Patras World Poetry Festival

for english please press here

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”

Josef Hrdlička, Czech Republic

fb-post-czech-republic

Josef Hrdlička, Czech Republic

The Poems

HEAD
and
HANDS


son solemnly draws a human
one finger after another – is that
a star in its hand? – yeah,
and here's a cave, he adds
as the little stick slides in deeper

your best poem yet
with a star for a hand
I enter a cave
on a human body
engraved in soil

Commentary: The poem originated sometime in 2016 when my younger son was almost five years old. While on the playground, he used a stick to draw a human figure with fingers of uneven size which resembled rays of starlight as they are drawn. Only a long time later did I start to realize that my son was drawing a plan of sorts that I should follow. People are in certain moments of life aware of sketched maps which are drawn under their steps. They follow some and draw over others. A lucky turn.


*


HLAVA
a
RUCE

syn vážně kreslí člověka
jeden prst za druhým – to má
v ruce hvězdu? – jo,
a tady jeskyni, dodává
jak zajede dřívko hlouběji

zatím tvá nejlepší báseň
s hvězdou místo ruky
vcházím do jeskyně
po těle člověka
vyrytého do země

Komentář: Báseň vznikla někdy v roce 2016, kdy mému mladšímu synovi bylo skoro pět let. Na dětském hřišti vyrýval klacíkem lidskou postavu, která měla neúměrně velké prsty podobné paprskům hvězd, jak je kreslíme. Až dlouho potom mi začalo docházet, že syn tehdy rýsoval jakýsi plán, podle kterého bych se měl vydat. V jisté životní chvíli si člověk uvědomuje náčrty map, které se črtají pod jeho kroky. Některými se řídí, jiné zakresluje. Šťastný obrat.

* * * 


Mirth

While I sleep,
let someone clean my bones 'till they're white
and arrange them by size
and begin to build them
into new shapes,
when they rub my eye socket I'll look
at it, when their palm lightly
knocks my skull, my ears will take in
all the beautiful sounds, and if they want
to play backgammon with my fingerbones,
they should cast them, so I can blissfully
fondle the surrounding world, but most of all
they are to take care of the vertebrae, their order
is set once and for all, I'd like to begin
with a tail in the earth's core and let a horn
reach through my head to the sky,
I'd like to be the world's axis, at least
for a moment in a blessed dream, and then, when I suddenly
wake only half-assembled,
I'll drag myself with great joy
into a new sleep

Commentary: In sleep humans return themselves to the Earth. Their bare bones are a great joy to them. All is displayed and clear and nothing is hidden. Events and objects are switched out like seasonal products in shopping windows.

*


Veselost

Zatímco budu spát,
ať někdo vyčistí mé kosti doběla
a seřadí je podle velikosti
a začne z nich skládat
nové tvary,
když promne oční důlek podívám
se na to, když dlaní zlehka
klepne o leb, ušima pojmu
všechny krásné zvuky, a kdyby snad
prstními kostkami chtěl vrhcáb hrát,
nechť rozhodí je, abych mohl okolní svět
slastně ohmatat, ze všeho nejvíc ale
ať dbá na obratle, jejich pořadí
je jednou provždy dané, rád začínal bych
chvostem v jádru země a roh nechť
ční mně skrze hlavu do oblak,
chtěl bych být světskou osou, aspoň
chvíli v blaženém snu, a když pak náhle
procitnu jen zpola smontovaný,
s velikou chutí povleču se
do nového spánku

Komentář: Ve spánku se člověk navrací Zemi. Obnažené kosti jsou pro něj velkým štěstím. Vše je vyložené a jasné, nic se neskrývá. Události a věci se střídají jako sezónní výrobky za okny výloh.

(translated by Stephan Delbos and Jaromír Moravec) 

The Poet

Josef Hrdlička (born 1969) published three collections of poetry, The Fleet Sails Out of Darkness (2010), Cat in the Fire (2014) and Ancestors of Bones (2021, nominated for the Magnesia Litera Award), and a collection of essays and poems, Inside the World (2012). He teaches literature at Charles University in Prague, focusing on comparative literature and the theory and history of poetry. His scholarly books include Images of the World in Czech Literature (2008), Poetry and the Cosmos (2017), and Poetry in Exile (2020). With a wider team of co-authors, he has contributed to several volumes on poetry: Poems and Places (2015), Voices of Places (2016), Heroes in Poems (2017), Things in Poems (2020 Czech; 2022 English edition). He is currently working on a collective book on the poetry inf the state of exception. He lives with his wife and two sons in Sedlčany, not far from Prague.

Christos Katroutsos, Greece
ABOUT US
 

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ

Δεν υπάρχουν ακόμη σχόλια. Γίνετε ο πρώτος που θα υποβάλει ένα σχόλιο
Guest
Πέμπτη, 28 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023

Captcha Image

Υποστηρικτές PWPF

Supported by

Media Sponsors

Social Media PWPF

Υποστηρικτές

Για να λαμβάνετε ενημέρωσεις, για όλες τις δράσεις του Culture Book, εγγραφείτε στο newsletter μας


© 2015 - 2020 Γραφείον Ποιήσεως. All Rights Reserved