Patras World Poetry Festival 2021

4th “Patras World Poetry Festival 2021

13^th - 19^th of December

LIVE & ON LINE EVENTS

This year, the 4^th “Patras World Poetry Festival” boasts a variety of original literary events taking place between the 13^th and 19^th of December 2021, hosting a total of 70 poets from 20 different countries.

The occasion of a calendar year combining on one hand the memory of the Greek people’s fight for freedom, and on the other hand the contemporary experience of confinement, led us to this year’s thematic center: “CONFINEMENT-FREEDOM-HUMAN REVOLUTIONS”. We bring novel aims and ideas, along with a greater and more essential need for expression, synergy and communication.

For 2021, the festival’s programme will be extended from 4 days to 7, hosting a multitude of events for audiences and participants both Greek and foreign, raising the bar and aiming to establish a tradition of cultural celebration.

This year too, for its most part, the Festival will be held online, a blended programme combining physical and online activities as adjusted to Covid-19 regulations, in a shifting terrain of cultural events during the pandemic.

The events of the week’s programme will take place in three (3) different places in Patras, each one of them a space for hosting cultural events. The events will be broadcasted ONLINE on the website www.culturebook.gr including both main and side events:

Main Events:

15^th-18^th December 2021

Five (5) Online Poetry Meetings including Readings and Roundtables: There will be lecterns where the guest poets will be presented; their works will be read (in 2 languages). The guest poets will also participate in the roundtables and discuss topics revolving around poetry and criticism.

18^th December 2021

Online Award Ceremony for the Greek “Jean Moréas” Poetry Award for 2021: The annual ceremony for the “Jean Moréas” Awards for Greek poetic art and production in its entire spectrum.

16^th December 2021

Newcomer Poet Marathon: A night of presentations and readings of new poets, combining physical and online presence.

Parallel Events: (11^th -19^th of December 2021)

Festival Anthology: Limited trilingual book edition plus eBook.
Online shows:
#meet_the_poets: tributes and interviews online at the culturebook.gr channel.
#videopoetry: presentation of video-poetry online.
Poetry Set to Singing: music radio tributes to poetry set to singing.
Exhibitions:
Poetry exhibition: presenting the works of poetry
Book exhibition of Newcomer Poets: presenting poetry collection books from new poets; participation from established poets and publishing houses.
Art Exhibition: “CONFINEMENT-FREEDOM-HUMAN REVOLUTIONS”
Poetry Alley: Presentation of poets and poems (the ones participating in the festival) on a central pedestrian precinct of Patras.

During both the physical and the online events, there will be participation from internationally acclaimed academics, novelists, critics, and representatives of institutions.

The Patras World Poetry Festival 2021 is organized by the “Grafeion Poiiseos” Poetry Foundation, the literary website Culture Book (culturebook.gr), while it is annually held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism*. The festival’s events are supported by the Greek Library of London, the University of Western Macedonia, the Hellenic Open University and many other esteemed institutions, since the festival takes place under the aegis of the Hellenic Republic’s President.

The Patras World Poetry Festival is one of the largest literary institutions in Greece, certainly the largest of its whole region, and it has already drawn attention amongst esteemed festivals internationally. Every year, the city of Patras hosts important figures of world literature and offers a richness of events, including poetry readings, seminars and cultural activities. The festival’s vision is to promote Greek literary expression worldwide and turn this capital of Western Greece into a European center for literary studies. Through its actions, the festival communicates with various departments of Greek literary studies all over the world and it chronicles contemporary poetic expression.

A detailed programme will soon be posted on the festival’s website www.culturebook.gr.

Sincerely,

On behalf of the Scholarly Representatives

Kotopoulos H. Triantafyllos

Chair of the “Patras World Poetry Festival”

Skiathas D. Antonis

Chair of the “Grafeion Poiiseos” Poetry Fountation

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EVENT MANAGER

Maria Alaniadi

Communication:

poetryfestival@culturebook.gr

grafeion.poihseos@culturebook.gr

Archival content available on www.culturebook.gr

Ismael Diadié Haidara, Mali

Patras World Poetry Festival PWPF 2021 Participants

Κυριακή, 05 Δεκεμβρίου 2021

0 Σχόλια

Ismael Diadié Haidara, Mali

The Poems

Thessaloniki

To Edgar Morin

Auschwitz is between me and my Jewish memory.
I went to Athens and I can see the Parthenon, the theater and far away the Agora
But I only had in my memory the road to Salonica
I crossed Salonica on the way to Mount Athos
I saw the Felipo´s stone and the Stagira´s ruins
But I only had in memory the streets of Salonica
When I returned to Salonica I went to look for names,
ruins and whatever towards the port
They told me they took everyone on trains
and there were only empty houses and closed shops
No one has seen the name of Ba Azan Ferrer the Greek
and no one's been back since they all took them on the trains.

(Translated into English by Virginia Fernández Collado)

Salónica

A Edgar Morin

Auschwitz está entre mi memoria judía y yo.
Me fui hacia Atenas y vi el Partenón, el teatro y de lejos la Agora
Pero solo tenía en la memoria el camino hacía Salonica
Cruce Salónica camino al Monte Athos
Ví la tumba de Felipo y las ruinas de Stagira
Pero solo tenía en la memoria las calles de Salónica
Cuando volví a Salónica fui a buscar nombres
ruinas y cualquier cosa hacia el puerto
Me dijeron que se llevaron a todos en trenes
y solo quedaron casas vacías y comercios cerrados
Nadie ha visto el nombre de Ba Azan Ferrer el griego en ningún sitio
y nadie ha vuelto desde que se llevaron a todos en los trenes.

* * *

Greek night

A seventeen girl more or less came out of the woods
Her blue eyes were smiling and her hair covered her breasts a little.
He looked at the top of the mountain and said Stagira.
On the top of the mountain was a wall
You can see from afar the reddish stones of an abandoned city
The girl turned around and said: Aristotle!
He smiled and disappeared back into the forest.
Here, you can hear the sea
In the distance the ruins of what remains of the philosopher's city.

A light breeze blows and the moon leaves a trail of light on the sea
Dressed in shadows, a woman slowly undresses like a Sappho
He enters the waters and begins to swim away from the shore
I can barely see his silhouette disappear and reappear.
After a time of eerie silence
The silhouette is seen sitting alone on a stone.
Sing in front of the pale moon of the Greek night.

Slowly the night envelops everything and behind the windows, candles are lit
Candles illuminate confined gazes and masked lips
I dream of the Greek night looking at the mountains under the moon.

(Translated into English by Virginia Fernández Collado)

La noche griega

Una muchacha de diecisiete años o un poco más salió del bosque
Sus ojos azules sonreían y su pelo cubría un poco sus senos
Miró la cima de la montaña y dijo Stagira.
Sobre la cima de la montaña estaba una muralla
Se ve de lejos las piedras rojizas de una ciudad abandonada
La muchacha dio la vuelta y dijo: Aristóteles!
Sonrió y desapareció de nuevo en el bosque.
A nuestros pies se escucha el mar
A lo lejos las ruinas de lo que queda de la ciudad del filósofo.

Una ligera brisa corre y la luna deja una estela de luz sobre el mar
Vestida de sombras una mujer se desnuda lentamente cual una Safo
Entra en las aguas y se pone a nadar lejos de la orilla
Apenas puedo ver su silueta desaparecer y reaparecer.
Después de un tiempo de inquietante silencio
Se ve la silueta sentada sola sobre una piedra.
Canta frente a la pálida luna de la noche griega.

Lentamente la noche envuelve todo y tras las ventanas, velas se encienden
Velas iluminan miradas confinadas y labios enmascarados
Sueño con la noche griega mirando las montañas bajo la luna.

The Poet

ISMAËL DIADIÉ HAÏDARA (Tombuctú, 1957) es un poeta, filósofo, historiador y presidente de la Fundación Fondo Kati. Asiduo conferenciante, cuanta con un extensa obra publicada con títulos como: Le statut du monde. Nécessité, possibilité et contingence chez Ibn Arabi, Cordoba, 1992; Yawdar Pasha y la conquista saudí del Songhay (1591-1599) Instituto de Estudios almerienses, 1993 y Rabat 1996; L'Espagne musulmane et l'Afrique subsaharienne, Editions Donniya, Bamako, 1997; Les Juifs à Tombouctou, Editions Donniya, Bamako, 1999; Los otros Españoles, mr ediciones, Madrid, 2004; Los últimos Visigodos, rd editores, Sevilla, 2003; Las lamentaciones del viejo Tombo, Maremoto, Málaga, 2006; Abana, Rihla, Córdoba, Almuzara, 2006; Monólogo del un carnero, Árbol de Poe, Málaga, 2012; Zimma, Vaso Roto Mexico, 2014, Madrid 2015; Tombuctú, Andaluces en la ciudad pérdida del Sahara, Almazara, 2015; Sahel, 2017, Diario de un bibliotecario de Tombuctú, 2017; De Toledo a Tombuctú 2019; De la sobriedad, Almuzara, 2020.

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