of a special committee for organization of the funeral. He is buried in Ragaciema Cemetery, Lapmezciema County, Engure Region.

The charity fund Viegli, created in 2010, to aid the realization of the ideas of Imants Ziedonis, has released first an album of songs with words by Ziedonis simply entitled Viegli. The second album, entitled Vakars, was released in 2011, and featured a number of different Latvian musicians.

The stamp Imants Ziedonis Will Bloom Eternally was the winner in the stamp design contest organized in social networks by Latvijas Pastsand in 2014. It was realised by a graphic designer Andra Petersone, and the portrait of Ziedonis that is depicted on the stamp is based on the poet's photograph by Leonid Tugalev, which took the first place in an international photo contest in Spain in 1982.

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