Festival 2020

Yannick Dangre (Belgium), born in 1987, is a Belgian poet and writer. He was born in Brussels and lives in Antwerp, where he studied French and Dutch literature. He made his debut at age twenty-two with the novel Daughter of the volcano, a story that explores childhood and family relations. As youngest laureate ever, he was awarded the Flemish prize for best first novel. In 2011, he published his first poetry book Girl I still like, which won him the Herman De Coninck prize. Later followed the much-lauded March rooms, a tender portrait about an older gay couple. His most recent work is Gazing into the navel and the night, a collection which combines individual love poems with poetry about present day global terrorism. His work is known for its musicality, elaborate style and psychological insights. He has performed it onstage at numerous venues throughout Belgium and the Netherlands.

Tania Haberland (Germany/Mauritius/South Africa) Haberland is a poet and singer, artist and teacher. From a Mauritian-German family, she was born in South Africa and lived in the United States, England, Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia. For her first book Hyphen, she received the Ingrid Jonker Prize. For Tania Haberland art, literature, education and therapy should work in interplay and weave into the social space. Her art represents multidisciplinary interaction between writing, music and movement. Currently Tania Haberland is working on a project based in Mauritius, Milan and Cape Town that aims to link artistic creation with a ‘Technology of Tenderness’. The heart of her work revolves around gender issues, sexuality, freedom and the destruction of the unity between humans and nature. She views the ocean as a muse that stimulates our senses and that as a constitutive element of our globe offers the insight that humans are only a small part of a greater entity.

Mila Haugová (Slovakia), is a Slovak poet and translator. She lives alternately in Bratislava and in the countryside in Zajačia Dolina, Slovakia, with her daughter Elvíra, another successor to the craft of translation, and her granddaughters Aimée and Sandra. In her poetry, she reveals the deep bonds between man and woman, their mutual transformations from passionate outbursts to simmering down their feelings, and, at the same time, the need to nevertheless enter new emotional spheres. She is interested in the relationship between mother and daughter, the dynamics of family relationships and also the importance of knowing one’s roots. All this intertwined with her constant interest in life of plants and animals, what is perfectly captured in her words: “Plants are slow animals… I am a slow animal”. She has published a number of poetry collections as well as books of autobiographical prose. From her earlier work, we can mention works like Biele rukopisy /White Manuscripts/, Miznutie anjelov /Disapearance of Angles/ (Literary Fund Award and the Independent Writers Club Prize /KNS/ awarded by the Association of Slovak Writers' Organizations /AOSS/), Pomalá Lukostrelkyňa /She, the Slow Archer/; for the collection of poetry Cetonia Aurata and the autobiographical prose Tvrdé drevo detstva /Hard Wood of Childhood/, she was awarded the prestigious Dominik Tatarka Prize. This was followed by the collections of poetry Canti amore, Rastlina za ohradou sna /Plant behind the barrier of a dream/ (a selection of poetry), Srna pozerajúca na Polárku /Doe looking at the Pole Star/ (Arspoetica Publishing House, a collection of poetry), Archívy priestorov /Archives of the Spaces/ (autobiographical prose). In 2020, she won the Central European Literary Prize – VILENICA 2020 (Slovenia) for a humanistic and unique view and reflection on the complexity of our world as well as her ability to see the unseen and bring it closer to readers with her own literary language. Poems oscillating between dream and reality guide us through the land of the heart, following the noble traditions of European poetry. Her works are published in different languages: English translations (Scent of the Unseen, ETERNAL TRAFFIC – Arc Publication, UK), as well as works translated into French, Spanish and, above all, German. In the autumn of 2020, a selection of poems under the title of Zwischen zwei Leeren will be published in the Edition Korrespondenzen, based in Vienna. She has also participated in writer-to-residence programmes in Iowa (USA), Berlin, Edenkoben (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), and is currently a writer-to-residence of the Visegrad Scholarship in her native land – Bratislava, Slovakia. 

Violaine Lochu (France), born in 1987, lives and works in Paris. Laureate of the Aware Price (Archive Women Archives of Women Artits Researsh and Exhibitions), she performed in Centre Pompidou (festival Extra 2018), Palais de Tokyo (Liberated Voice, Sound Poetry, 2019), during Parade for FIAC 2017, in Jeu de Paume in Paris, Contemporary Art Center of Geneva in Switzerland, Gallery Kunsterein of Munich in Germany, Gallery GAMU at Prague in Czech Republic, Lettrétage at Berlin in Germany, in Riclundgarden Museum in Sweden, Theatre le 4e art of Tunis in Tunisia... She made part of collective exhibitions in MAC Lyon, MAC VAL, La Villa Arson, Ferenczi museumi centrum in Hungary, in Art Center Le Centre at Cotonou in Benin, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Toronto in Canada... She worked with a lot of musician, poets and dancers (Joëlle Léandre, Tomomi Adachi, Serge Teyssot-Gay, Maki Watanabe, Julien Desprez, Lotus Edde Khouri…).

Eva Luka (Slovakia) was born in 1965. She graduated in Translation and Interpreting: English - Japanese language at Comenius University in Bratislava and completed a long-term study stay at the Japanese universities in Sapporo and Osaka where she focused on Japanese literature and defended her doctoral dissertation written in Japanese on the topic of Kōbō Abe’s novel: The woman in the Dunes. She has worked as an interpreter from/to Japanese for 15 years and is currently teaching Japanese in Trnava. She translates from Japanese (Kōbō Abe, Machi Tawara, Banana Yoshimoto, Jirō Nitta, Takashi Hiraide) and English (Jane Austin, Bob Dylan, Edgar Allan Poe, Gallway Kinnell, James Sutherland-Smith). There are four collections of poems published such as Divosestra /The Wild Sister/ (1999), Diabloň /The Devil Tree/ (2005), Havranjel /The Ravengel/ (2011) and Jazver (2019) which have been translated into several languages and a fantasy novel for children and adults Pani Kurčaťová I.: Ten, kto sa narodí zle /Mrs. Chicken: The One Who Is Born Badly/(2018). She also collaborates as a lyricist with singer Ika Kraicová (albums Vlčie balady /Wolf Ballads/, Milenka všetkých /Mistress of All/, V hlbinách /In the Depths/ and La Loba /She-Wolf/). Besides that, she has received several literary awards for her work: Rubato, Ivan Krasko Prize, Knižná Revue Award, Maša Haľamová Award, Bibiana Award, and the Slovak Section of IBBY Award: "The Best Children's Book of Summer 2018". She lives and works in Brestovany near Trnava.

Ondřej Macl (Czech Republic), born in 1989, is a Czech writer and performer based in Prague. His experimental book Miluji svou babičku víc než mladé dívky (I Love My Grandma More Than I Love Young Women, 2017) won Jiří Orten Award 2018. The book develops his diploma thesis on the variances of Eros in the history of European literature. The second book K čemu jste na světě (What You Were Born For, 2018) includes feminist conceptual poetry. The following novel Výprava na ohňostroj (The Fireworks Expedition, 2019) is dedicated to European Union and young people. Macl’s experience includes also art criticism, authorial acting or social work with the mentally-exceptional people. More about him: www.ondrejmacl.cz

Daljit Nagra (United Kingdom) has published four poetry collections, all with Faber & Faber. He has won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem and Best First Book, the South Bank Show Decibel Award, the Cholmondeley Award, and the Royal Society of Arts Travelling Scholarship. His books have been nominated for the Costa Prize and twice for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He has been selected as a New Generation Poet by the Poetry Book Society. His poems are set texts at GCSE and A’ Level. As the inaugural Poet-in-Residence for Radio 4 & 4 Extra, he presents a weekly programme, Poetry Extra, on Radio 4 Extra, and he regularly contributes to Today, Front Row and Poetry Please. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was elected to its Council, and is a trustee of the Arvon Trust. He has judged many prizes including The Samuel Johnson Prize, The T.S. Eliot Prize, The Costa Prize, the David Cohen Prize, the National Poetry Competition. His poems have been published in The New Yorker, Poetry Chicago, The LRB, The TLS and The New Statesman. He has written for The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Times of India.

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (Iceland), born in 1978, is an Icelandic poet and novelist. For his novel Illska (Evil, 2012) he was awarded The Icelandic Literary Prize and The Book Merchant’s Prize, as well as being nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Award. When it came out in France in 2015 it was shortlisted for the Prix Médicis Étranger, the Prix Meilleur Livre Étranger and received the Transfuge award for best nordic fiction 2015. In 2012 he was poet-in-residence at the Library of Water in Stykkishólmur, in 2013 he was chosen artist of the year in Ísafjörður and in 2014 he was writer-in-residence at Villa Martinson in Sweden, and in 2018 in AIR Krems, Austria. In 2011 his poetry film Höpöhöpö Böks received a Special Mention Award at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. For his poetry book, Óratorrek, he won the DV cultural prize in Iceland, 2017. Since his debut in 2002 he has published seven books of poems, most recently Óratorrek (2017), seven novels, two collections of essays and a cook book. Eiríkur is also active in sound and performance poetry, visual poetry, poetry film and various conceptual poetry projects. Eiríkur has translated over a dozen books into Icelandic, including a selection of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry and Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn (for which he received the Icelandic Translation Award), but most recently Ida Linde’s Maskinflickans Testamente. He lives in Ísafjörður, Iceland, a rock in the middle of the ocean, and spends much of his time in Västerås, Sweden, a town by a lake.

Judith Nika Pfeifer (Austria), writes poetry and prose, she holds an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of Vienna. Her most recent book tucsonics was published by hochroth Wien/Berlin. Her texts appear in literary & art magazines (e.g. nevertheless, kolik, the gap) and anthologies (e.g. kookbooks, Schoeffling). Transmedia works, performances, texts, group exhibits for Wr. Festwochen, Vienna Secession, Sophiensaele Berlin, recently in Alan Nakagawa’s HAIKU project at OCMA Santa Ana, CA. Nika has taught creative writing at the Vienna Poetry School, the University of Arizona, and at Georgetown University. She lives in Vienna and Berlin. Reinhard Priessnitz Prize 2012. Artist residencies in Italy, Germany, India, USA, UK, Slovenia, China. 2020 Max Kade Writer in Residence at Georgetown University.

Andre Rudolph (Poland/Germany) was born 1975 in Warsaw and raised in Germany. He studied German philology in Leipzig and Freiburg i.Br., which he finished with a Ph.D. degree in 2005. After some years of research and teaching at Martin-Luther-University in Halle he began to publish and translate books of poetry; his poems and translations being published in numerous magazines and newspapers. He published three books of poetry up to now.

Márton Simon (Hungary), born in 1984, is a poet, translator and slam poetry performer. Studied aesthetics, literature and Japanese language at Pázmány Péter and Károli Gáspár Universities. Publishing poems since 2004. Published three poetry collections: Fox’s Wedding (2018), Polaroids (2013), Songs from the Mezzanine (2010). Translated novels of Jennifer Egan and Etgar Keret from the English, and poems of Ryuichi Tamura, Shuntaro Tanikawa, Nobuo Ayukawa, Kenji Miyazawa (etc.) from the Japanese, also poems of Ocean Vuong and Dean Young from the English. Attended slam poetry events from 2011. Won a 3rd (2015) and a 2nd (2012) place at the Hungarian National Championship. Also attended Marc Smith’s slam poetry workshop during the European Championship in 2018. Performed two times at Spoke n’ Word Festival in Warsaw, and at other occasions in Katowice and Krakow. Also performed in the Czech Republic (Prague, Plzen) and in Rome and Brussels too. Also participant of literary festivals in Poznań (POL), Eskişehir (TUR) and Sofia (BUL). Released a spoken word album: Before You Say Something (2017) with jazz drummer Levente Boros. His poems were translated to Polish by Anna Butrym, to English by Tímea Balogh, to German by Agnes Relle and Orsolya Kalász, to Romanian by Tamás Mihok, to Bulgarian by Nikolai Bojkov. Recieved a scholarship from the Visegrad Literary Residency Program (2017, Krakow). Was awarded with Horváth Péter Literary Prize in 2018, because of this he was a guest of the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin in 2019. Lives and works in Budapest, Hungary. More at: http://simonmarton.wordpress.com 

Christian Sinicco (Italy) was born in Trieste in 1975. In 2002 he became editor of Fucine Mute, one of the first multimedia magazine in Italy (1998), where he interviewed some of the most significant Italian poets (Mario Luzi, Franco Loi, Maria Luisa Spaziani). With Argo magazine, he curates three books of international poetry and the investigation into the new italian dialectal poetry (L’Italia a pezzi. Antologia dei poeti in dialetto e in altre lingue minoritarie / Anthology of poets in dialect and other minority languages/, Gwynplaine, 2014, 750 pages). He directs Poesiadelnostrotempo.it. Publications (poetry): Passando per New York (LietoColle, 2005), Mare del Poema (CFR, 2014), Città esplosa (Galerie Bordas 2014), Alter (Vydia, 2019). His poems are translated into Belarusian, Catalan, Croatian, English, Latvian, Dutch, Slovenian, Spanish, German and Turkish. President of the International Literary Prize "Franco Fortini" he is also member of "Gianmario Lucini Prize" and "Giuseppe Malattia della Vallata - Pierluigi Cappello Prize". He directs also the small festival Ad alcuni piace la poesia (Montereale Valcellina, Pordenone). Website: https://christiansinicco.wordpress.com

Krzysztof Siwczyk (Poland) was born in 1977. He read Cultural Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice. He is a columnist and a reviewer, and has published two books of literary criticism. In 1999, he played the lead role in Lech Majewski’s feature film about the suicidal poet Rafał Wojaczek (nominated for the European Film Awards, Paris 2000). Other films he played in include Bluesmani /Bluesmen/, the multi-generational project Czuję głód /I Feel Hunger/ or Wydalony /Expelled/ – a film based on motifs from Beckett, which Siwczyk co-produced with Adam Sikora and in which, again, he was the lead actor. Since 2000, he has been a member of the European Film Academy, Polish Writers’ Association and Pen Club.

Martina Straková (Slovakia)  studied cultural sciences and later received scholarships at leading German universities and her PhD title in Philosophy. For her poetry debut Postcards from Invisible Places (Pohľadnice z neviditeľných miest, Ars Poetica, 2019) she received the Bridges of Struga Award for the best poetry debut in 2019 awarded annually by the world's oldest poetry festival, the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival in Macedonia. Straková is also dedicated to artistic translation from/to German and English. Her Slovak translations of leading German-speaking authors, such as Sylvia Geist, Manfred Chobot, Nora Gomringer, Tillo Krause, Augusta Laar, Kathrin Schmidt, or Renate Aichinger were published by the Ars Poetica Publishing House. Strakováʼs German translations of the poetry works by Martin Solotruk Plankton of Gravity and Other Poems (Plankton der Gravitation und andere Gedichte) and Ivan Štrpkaʼs Silent Hand. Ten Elegies (Stille Hand. Zehn Elegien) will soon be published by the Klak Verlag in Berlin, which also plans to publish Strakováʼs third German translation of the prose by Uršuľa Kovalyk The Woman from the Second-hand Shop (Die Frau aus dem Secondhandladen). Martina Straková holds a free creative writing workshop Bring Your Poem offered to the wide public by the International poetry festival Ars Poetica and under her artistic name Irène Findrych publishes fairy tales for children. Martina lives and works in Bratislava.

Glorjana Veber (Slovenia), born in 1981, graduated from political science at Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, and has a PhD in literature (Poetry – the Element of Social Change) at Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. She also finished all exams in MA in sociology with the thesis The influence of lifestyles on book purchases and some other exams at Faculty of Economics. Her poems are translated in 21 languages. She received a few Slovene and international poetry awards. She was founder and director of the IRIU Institute, where was engaged in developing experimental projects from the field literature. Her first book The Free Fall was published in 2013, the second (2015) Someone Before in Italy. She worked in private and public institutions as strategy manager, director, head of public relations etc. Today she is director of company for creative and scientific solutions IRIU.