Guntars Godiņš, the artistic director of the Poetry Ride, has received the order of the Lion of Finland awarded by president of Finland Sauli Niinistö. The order was presented to Godiņš by ambassador of Finland in Latvia, Pirkko Hämäläinen at a ceremony in the embassy on 2nd of October. Godiņš was  given the order for his contribution to cultivating the cultural ties between Latvia and Finland.

Guntars Godiņš is one of the most active translators of Finnish literature into Latvian. He has translated numerous Finnish authors as well as folk poetry. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Poetry Ride, travelling festival that has strenghtened the literary ties between Latvia, Finland and other countries of Northern Europe since 2006. Many of his latest translations from Finnish language stem from the Poetry Ride, such as Kad gos smei (Ko lehm kikatta), the best-selling collection by Heli Laaksonen.

In addition to his work in the Poetry Ride Godiņš translates actively from Finnish and Estonian languages and works for the literary magazine Latvju Teksti. Previously he has been awarded Ojāra Vaciesa Literary Prize (1993), Dzejas Dienas poetry award ( 2003, 2005 ) and the International Baltic Sea Jāņis Baltvilks Prize for Children Literature and Illustration ( 2013 ) . He has received the Literary Award for translation of poetry twice, in 2002 for a translation of Estonian folk poetry and in 2012 for his translation of Heli Laaksonen's Kad gos smei.