DECEMBER 10th - 13th 2020
We would like to inform you that due to the implementation of a new lockdown in our country and the increase in the number of coronavirus cases, the organizing and scientific committee of the “Jean Moréas International Awards” and the Patras International Poetry Festival postpones the date of the event on December, 10-13 of 2020.
Digital Event
The Patras World Poetry Festival 2020 this year is entitled "National Poets" and plans to host 60 poets from 15 different countries around the world.
This year the festival be held online and virtually, as far as COVID-19 impact affects significantly the implementation of this event.
In the four-day online event there will be 6 meetings lasting up to 3 hours, where the guest poets will be presented with readings in 2 languages, via live connection. The events will be attended by invited representatives of institutions and the jury, while the program will include speeches, presentations, tributes, music, etc.
In addition, the following activities will take place within the schedule of the Festival events:
The 3rd Patras World Poetry Festival 2020 is organized by the Poetry Fountation “Grafeion Poiiseos”, the literary website Culture Book (culturebook.gr) and the multicultural center Epikentro Plus History & Arts, while every year it is under the auspices of the Ministries of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism*. Supporters of the event are the Greek Library of London, the Cultural Center “Kostis Palamas”, the University of Western Macedonia, the Hellenic Open University and many other important institutions, as claimed under the Aegis of the President of the Hellenic Republic.
Awarding of Poetry Awards "Jean Moréas" for the year 2019
This annual event will be held digitally at one session of the PWPF Poetry Event 2020, with a presentation of the award-winning poets and recitations by them. This is the annual event during which the "Jean Moréas" Prizes are awarded for Greek poetic art and Greek poetic production in its entire range. They are recognizable nationwide and concern the poetry collections that were published throughout the previous calendar year from the year of the award. They refer both to young poets and newcomers and to those who are recognized with their poetic work along time.
The event is highly appreciated by the Greek literary and artistic circle of readers. In this year's event, in addition to the institutionalized awards, a very important foreign poet will be honored, who with his/her lifelong work honors the literature outside Greece.The Award Committee is composed of Greek University professors, as well as very important poets and poetry critics who will evaluate the work of the honorees.
Sincerely,
On behalf of the organizing committee.
Kotopoulos H. Triantafyllos, President of the “Patras World Poetry Festival”
Skiathas D. Antonis, President of the Poetry Fountation “Grafeion Poiiseos”
Alaniadi Maria, Event Manager of the “Patras World Poetry Festival”
Antonis D. Skiathas, GREECE
The Fare
Beaty
The Poems
THE FARE
You talk a lot about the fare.
You draw up contracts, bargain over the price,
study the hull's wood.
You stir the waters of glorious shipwrecks
But the wisdom in the voyage are the oars.
The oars,
their length and their number,
besides the oars are what change the place.
Sadly no wisdom lasts through time
save that which marks the horizon
of the eternal routine's tack.
From Human Traces, 2006. Translated by David Connolly
*
Ο ναύλος
Μιλάς πολύ για το ναύλο.
Κλείνεις συμφωνίες,
παζαρεύεις την τιμή,
μελετάς το ξύλο του σκαριού.
Ανακατεύεις τα νερά ενδόξων ναυαγών
Μα τα κουπιά είναι η σοφία του ταξιδιού.
Τα κουπιά.
το μήκος τους και ο αριθμός τους,
τα κουπιά άλλωστε αλλάζουν τον τόπο.
Δυστυχώς καμία σοφία δεν διαρκεί στο χρόνο
παρά μόνο αυτή που οριοθετεί τον ορίζοντα
της πλεύσης μιας αιώνιας καθημερινότητας.
«Ίχνη Ανθρώπων», 2006
* * *
BEAUTY
A body is beautiful,
when it's adorned
in the sand of the Sahara
and the waters of the Volga irrigate
all the lemon trees
in the garden of its quarters; When the wind
tears up the Crosses
and the Lord is pulled
to bottomless pits.
A body is beautiful,
when its earth gets smoothed
and the sailors
recognize constellations over it,
showing
valleys with pomegranates
where love will promenade
through the infinite
and hear
slaughtered priests crying.
A body is beautiful
when it is filled with nests
of migratory birds
and caves
where rains are saved
until long droughts come.
When in its deep altar,
a candle smolders
the body is beautiful.
From A wayfarer's fantasies, 1996. Translated by Katerina Tsiouma
*
Το κάλλος
Ένα κορμί είναι όμορφο
όταν στολίζεται
την άμμο της Σαχάρας
και τα νερά του Βόλγα αρδεύουνε
όλες τις λεμονιές
στον κήπο της μονής του.
όταν ο άνεμος
ξηλώνει τους σταυρούς
και έλκεται ο Κύριος
στ' απύθμενο πηγάδι.
Ένα κορμί είναι όμορφο
όταν η γαία του λειαίνεται
και πάνω της οι ναυτικοί
αναγνωρίζουν αστερισμούς,
που δείχνουν
κοιλάδες με ροδιές
όπου ο έρωτας θα σεργιανάει
επ' άπειρον
ακούοντας κραυγές σφαγμένων
ιερέων.
Ένα κορμί είναι όμορφο
όταν γεμίσει με φωλιές
αποδημητικών πτηνών
και σπήλαια
όπου φυλάσσονται βροχές
για τις μεγάλες ξηρασίες.
Όταν στο βάθος του βωμού του
καντήλι σιγοκαίει
ένα κορμί είν' όμορφο.
«Οι φαντασιώσεις ενός οδοιπόρου», 1996
The Poet
Antonis D. Skiathas was born in Athens in 1960 and nowadays he lives in Patra. He studied Chemical Engineering with postgraduate studies in Art Restoration. He is a poet, anthologist of poems and literary critic. Antonis Skiathas has published 12 poetic books. Poems of him have been included in Greek and international anthologies, and have been translated into 15 languages. His articles and essays on poetry and history have been published in journals and newspapers. He is a member of the Greek Society of Writers and the Poets' Circle. He was co–director of the literary journal Ελί–τροχος during the '90s. He founded and is the administrator of the cultural action "Grafeíon Poiíseos", Poetry Awards "Jean Moreas", Culture Book https://www.culturebook.gr/and he is president of Greek Library of London. In 2020 he was selected depart med of culture in the European Union EUNIC, in order to represent Greece as a poet in the UK. He teaches poetry in the postgraduate program "Creative Writing" ( University of Western Macedonia - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), he also teached poetry in the postgraduate program "Creative Writing" ( University of Western Macedonia - Open University of Greece).
*
Ο Αντώνης Δ. Σκιαθάς γεννήθηκε στην Αθήνα το 1960 και σήμερα ζει στην Πάτρα. Σπούδασε Χημικός Μηχανικός με μεταπτυχιακές σπουδές στην Συντήρηση Έργων Τέχνης και στη Δημιουργική Γραφή. Είναι ποιητής, ανθολόγος και κριτικός λογοτεχνίας. Έχουν εκδοθεί 12 ποιητικές συλλογές και άλλα βιβλία του. Ποιήματά του έχουν μεταφραστεί σε 15 γλώσσες ενώ έχουν συμπεριληφθεί σε ανθολογίες στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό. Άρθρα και δοκίμιά του για την ποίηση, την ιστορία και την εκπαίδευση έχουν δημοσιευτεί σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά. Είναι μέλος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων και του Κύκλου Ποιητών. Συνδιηύθυνε το λογοτεχνικό περιοδικό "Ελίτροχος" στη δεκαετία του '90. Στη συνέχεια δημιούργησε και διαχειρίζεται το "Γραφείον Ποιήσεως" , τα Βραβεία Ποίησης "Zαν Mορεάς" το Culture Book https://www.culturebook.gr/ και είναι πρόεδρος της Greek Library of London.
Το 2020 επιλέχθηκε από τον φορέα πολιτισμού στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση EUNIC, να εκπροσωπήσει την Ελλάδα ως ποιητής στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. Διδάσκει ποίηση στο Διατμηματικό Μεταπτυχιακό Τμήμα Δημιουργικής Γραφής του Πανεπιστημίου Δυτικής Μακεδονίας και του ΑΠΘ και στο μεταπτυχιακό πρόγραμμα «Δημιουργική Γραφή» (Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Μακεδονίας – Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο)