Patras World Poetry Festival

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:

online Award of the annual Greek Poetry Awards "Jean Moréas" (Saturday December 12th)
Art Exhibition "National Poets" with the participation of 20 Greek artists and 10 artists from different countries (live and digital tour)
Collectible trilingual edition of the poems of the participants, in the first language of each artist, in Greek and English

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”

Eleni Arapi, Greece

Participants PWPF 2023

Παρασκευή, 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023

0 Σχόλια

Ενάντια

Θα σας χτίσω μια πόλη με κουρέλια
δίχως σχέδιο και τσιμέντο
πόλη που δεν θα καταστρέψετε ποτέ.

Θα στήσω θαυμαστά
και συντριπτικά φρούρια καμωμένα
αποκλειστικά από δονήσεις

ενάντια στα οποία η μυριόχρονη
τάξη και γεωμετρία σας θα πέσει
σε ασημότητα και μικρολογία.

Θα χτίσω στην άμμο
δίχως λογική, κόσμε
λογικέ, στραγγαλισμένε.

Θα χτίσω ενάντια ενάντια
με μόνη μου ηδονή
το γκρέμισμα.

«Μικρή Μεθόριος»
Ιωλκός 2021

Against

I will build you a city with rugs
Without plans and cement
A city that you will never destroy

I will set awesome
and overwhelming fortresses
made exclusively with vibrations

Against which your aged order
and geometry will fall
to insignificance and pettiness.

I will build on the sand
without rationale
sensible world, strangled.

I will build against, against
with my single desire,
demolition.

"Small Borderland"
Iolkos 2021

Μπλε

Μια βροχερή νύχτα η μάνα πνίγηκε. Δεν πέθανε. Πνίγηκε. Όχι απ' το νερό. Απ' τον καρκίνο.
Το πρωί της ίδιας μέρας, ο γιατρός είπε ότι θα δώσουμε τη μάχη˙ θα τον πατήσουμε κάτω. Δεν τον πατήσαμε. Μας πάτησε.

Παρόλα αυτά δεν πέθανε. Πνίγηκε. Δε νίκησε ο καρκίνος. Νίκησε ο πνιγμός. Το ίδιο βράδυ η μάνα χαμογελούσε. Δεν πέθανε. Πνίγηκε. Χαμογελώντας.

Εμάς, μας έπνιξαν οι τύψεις.
(Συνηθίζεται φαίνεται όταν οι άνθρωποι πνίγονται – επαναλαμβάνω, δεν πεθαίνουν, πνίγονται – να πνίγουν και τους αγαπημένους).

Τη βάλαμε στο ψυγείο. Έκανε κρύο. Πάγωσε. Δεν πέθανε. Πάγωσε. Τα χείλη της βάφτηκαν μπλε. Λογικό. Το χρώμα του πνιγμού. Του πάγου. Το μπλε.

Στη συνέχεια βρέθηκε άνυδρο χώμα. Αποφασίσαμε να μοιραστούμε τον πνιγμό με το χώμα. Εκ τότε η γλώσσα μας πάγωσε. Δεν πέθανε. Πνίγηκε. Βάφτηκε μπλε. Ποτίζει το χώμα.

Blue

On a rainy night mother drowned. She didn't die. She drowned. Not from water. From cancer. On the morning of the same day, the doctor said that we will crush him. We didn't crush him. He crushed us.
Nevertheless, she didn't die. Drowned. Cancer didn't win. Drowning did.
That night mother was smiling. She didn't die. She drowned. Smiling.
We were drowned by guilt
(It's customary it seems that when people drown – I repeat, they don't die, they drown – suffocating and their beloved ones).
We put her in the fridge. It was cold. Frozen. She didn't die. She froze. Her lips were painted blue. Logical. The colour of drowing. The colour of ice. Blue.
Then arid soil was found. We decided to share the drowning with the soil. Hence our tongue got frozen. It didn't die. It drowned. It was painted blue. It waters the soil.

The Poetess

Born and bred in Piraeus, Eleni Arapi has been a teacher of Literature and ancient Greek since she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy (National Kapodistrian University of Athens). Literary criticism essays and poems written by her have been published in printed and on-line journals. Her first poetry collection under the title I breathe with gills was published in 2016 by Gavrielidis publications and the second entitled Small borderland was published in 2021 by Iolkos publications. In September 2022 she participated as a guest speaker at the 5th International Creative Writing Conference in Palermo. In May 2023 she participated with a short story in the collective publication Her Voice by Kastaniotis publications. Since September 2021 Eleni Arapi has been working on her master's degree in Interinstitutional Master of Arts in Creative Writing (University of Western Macedonia and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).