As September ushers in the vibrant colors of autumn, it also brings a rich array of poetic gatherings across Europe.
Dear Versopolis friends,
As September ushers in the vibrant colors of autumn, it also brings a rich array of poetic gatherings across Europe. This month, we're thrilled to spotlight a record nine dynamic poetry festivals that are lighting up the continent, each offering a unique platform for voices that transcend borders.We’re excited to announce the return of our "Author of the Week" section. Last month two Slovenian and Maltese writers offered fresh perspectives and insights into the world of poetry.Don’t miss the latest episode of the Versopolis Podcast, where we delve into the powerful connection between gratitude and poetry. It's a reflection on how the written word can deepen our appreciation for life’s simplest moments.
With poetic regards,
Your Versopolis teamTHE ART OF GRATITUDE AND POETRYVersopolis podcast #19In the new episode of the Versopolis podcast we talked to the two guests of honour of the Days of Poetry and Wine 2024, Pia Tafdrup and Valzhyna Mort. Together they explain how fairy tales sparked their interest in reading when they were young and how they inevitably serve as early confrontations with death. Pia Tafdrup explained how the senses are used to evoke emotion. Good poetry springs not from misery, but from the tension between love and sadness, the rubbing of opposites. The artist is someone who is acutely aware of how much other people’s thoughts she wears on herself, but is still crazy/brave/patient enough to get to nakedness, the white page within. An enlightening conversation by two masterful storytellers.
Tafdrup is one of Denmark’s most important and widely translated poets. She makes her living exclusively from writing, receiving a lifetime grant from the Danish National Endowment for the Arts since 1999. She was a guest at Vilenica and the Trnovy Tercets and is the recipient of several literary prizes. In 1999, she was awarded the Nordic Council Prize for Literature, Scandinavia’s most prestigious literary prize. She is a member of the Danish Academy of Literature and a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.
Mort, poet and translator, has lived in the USA for almost twenty years, writing and publishing in both her native language and English, in which three acclaimed collections of poetry have been published. She is the recipient of numerous international prizes, including the Vilenica Crystal, the Griffin Prize for Poetry and the Rilke Prize. She is a professor at Cornell University in upstate New York.>> Listen here
Yerevan Book Fest unites writers, book lovers, and publishers through diverse cultural events, including panel discussions, contests, and poetry readings. Alongside live music and dance performances, the festival celebrates storytelling and the human experience, offering a platform for connection and literary exploration.
Poetik Bazar
Showcasing Belgian verse from both sides of the linguistic border (Dutch and French) as well as from across Europe, in various forms, Poetik Bazar, a new and unique bilingual poetry festival in the capital of Belgium, offers the opportunity to discover the vitality of contemporary poetry at the publishers' fair with lectures, workshops, performances and presentations.
Genoa International Poetry Festival
The Genoa International Poetry Festival, founded by Claudio Pozzani in 1995, is Italy's premier poetry event. With 120 free events each year, including readings, performances, concerts, and workshops, it attracts 30,000 visitors to over 30 unique venues across Genoa and the Riviera. The festival has hosted 1,200 poets from 83 countries, including Nobel laureates like Walcott, Soyinka, Coetzee, and Milosz. It promotes cultural exchange, supports young poets, and encourages multilingual dialogue through translation and collaboration with international institutions.
Athens World Poetry Festival
The Athens World Poetry Festival, organized by Poets Circle, transforms the city into a poetic hub for a week, featuring renowned Greek and international poets. Since its founding in 2012, Poets Circle has aimed to bring poetry to the public, and the festival has become a showcase for the world’s best poets. With events like readings, workshops, music, and visual arts across various venues, the festival makes poetry a vibrant part of daily life. It highlights poetry’s role in challenging times and promotes Greek poetry and cultural traditions globally, fostering dialogue between different literary traditions.
Founded in 1997, the one day festival promotes contemporary literature and democratic cultural policies by organizing readings, conferences, and festivals in Hungary and abroad. With nearly 400 members, including renowned Hungarian writers, cultural journalists, and international translators, it collaborates with numerous Hungarian and global organizations to support Hungarian literature and its diasporas.
LitVest
Experience one of Romania's most creative literary festivals: LitVest. Launched in 2012 by Timis County Council and the 'Sorin Titel' Timis County Library, the festival features experimental public readings, concerts with literary elements, and more. Known for hosting Romania’s largest public readings, LitVest brings together diverse groups in dynamic, open structures like ConCentrica and RectiLinia, reflecting the public spaces they occupy. It showcases literature as a celebration of creativity and imagination, connecting it with social and professional groups not often exposed to it.
TRANSLATORIUM Literary and Translation Festival
Curated by the VERBatsiya translation group since 2017, TRANSLATORIUM is Ukraine's only festival dedicated to literary translation and International Translator’s Day. With a new theme each year, the festival features over 20 events, including lectures, readings, workshops, and discussions with translators, poets, writers, and cultural figures from Ukraine and abroad. The festival explores translation as both a linguistic and artistic process, incorporating music and visual arts into its program.
Tbilisi International Festival of Literature
Curated by the VERBatsiya translation group since 2017, TRANSLATORIUM is Ukraine's only festival dedicated to literary translation and International Translator’s Day. With a new theme each year, the festival features over 20 events, including lectures, readings, workshops, and discussions with translators, poets, writers, and cultural figures from Ukraine and abroad. The festival explores translation as both a linguistic and artistic process, incorporating music and visual arts into its program.
Sofia Metaphors
Combining contemporary poetry, prose, music, visual and performing arts in a way that is accessible to a broad urban audience SOFIA METAPHORS is a regular, free, international poetry festival held in the capital of Bulgaria - Sofia. From big names with years of experience to young up-and-coming artists yet to make their names, the primary focus of the festival is poetry as a bridge creating connections between all other arts. >> Find out more about the upcoming festivals
I remember from my early childhood that my father’s greatest wish was to finish his own house. He spent his whole life building other people’s houses so that one day he could build his own. We all believed in his plan, even if it was very slow to materialise. We hoped his wish would come true and he would return home one day. His wish resonated in my mind as I read Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space.>> Keep readingConfessions of a critical mind by Silvija Žnidar
I am a literary critic. Mostly of poetry. Yes, that sounds like a bad confession, as if I’m trying to communicate something that I’m ashamed of. It is a specific statement, though, it also means coming to terms with something you do – to appreciate this, embrace it fully. At the beginning of my ‘career’ (if you can call writing reviews in Slovenia a career; I think not) I was sceptical about this profession myself.>> Keep readingEncoding/decoding white by Clare Azzopardi
I despise white, it bloats me, exposing every flaw. White whispers of purity, of virginity, of the Virgin. It reminds me of hospitals and doctors’ lab coats. It takes me back to milk bottles made of glass and my aversion to their smell, to the dreadful dress I was forced to wear for my first holy Communion, to Nannu’s old Škoda. White is a ‘privilege’, writes Leanne Ellul in her latest collection, Bjuda.>> Keep readingThe Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival by Nadia Mifsud
Maybe you know how to find Malta on a map, but you know (next to) nothing about the Maltese language and even less about Maltese literature. Maltese is a language in its own right, spoken by the 371,000 nationals. The figures above make it immediately clear that anyone writing in Maltese needs translation in order to be visible on the international literary scene. Translation is vital, it is our bridge to the outside world – without it, Maltese writing would remain confined to our borders.>> Keep reading
The 2024 residency season at BAZHAN residency is coming to an end, but not before another guest is welcomed to the lovely Kamianets-Podilskyi — poet and photographer Zaza Paualishvili. He is a laureate of the Smoloskyp publishing house's literary competition, a co-organizer and ideologist of literary events, a multiple-time participant in literary festivals and poetry-music performances, and the author of two photo exhibition projects. Many of his poems have been translated into foreign languages and published in Ukrainian and international anthologies, periodicals, and online publications. He is also a recipient of the PEN Ukraine 2023 scholarship program for Ukrainian writers.
During the residency, Zaza will be working on a new book of poems on the theme of memory: "We have not worked with the past; we have not worked with our memory. We have not called things by their proper names. And this is why the future is impossible. That is why I am working on 'memory' right now, in all its manifestations — from historical research to poetry. This is my therapy, both as a person and as part of a nation." >> More about the residency
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