Ars Poetica brings world's poetry

THE LARGEST international literary festival in Slovakia, Ars Poetica, opened on November 2. It began with poetry readings, music and dance activities, and continues with movie screenings at Bratislava's Mladosť cinema from November 6 to November 12.

The third year of the festival opened by introducing the British magazine Poetry Wales, with an edition dedicated to Slovak poetry. The magazine presents the work of eight contemporary Slovak poets to the British public. The evening continued with presentations by four British and Irish poets: Brian McCabe, Rebecca O'Connor, Matthew Hollis and Robert Minhinnick.
The film part of the festival offers 25 feature films, documentaries and video-poems, which tell the life-stories and presents the work of poets around the world. Films from the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Austria, Israel, Poland, France and Italy are shown in original versions with Slovak translations. The Czech and Slovak films are only in original versions.

The programme includes the American film The Source (November 7), a documentary about the Beat generation, poets who influenced whole generations, and Poetry in Motion (November 9), in which more than 20 American poets and writers, such as John Cage, William Burroughs, Ed Sanders, Charles Bukowski and Allen Ginsberg, tell their stories. November 8 brings the true story of a Puerto Rican poet Miguel Pinero, and November 11 features Australian documentaries on poets Judith Wright and Romaine Moreton.

For more information on the individual films and their screenings visit. www.arspoetica.sk (also in English).

Prepared by Spectator staff
from press reports

7. Nov 2005 at 0:00