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Ars Poetica 2005



Four poetic evenings taking place on November 2–5 during the Ars Poetica festival will present authorial performances by over 30 established poets and young talents from 14 countries around the world. Translations of their works will be performed by two renown actors, Lucia Hurajová and Ľuboš Kostelný. The authenticity of the live performances traditionally infuses the festival’s poetry evenings with spontaneous atmosphere and a direct contact between the authors an the audience. In addition to poetry, each of the festival days offers special concerts. We will witness performances by Slovak musicians in the likes of Ľubo Burgr, Zuzana Mojžišová, Petra Fornayová, Požoň sentimentál, but also guests from abroad, such as Blaq Mummy and Ridine Ahmed.

The Ars Poetica civic association, the festival's organizer, is equally committed to representing Slovak literature abroad. A breakthrough success in these efforts is the historically first issue of the British magazine thematically devoted to Slovak poetry. The presentation of the magazine Poetry Wales and the launch of its Slovak counterpart, which introduces British audiences to the works of 8 contemporary Slovak poets, will take place on the opening night of the festival on November 2. It will be followed by a performance of four British poets at A4: Brian McCabe, Rebecca O´Connor, Matthew Hollis and Robert Minhinnick.

Just as in the past two years, the Ars Poetica festival once again hopes to introduce the widest possible spectrum of Slovak authors. Apart from important personalities of Slovak poetry in the likes of Ján Buzássy and Peter Repka or the Hungarian-writing István Bettes, the festival will also welcome Jana Pácalová, winner of the Ivan Krasko Prize, and other young authors such as Penelope Toomey and Róbert Gál. The festival program also includes a presentation of the collected works by a member of the legendary group of poets Lonely Runners, Peter Repka.

In addition to poetry and concerts, the festival offers a rich off program. It mainly revolves around the film section of Ars Poetica, which will present 20 feature-length films, several of which will premiere at our festival, between November 6 and 12 at the A4 Space for Contemporary Culture. The program also includes dance performances and an informative workshop for novice authors. Throughout the duration of the festival, there will be a book stall set up at A4.

This year's festival will be once again accompanied by the publication of an anthology representing probably the most extensive selection of contemporary European poetry in Slovak translation. It was translated by several well-known personalities of Slovak literary translation, such as Miroslava Vallová, Zuzana Szatmáry, Máša Kusá, Marián Andričík, Katarína Laučíková, Peter Macsovszky, Martin Solotruk, Karol Chmel and others.

The Festival is held under the auspices of Branislav Hochel,
the first Deputy Mayor of the city of Bratislava.

Festival program

Wednesday November 2nd, 2005

A4

7 pm Réka Szabó: Clearing The Attic (HU)
Gyula Berger and Friends' Dance Theatre: Center of the Sound (HU)
Ákos Hargitai: Sentimental Memory Again (HU)– contemporary dance performance

8.30 pm British and Irish poets - poetry readings
Brian McCabe (GB)
Rebecca O´Connor (IR)
Matthew Hollis (GB)
Robert Minhinnick (GB)
Visual performance Zdeno Hlinka

21h 30 – Innauguration of the Slovak issue of „Poetry Wales"
22h 00 – Reception

Thursday November 3rd, 2005

A4
7 pm – Poetry readings

Jana Pácalová (SK)
Tomasz Różycki (PL)
Tiziano Fratus (IT)
Wolfgang Kuhn (AT)
Mariangela Gualtieri (IT)
Gwendolyne Albert (USA)
Ján Buzássy (SK)
Artur Punte (LIT)
Sergej Timofejev (LIT)

Visual performance Zdeno Hlinka

9 pm – Concert: Ľubomír Burgr (SK)
Petra Fornayová (SK)
Ridine Ahmed (CZ)

Friday November 4th 2005

A4
7 pm – Poetry readings

Jacek Dehnel (PL)
Róbert Gál (SK)
Uljana Wolf (DE)
Petr Hruška a Yvetta Ellerová (CZ)
István Vörös (HU)
Ivica Prtenjača (HR)
Dariusz Sosnicki (PL)
Yael Globerman (IZ)

Visual performance Zdeno Hlinka

8.30 pm Presentation of the book: Peter Repka: Súborné dielo (Complete works)
9 pm – Concert: Zuzana Mojžišová and Pacora trio (SK)
Blaq Mummy (CZ/USA/UA)

Writer´s Home Budmerice/Domov spisovateľov Budmerice

11 am – Roundtable with European publishers and editors

Saturday November 5th, 2005

A4
7 pm – Poetry readings

Penelope Toomey (SK)
István Bettes (SK)
Ivan Žucha (SK)
Evan Rail (USA)
Petr Borkovec (CZ)
Agnieszka Kuciak (PL)
Alexander Gumz (DE)
Philippe Demeron (FR)
Philippe Dupont (FR)

Visual performance Zdeno Hlinka

9 pm – Požoň Sentimentál a Egon Bondy (SK)

Writer´s Home Budmerice/Domov spisovateľov Budmerice

11 am – Roundtable with Slovak publishers and editors

Artists

brian-mccabe.jpgBrian McCabe (GB) was born in a small mining community near Edinburgh. He studied Philosophy and English Literature at Edinburgh University. He has lived as a freelance writer since 1980. He has held various writing fellowships, including the Novelist in Residence post at St Andrews University. He was the Scottish / Canadian Exchange Fellow 1988-89. His books have won several Scottish Arts Council book awards, and he won the Canongate Prize in 2000. He was Writer in Residence for Perth and Kinross Council, based in the William Soutar House in Perth 2000-2004. He lives with his family in Edinburgh. He has published three collections of poetry Spring's Witch and One Atom to Another and Body Parts. He also writes fiction and has published two collections of short stories, The Lipstick Circus (1985, 1988, 1990) and In a Dark Room with a Stranger (1995) and a novel The Other McCoy (1990, 1991). His most recent collection of short stories A Date With My Wife was published in 2001, Selected Stories in 2004.
rebecca-oconnor.jpgRebecca O'Connor (I) was born in Ireland in 1975. She was awarded the Geoffrey Dearmer prize for Best new poet of 2003. Her work has been published in Poetry Review and the Guardian, and was recently anthologised in Reactions 5. Her first novel He Is Mine and I Have No Other was completed with the help of a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. She is currently a Writing Fellow at the Wordsworth Trust.
matthew-hollis.jpgMatthew Hollis (GB) was born in Norwich, England in 1971. Ground Water (2004), his first full-length collection, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, the Guardian First Book Award and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. He published a pamphlet, The Boy on the Edge of Happiness, in 1996 and won an Eric Gregory Award in 1999. He is co-editor of 101 Poems Against War (2003) and Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry (2000), and works as an editor at Faber and Faber. He is Writer-in-Residence at The Wordsworth Trust.
robert-minhinnick.jpgRobert Minhinnick (GB) essayist and environmental campaigner, is one of the leading poets of his generation. The author of seven collections of poetry, he lives in Porthcawl, on the south coast of Wales. His most recent volume, After the Hurricane: New Poems (2002) characteristically moves between contrasting landscapes, from Canada, America and Brazil to Iraq and back to Wales. Past winner of numerous awards, including an Eric Gregory Award and a Cholomondeley Award, in 1999 & 2003 Minhinnick was awarded the Forward Prize for the "best single poem".
Minhinnick has also made an important contribution to environmental campaigning in Wales and beyond. A co-founder of Friends of the Earth Cymru, he has edited several volumes on environmental issues. As to his own prose, his books include: Watching the Fire-Eater which won the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award in 1993, The Green Agenda: Essays on the Environment of Wales (1994) and Badlands (1996). His most recent prose is contained in To Babel and Back (2005), where he travels across our 'radioactive planet'.
As editor of Poetry Wales, he has been very influential in changing the shape of the contemporary poetry scene in Wales, and in forging an international context for Welsh poetry. He has also been central to opening a dialogue between Welsh-language and English-language Welsh poetry. A recent important contribution is The Adulterer's Tongue (2003), where Minhinnick's translations bring six contemporary Welsh-language poets to the attention of readers of English.
jana-pacalova.jpgJana Pácalová (SK) was born in Nitra, Slovakia. She graduated in Slovak language and literature and ethics at the University of Trnava. Ms. Pácalová got her Ph.D. at the Institute of Slovak literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, where she works as a researcher. She focuses on fairy tales in the period of Romanticism. In 2003 she published a poetry collection Citová výchova (Emotional Education) that received premium of Ivan Krasko Best Debut Prize.
tamasz-rosycki.jpgTomasz Różycki (PL) was born in 1970, Polish poet and translator, lives in Opole in Poland. He published four collections of poems: Vaterland (1997), Anima (1999), Chata umaita (2001), Świat i antyświat (2003) and an epic poem Twelve stations (2004) . Several times awarded (Nagroda Kościelskich 2004) he has participated in Literaturexpress Europa 2000 and another international festivals of poetry. His poems has been translated into German, French, Spanish, English, Russian, Ukrainian. They have been also published in antologies of Polish modern poetry in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ukraine and Germany.
fratus.jpgTiziano Fratus (I) published three books of poetry: lumina (2003), l'inquisizione (the inquisition, 2004), il molosso (2005). He directed a videopoem nell'uomo / into the man (2004, bilingual). In 2002 he wrote and directed a monologue in verses l'autunno per eleni (autumn for eleni). In 2004 he won Biennale di Poesia in Alessandria. His poetry was guest in Genoa Poetry Festival, Rome Contemporary Art Museum, Rasi Theatre in Ravenna, World Poetry Day, Casa Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon, Centre National Le Lucernaire in Paris, Arezzo Wave, catalogued by Poets House in New York and Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. His poetry is translated, published and/or performed in Portuguese, French, English, Slovak, Japanese.
He's critic of contemporary drama, he edited two books about recent Italian theatre, he works in Outis - National Centre for Contemporary Drama in Milan, he held conferences in Europe. He lives in Turin directing the observatory ManifatturAE (www.manifatturae.it) and composing a new poetry collection, le boeche (Mouthes), for 2006.
wolfgang-kuhn.jpgWolfgang Kühn (A) has lived in Langenlois since 1975, since 2004 also in Vienna. Studied English and Spanish, in 1991 co-founded a literary magazine Dum - das ultimative magazine. Various jobs in the countryside (local journalist, waiter in a wine-bar, tourist guide, curator of exhibitions, etc.) In 1999 he co-founded the cultural festival Literature & wine and in 2000 Unabhängiges literaturhaus, Lower Austria. At the moment, he is active as editor of anthologies at edition aramo and has succesfully presented at numerous poetry slams, as well as with the project Zur wachauerin (together with the musicians Michael Bruckner & Fabian Pollack) and the cd Kalmuk, for which he writes the texts.
mariangela-gualtieri.jpgMariangela Gualtieri (I) was born in Cesena in 1951. She graduated in Architecture at the IUAV in Venice. In 1983 she founded with the director Cesare Ronconi the Teatro Valdoca of which she is the playwright. Valdoca is one of the most important group in the new italian theatre. Publications: Antenata, Crocetti Ed., Milano 1992, Fuoco Centrale, I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro Ed., Bologna 1995, Nessuno ma tornano, Universita della Calabria Ed., Cosenza 1995, Sue Dimore, Palazzo delle Esposizioni di Roma Ed., Roma 1996, Nei leoni e nei lupi, I Quaderni del Battello Ebbro Ed., Bologna 1997, Parsifal (ed. Teatro Valdoca, Cesena 2000), Chioma (ed. Teatro Valdoca, Cesena 2000), FUOCO CENTRALE e altre poesie per il teatro, (Giulio Einaudi ed. Torino 2003), Donna che non impara (Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena 2003). In 2006 she is prepaing, for Einaudi, her inedit poems.
gwendolyn-albert.jpgGwendolyn Hubka Albert (USA) was born January 11, 1967 in Oakland, California. Ms Albert is a fifth-generation American. Her parents were instructors of English composition and literature and her father Richard Albert is also a poet. Her mother was born Janice Hubka and gave her maiden name to Gwendolyn as her middle name, a choice which influenced the rest of her daughter's life. While studying linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, Ms Albert decided to study Czech as well, and in 1988 she visited communist Czechoslovakia as part of a summer language course called Czech for our fellow-countrymen. In 1989 she returned to Prague on a Fulbright grant to study the history of the Prague Linguistic Circle at Charles University, and in November she became a participant in the Velvet Revolution, attending the 17 November demonstration and becoming part of the team translating Havel's daily speeches into English for foreign journalists. She returned to California in 1990 and began to write poetry. She started the zine JEJUNE: america eats its young together with fellow poet and future husband Vincent Farnsworth in 1993, and in 1994 they moved to what had since become the Czech Republic. From 1993 - 1995 they lived in Tabor, where they became involved in the cause of removing the industrial pig farm from the former concentration camp for Roma at Lety by Pisek. Since 1995 Albert and Farnsworth have lived in Prague, where Albert wrote an opinion column for the English-language weekly The Prague Post and worked as the local director of American Institute for Foreign Study, a company which organizes study-abroad stays for college students from US universities. In the year 2000 Albert worked as a volunteer interpreter and translator for the Civic Legal Observers project during the demonstrations against the IMF and World Bank in Prague. After September 11, 2001 she decided to work exclusively in the nongovernmental sector and traveled to Kosovo in 2002 to work with the Roma there. In January 2003 she helped to found the International Peace Movement of the Czech Republic, demonstrated against the war in Iraq, and surrounded the Jan Hus statue on the Old Town Square with candles during every night of the US bombing campaign. Since July 2004 she is the Director of the League of Human Rights, a Czech NGO with offices in Prague and Brno which provides free legal aid to people who have become victims of violent human rights abuses in the Czech Republic.
jan-buzassy.jpgJán Buzássy (SK) graduated in library science and Slovak language and literature. He became the editor-in-chief of the monthly Mladá tvorba (Young Creation), later he assumed the same position in the publishing house Slovenský spisovateľ (Slovak Writer) and in 1990s in the weekly Kultúrny život (Cultural Life). He made his literary debut in 1965 with the poetry collection Hra s nožmi (The Game of Knives) which addressed the most fundamental problems of human existence with its particular worldview. Then he found inspiration in the legacy of the antique philosophy with the collections Škola kynická (The Cynic School, 1966), Nausikaá (1970) and Krása vedie kameň (Beauty Leads Stone, 1972). His later books of poetry were partly determined by popular oral tradition and folklore. Return to the poetic techniques and principles of the first period of his poetic creation was indicated by the lyric Pláň, hory (Plain, Mountains, 1982), collection Zlatý rez (Golden Section) and three collection from the 1990s - Náprava vínom (Wine Cure, 1994), Dni (Days, 1995) and Svetlo vôd (Water Light, 1997). He translated from English, Russian and Serbian. Particularly significant are his translations of T. S. Eliot and G. G. Byron.
artur-punte.jpgArtur Punte (LV) is Russian a poet from Latvia. He was born in 1977, studied in Moscow at Maxim Gorky literary Institute and that he is a member of text group Orbita (Riga), one of poetic video festival Word in Motion (2001, 2003) organizer and author of some video poems.
sergej-timofejev.jpgSergej Timofejev (LV) is a Latvian poet of Russin origin. He was born in Riga in 1970. He studied literature at the University of Latvia, worked as DJ in clubs and for the radio, directed and presented a televison show on cultural subjects and now works as a freelance translator, copywriter and journalist. He is active in Orbita (www.orbita.lv) a group of writers, artists and musicians involved in publishing and production of literary multimedia work combining video, music and poetry readings. The group also runs a biennial international festival featuring poetry videos Word in Motion. He is author of four collections of poetry in Russian: The Dog and the Scorpion (1994), Memoirs of a Disc-jockey (1996), 96/97 (1998), Done (2004) and a bilingual (Russian and Latvian) book Almost Photographs, 2003. His poems have appeared in literary magazines in Latvia, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Australia and the USA, and in anthologies, including Russian poetry anthologies Nine Measurements and Liberated Ulysses published in Moscow and The Same Sky, (USA, 1993) and A Fine Line. New Poetry from Eastern and Central Europe (UK, 2004).
jacek-dehnel.jpgJacek Dehnel (PL) was born 1980 in Gdansk, graduated from MISH (Collegium of Interfacultative Indicidual Humanistic Studies) at Polish Language and Literature faculty, Warsaw University, 2004. Writes both poetry and prose, translates poetry (Larkin, Mandelshtam), deals also with painting and draughting. Received numerous literary prizes, published in many literary magazines, including Kwartalnik Artystyczny; Studium; Topos, Tytuł; Undergrunt and an
internet literary portal Nieszuflada. Published a book of short stories Kolekcja (Collection, 1999) and two books of poems: Żywoty równoległe (The Paralell Lives, 2004) and Wyprawa na południe (An Expedition Southwards, 2005). His poetical debut had been the last book
reccomended by Polish Nobel Prize winner, Czesław Miłosz.
robert-gal.jpgRóbert Gál (SK), was born in 1968 in Bratislava, Slovakia. Having resided in various cities as a student (Brno, Prague, New York, Jerusalem), he now lives in Prague. He is the author of several books of aphorisms and philosophical fragments, including the widely acclaimed Signs & Symptoms (Twisted Spoon Press, Prague 2003).
uljana-wolf.jpgUljana Wolf (D) was born in 1979 in Berlin, where she still lives today, Wolf studied German literature, English, and cultural studies in Berlin and Krakow. Her poems have been published in journals and anthologies in Germany, Poland, and Belarus, in journals such as Edit, Das Gedicht, kursywa, and the recent collection Lyrik von Jetzt (2003). In 2003, she was awarded the Wiener Werkstattpreis. In 2004 she spent three months in the Polish city of Kreisau/Krzyzowa as a Mercator-Berghaus Fellow. Her first volume of poetry, kochanie ich habe brot gekauft, will be published in 2005.
petr-hruska.jpgPetr Hruška (CZ) is a graduate of the Faculty of Arts in Ostrava, where he lives, and works for the Institute of Czech Literature in Brno. His collections of poetry are entitled Obývací nepokoje (Unrest Rooms, 1995), Měsíce (Months, 1998), and Vždycky se ty dveře zavíraly (The Door Had Always Been Closing, 2002). Hruška's work is very much appreciated on the Czech literary scene today. He has been described as the poet of unrest and hidden dangers in everyday life, especially in relationships. His poems confront readers with a world with which they are familiar, and yet they find its reality surprising. Casual situations are the source of a subtle tension and a deep, at first glance unnoticeable, meaning. Recently his poetry has been translated into French, German, English, Polisch and Dutch.
istvan-voros.jpgIstván Vörös (H) was born in 1964. Now he is a lecturer of the Institute of Czech Philology at the Catholic University PPKE. He teaches there creative writing too. He received Phd. degree in 1998. From 1994 to 1997 he was the editor of JAK's Translation Books. He is the author of ten collections of poetry, three colections of short stories, and a three book of essays.
His plays appeared on stage of Stúdió K. and The Baltazár Theatre.
He translates from Czech. Translations of his work have been published in the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Jugoslavia, Macedonioa. His poems have appeared in translation in the anthology Contemporary Hungarian Poetry (1997), and Budapester Szenen (1999). His first german book (Die leere Grapefruit,2004) was published by Edition Korrespondenzen in Vienna.
He got in 1998 The Füst Milan Prize, and Tibor Déry Award in Hungary, and at the 18th World Congress of Poets in Bratislava Honourable Mention of International Ján Smrek Prize. Vladimír Holan's book, translated by István Vörös became the Best book of the year in translation (2000). He won the Crystal Vilenica 2000 in Slovenia. He got in 2003 The József Attila Prize. He received The Hubert Burda Prize in Heidelberg in 2003, and The Premia Bohemica Prize in Prague in 2005. He lives in Budapest.
ivica-prtenjaca.jpgIvica Prtenjaća (HR) was born in Rijeka in 1969. He studied Croatian Literature. His poems appeared in several anthologies and critic's selections of Croatian poetry and also histories of Croatian literature. His poetry has been translated into English, German, Italian, French, Macedonian, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian language. In 1998 he won the Literature Prize at the 25th Youth Salon in Zagreb, while in 2000 his book Writing Liberates was recognised as the best poetry book published in 2000 at the Kvirin's Meetings in Sisak. He has initiated and runs the literature programme Palach's Readings in Rijeka. He works as a PR manager at the Profil International Publishing. His books include: Writing Liberates (Pisanje oslobađa, 1999), Yves (2001), No One Speaks Croatian (Nitko ne govori hrvatski, 2002).
darius-sosnicki.jpgDariusz Sośnicki (PL) was born in 1969 in Kalisz. He graduated in Philosophy from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He was co-founder and co-editor of fortnightly literary magazine Nowy Nurt (1994-1996). In 2001, he was participant of International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, USA. He lives in Poznań and works at a textbook publishers's. His publications include collections of poems: Marlewo (1994), Ikarus (1998), Mężczyzna w dominie (Man in a Domino, 1999), Symetria (Symmetry, 2002), Skandynawskie lato (Scandinavian Summer, 2005).
yael-globerman.jpgYael Globerman (IL) was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is the author of the novel Shaking the Tree (1996) and numerous short stories. Her debut book of poems, Alibi, received the ACUM Award For Poetry and the PAIS National Award. Her new poetry book, Navigating the Flood, is forthcoming in February 2006.
She is an acclaimed translator of poetry from the English, currently completing an anthology of American Confessional Poetry. Her translation of the poetry of Stephen Spender is due to be published in December 2005 and she is currently working on a large collection of poems by W.H. Aden, to be published by 2007.
Yael studied film at Tel Aviv University and has co-written a number of scripts and a play. She teaches creative writing and works for Babel Publishing Inc. as a scout for books published abroad.
penelope-toomey.jpgPenelope Toomey (SK) was born in 1977 in Kežmarok, Slovakia. At the moment lives in Poprad, north Slovakia. Studied at the Dominik Tatarka Grammar School in Poprad, Slovakia. Graduated from English Linguistics and Literature at the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovakia. Also studied at the University of Brighton, United Kingdom. Some of her English poems were published in the poetry anthologies issued by the International Library of Poetry (publications entitled Nature's Echo, 2001; Under a Quicksilver Moon, 2002). Her first collection of poems entitled From The Cave Of My Nick was published in April 2003. Penelope Toomey featured in the second issue of the literary journal Absinthe - New European Writing (published in the USA) in the summer 2004. This way she drew attention of the organizers of the Prague Poetry Festival where she participated in May 2004. In October 2004 her poetry (featuring Slovak poems only) went out in form of a two-part book which she shared with another Slovak author, Lucia Balagová, called Obrazy/Básne, ktorými ktosi píše o mne.In the early spring 2005 the Czech literary journal Prague Literary Review published her translation of short philosophical texts by Robo Gál (Prague-based philosopher) titled Naked Thought.
istvan-bettes.jpgIstván Bettes (SK) was born in Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia in 1954. He studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Comenius University in Bratislava, majoring in archives keeping. He worked as a teacher in Roma community, and a news editor in the Slovak Radio. Since 1983, he is a free lance writer and poet. His awards include: The Prize of I. Madách (1991), Premium of the Slovak Literary Fund Prize (1998), the Prize of I. Forbáth (2005). Books of poetry: Offering of Clowns (1981), Between Two Somersaults (1985), In Time of a Torn Song (1990), What Do I Know…? (1995), Lyrical Forewarning (1999), A Beautiful Glimmering Star (3 volumes, 1999-2000), Zodiac (2000), A Tree in its Hollow (2002), Bettes Uhr (series 50 years - 50 poems), Tio-Tio-Tio-Tinx (Voices of birds, 2004), Immaculate Barna Fehér (2005).
ivan-zucha.jpgIvan Žucha (SK) is a professor of psychiatry at the Medical Faculty, Comenius University in Bratislava. In addition to professional publications in psychiatry, psychotherapy, and clinical psychophysiology, he published his literary works in magazines Romboid, Kultúrny život, and in the weekly Slovo. He wrote books Zápisník psychiatra (A Psychiatrist's Notebook, 2001), Zápisník II (Notebook II, 2004) and Kompost (Compost, 2004); he also co-authored a book Rozhovory (Dialogues, 2005) with Ivan Hulín. He lives in Bratislava.
evan-rail.jpgEvan Rail (USA) was born in California in 1972. He studied French and German at the University of California and French literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and New York University. As a poet, his work has appeared in over 30 journals, including Agni, Agenda, Metre, the New Republic, Poetry Review, Stand and the Times Literary Supplement (TLS). In May of 2005 he attended the Sarajevo Poetry Days, reading poetry in cities across Bosnia and Hercegovina. He lives in Prague.
petr-borkovec.jpgPetr Borkovec (CZ) was born on 17th of April 1970 in Louňovice pod Blaník. He studied Czech language and literature at Charles University Arts Faculty in Prague. Since 1992 he has been an editor of the literary and cultural review, Souvislosti, in Prague. He has also worked as proofreader for the daily newspaper Dnes, as a literary editor for the Lidové noviny foundation (1995-1997), ran the weekly literary supplement of Lidové noviny, Art and Criticism (1998-99), and worked on the editorial board of Literární noviny (2000-2001). Currently he lives as a freelance writer and translator of poetry.
His published poetry collections are Prostírání do tichého (1990); Poustevna, věštírna, loutkárna (1991); Ochoz (1994); Mezi oknem, stolem a postelí (1996); Polní práce (1998); Needle-Book (2003). In 2002 he published a free cycle of twelve poems under the title A.B.A.F. (Opus). The collections Polní práce, Needle-Book and two selections of his verse have been translated into German by Christa Rothmeier and published in Austria. Selected poems from Polní práce have appeared in two language versions on a CD. Selections of his verse have been tranlated into Italian too.
He was awarded the 1994 Jiří Orten Prize for Ochoz, and the Huber-Burda-Preis 2001 and the Norbert-C.-Kaiser-Preis 2001 for the German translation of Polní práce.
agnieszka-kuciak.jpgAgnieszka Kuciak (PL) lives in Poznań and lectures on Polish literature of the Romantic era and the works of Dante. She is known for her translations from Italian and has published a new edition of Dante's Divin Comedy and a collection of sonnets by Petrarch. In 2001 her first collection of poems appeared, entitled Retardation. Her second poetry book: The distant countries. An antology of anexisting poets (2005) is a kind of letterary game: inventing non only the poetry by also the poets, a harmonious chorus of voices and diffrent sensiblities.
alexander-gumz.jpgAlexander Gumz (D) was born in Berlin in 1974, studied German literature and philosophy, has been working as editor, translator, moderator, singer. He lives in Berlin as a member of the editors board for literature at the culture-label KOOK, as project-assistant for www.lyrikline.org, a website for international contemporary poetry. He received the Wiener Werkstattpreis for poetry in 2002, got his own poems published in magazines and anthologies, last in Lyrik von Jetzt (2003), Das Klirren im Innern (2003) and intendenzen (10/2004). His first volume of poetry will be published by kookbooks in 2006.
philippe-demeron.jpgPhilippe Démeron (F) was born in 1947, lives in Paris. Graduated in politics, business management, history of art (Ecole du Louvre). Works at the French ministry of Environment, in particular as a French expert for the UNESCO World Heritage.
Together with Roger Lecomte, he created in 1996 the poetry magazine Les Citadelles. This magazine is widely opened to French-speaking poets (among whom, for instance, Gérard Bocholier, Jean-Luc Moreau, Alain Lefeuvre, Philippe Dupont or the lettriste artist François Dufrene) and also wants to be a place of intercourse for foreign poetical expressions.
Ph. Démeron has been published only in a few magazines, either in France (Arpa, Poésie oblique) or abroad (Parnasszus, The Shop). As well as the contents of Les Citadelles, his way of writing is rather eclectic, influenced by different contemporary poetical languages; he considers himself as unable to write an elaborated poetry and sometimes his ambition would be to write poems which - at least he thinks so - could be read in the same way as you discover a painting.
philippe-dupont.jpgPhilippe Dupont (F) was born in Reims (Champagne), 1976. Theatrical background at school and afterwards. Long studies: History then Economy. He wrote one drama The pill of Carral and one book of poems L'indigene. He recorded a disc and a DVD with Baron Lunaire (a French Rock Band): Philippe Dupont tells his poems with the rock music of the band. He played at several places in France (Paris and French Riviera). He is also a painter.

Another information

Movies

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The Garden of Earthly Delights (Poland - 2003)

Last year of a young woman's life who decides to spend it in Venice and find out what will be left after her. Claudine works as a kunsthistorian. She is interested in Hieronym Bosh's paintings. Chris is a five years older chief of a ship. They both long for revealing of complicated and enigmatic language of symbols and spectacles of the best known painting by Bosh which they begin to transform to reality. Post-modern, deep, but non affected meditation about the sence of life, fear of death, pain and love.

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In Love You Love (ČSSR - 1980)

There is an authentic and poetic symbolism of every day life in a story of love and friendship among "the ordinary people" of middle age generation. The narration is instincted with the author's writing and perfect depiction of characters living their own matted lives. The film received The Silver Bear Prize in the IFF Berlin in 1989 and The FIPRESCI Film Critique's Prize.

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Children of the Century (France - 1999)

The film about passionate and destructive love of a writer George Sand and a poet Alfred de Muset. Meeting of these two fellows invoked closely watched event in the era of that days, whose protagonists continued in their timeless activity.

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The Source (USA - 1999)

Perhaps it is the best film - a document - about the Beat generation. It is the produce of formic work of the authors who tagged together collected material into a form of genuine confession about poets, the age they lived in, about their ways out and philosophy. They influenced the whole generations not only in The USA by their lives and activity.

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Prague Through Yyes (ČR - 1999)

Amorous Prague, hectic Prague, Prague of these days, poetic Prague ... Four stories about Prague by eyes of directors of various nationalities from different point of view. What is life of those who are in love, who lack for love and loved like? You will learn in film stories called Risk, Absolute Love, Pictures from the Trip and Cards are Dealt.

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Donau, Dunaj, Duna, Duna Dunarea (Austria - 2003)

We all consist out of 90% water. How much of it are tears? And how much is Danube which flows around us every day? Modern Odyssey about a group of different characters, which sails on one ship.

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Pinéro (USA - 2003)

True story of a Portorican Miguel Pinero - a poet, playwright and actor against a background of New York of the 70's. Art, love, hot Portorican blood and drugs Miguel Pinero was an actor, writer, poet and performer of the city. He died when he was 42 but not even his death didn't obviate to gain heart of people not only at home but also all around the world.

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There by (ČSFR - 1979)

The film directed by Karel Kovář, unjustly left aside, reminds of Georgian Comedies. It deals with the dreams and falls of a village boy Amadeus Macků who tries to fulfil his - and not only his own - dream. He tries to fly by the help of his hand-made wings and other primitive tools. The film is a kind of facing up to a present day strongly intellectual way of life.

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She Sat in a Glass House throwing stones (Austria - 1992)

The tunnel to Kafka's world can be still be found in today's Prague. The story of Jana Černá, who was a daughter of Kafka's love Milena Jesenská, from the point of her friend's view. We find ourselves among poets, eccentrics and philosophers, on the roofs of the town, under the Vltava bridges and in cafés where she tippled, wrote and loved. The story evokes an atmosphere of life of Jana Černá by its surrealistic humour. It describes her disability to conform the rules and thinking up just for show. Egon Bondy, writer and philosopher played one of the main roles in the film.

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Poetry in Motion (USA - 1982)

Another jewel about the American poets. The real poetry in motion. More than twenty American poets in action. John Cage, William Burroughs, Ed Sanders, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg tell story of their lives and writings, what is in fact in their case the same thing. Movie premiere in Slovakia!

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Landscape with the Furniture (ČSFR - 1986)

A story about mazy ways of the young conservational man is told by the director of the film. In one of his best films he observes uneasy strengths of personal self fulfilment and responsibility. Markéta Fišerová, a wife of Marek Eben, is to be occured in the role of coquet waitress. Evald Schorm plays the role of the noble-minded professor. The paintings and music by Emil Viklický play an individual role in the film.

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On the Train of Wampyrism (ČR - 2002)

A mysterious travel film into the landscape within life and death told by the writer and artist Josef Váchal. His book called The Theory of Wampyrism (Teória wampyrismu) is a sort of map of the film which takes us to the internals of Slovakia so that we can convince ourselves of the existence of vampires in the way as French exaget Calmet did 200 years ago.

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At 25 O´clock (Czech Republic - 2005)

In 2005 it will be 100 years since the birth and 25 years since the death of a poet Vladimír Holan. The film is a document about life of this remarkable icon of the Czech literature.

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Conspirators of Pleasure (Czech Republic - 1996)

Typical visually rich grotesque by Jan Švankmajer about six outwardly average individuals and their elaborate fetishes. The film differs from the author's former production by its elaboration. However the attributes of his clean-cut style are still visible. Švankmajer lays stress on the performance but almost without words. Conspirators of Pleasure consists of episodes of the individual characters which are connected by montage. A very hard and tedious preparation for the bizarre act goes before the pleasure itself ...

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At the Edge (Australia - 1978)

Document about the most remarkable Australian poet Judith Wright.

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A Walk with Words (Australia - 2000)

Document about Romaine Moreton - an Australian poet of native origin in which the main role plays her relation to bush and nature.

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Inside of a Man (Italy - 2004)

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Boxer (Italy - 2004)

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Young David (Israel - 2004)

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Rain on the Battlefield (Israel - 2004)

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Onegin (GB, USA - 1999)

A present-day adaptation by Puškin about an easy-going Onegin and beautiful Tatiana. Onegin (Ralph Fiennes) spend his life among the royalty of Petrograd where he meets Tatiana who confesses love to him. Onegin denies her coldly and leaves. They meet each other again years after but this time it is Onegin who blazes up for love ...

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Pink Dreams (ČSFR - 1976)

The film inlay of fragile love between a village postman Jakub and young gipsy girl Jolana whose relationship faces to misunderstanding and prejudices of neighbourhood. Dreams and their meaning in life are originally embedded into the story. Dušan Hanák was for Pink Dreams awarded in many festivals.

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Iris (GB, USA - 2001)

True story of dramatic lifelong love between a writer Iris Murdoch and John Bayle, who wrote the screenplayfor the film. The film was awarded by Oscar Prize, Golden Globe for Jim Braodbent and the Berlinale Prize.

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The Hours (USA - 2002)

One day within a life of three women living in three different spaces. A day in which Virginia Wolf writes "Mrs. Dalloway", a book that describes one day ... A day which offers a meditation over doubts and painful victories of today's feminity, over disbeliefs of women regarding their self fulfillment at work as well as in private, over love bonds of the main heroine to men and women. Nicole Kidman was awarded by Oscar and Golden Globe for the film.

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Beauty of a Day (France - 1967)

A magician Buňuel joined pieces of dreams, imaginations and reality of subconscious of today's woman into an exploring coil and created outstanding and surrealistic vision. One of the most ingenious transparencies of a present-day man. Director tries to show by the help of the story of a young woman the public morals of society. The film was awarded by the prize of Golden Lion at the IFF Venice in 1967.

Dance

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Love in Bilingual Motion (SK/UK)

Multimedia performance inspired by the poems of contemporary Slovak and British authors. The full lenght evening piece is actively created by the artists of different art fields: dance, poetry, video-design, music and fine arts. The basic part of the project is an active transaction between the artists of very different background - national, cultural, artistic. Love In Motion dance and poetry performance embodies the word via its permanent visual or audio presence in movement, with a great help of computer graphics, too. Love In Motion belongs to unique art events not only in Slovakia.

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Réka Szabó - Clearing the Attic (HU)

"You can all stay home, for all I care. I don't want to be nice. I've got nothing in my hands, not even kind words, to lure you to this place. All I've got is this great yearning in my heart to get rid of all this junk, all the building blocks of my deliberately sheltered existence. We hoard our junk-heap within us, carrying it about with mounting weariness, fumbling miserably among the wreckage of our live"

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Gyula Berger and Friends´ Dance Theatre: Centre of the Sound (HU)

Perfomance of Gyula Berger and Friends' Dance Theatre, the young company lure the audience to the inner realms. Our attention born from sounds and movements, time and silence leads us to the luminous presentness. Harsh and soft blend together, light and dark alternate and we find the mutual centre we all carry within.

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Ákos Hargitai: Sentimental Memory Again (HU)

Neo-post-modern few-minute dance fantasy performed in slightly used, red jogging pants - left behind by Scott Wells- and a bare chest in places. If we take dance from a theoretical point of view, one question arises among the many: where is the art dance headed today? The answer is simple, I don't know. If we look around, it becomes clear every idea has been realized. Do we have any idea what the American post-modernists were doing 40 years ago? The answer again is simple: we know everything about their art. So what are we left with here in Europe, more precisely Eastern Europe? You may have guessed the simple answer: everything.

Theatre

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Morča (SKRAT SK)

A sequence of episodes, sad and amusing at the same time, about two men and two women, fumbling around in a vicious circle of stereotypic relations. The characters seek rapprochement but, at the same time, fear that it might, as well, come true.

Concerts

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Ridine Ahmed (ČR)

Concert for one woman and many of her voices. Ridina Ahmed works with a sampler which enables her to provide real time voice loops and layers. Vocal compositions unwind in a spiral. The whole performance is presented without the use of any musical instruments exept human voice. Ridina Ahmed (1974) dedicated herself to jazz singing for several years and participated in the project of Floex (www.floex.cz , CD Pocustone, 2001). She has composed the score for several theatre performances. In the last few years she is creating her own music and mainly concerting solo. Her author performance Voicescape (premiere in 2004) was awarded as the best new project at the Next wave awards. She is interested in exploring female voice as a solo, non accompagned instrument. http://www.wesmir.cz/hlasem

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Blaq Mummy (ČR/USA/UA)

Blaq Mummy has been described as a "a trumpet and theremin wielding egyptian metal beast" in livejournal.com. Also known as "Prague's primeval postpunk from planet X powered by universal love and widespread devastation", Blaq Mummy is a multinational band with members from the USA, the Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Dedicated to a poetic presentation of raw power, the band started in 1996 as a Halloween project. Thus the band plays in various masks, even if that sometimes means just their regular faces. Their first CD, "Sarcophagus Anonymous" came out this year.

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Ľubomír Burgr (SK)

Ľubomír Burgr, musician, actor, member of the music formation Požoň sentimental, and a founding member of the legendary band Ali Ibn Rašid, plays his new compositions.

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Petra Fornayová (SK)

The poems of Peter Šulej set to music, interpreted by Petra Fornayová

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Zuzana Mojžišová a Pacora Trio (SK)

Zuzana Mojžišová began her career with the Ethno and World music as early as the year of 2000, by the virtue of her project JEJ DRUŽINA. Her vision was to revitalise the traditional Slovak folk music into the contemporary musical forms and for the audiences of today. She has released three CDs: JEJ DRUŽINA, Zuzana Mojžišová a jej družina; and Zuzana Mojžišová. Her last album received four nominations and two prizes at IFPI Aurel 2004. Pacora Trio formation: Stano Palúch - violin, Marcel Comendant - cymbalo, and Robert Ragan - double-bass, Rasto Andris - blow folk instruments, and Zuzana Mojžišová - vocals.

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Požoň Sentimentál (SK)

The group "Požoň sentimentál" is a reaction to the hankering after world trends and imitating the city style by some groups today in the form of emphasizing the domestic small-town tradition. As a reply to the arrogant, elitist attitude of the classical New Music, not composed for a larger audience, they offer music accessible to unsophisticated listeners who can enjoy their favorite, well-known melodies even in a recycled form. Instead of superhuman virtuosity or conceptual dilettantism, the group presents an obvious joy of playing, of a simple performance; instead of a programmatic rejection of all that is old, they accept the so-called obsolete styles of the past and integrate them into their own style.

Partners

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