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”

Nikos Erinakis, Greece

PWPF 2023 Participants

Κυριακή, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023

0 Σχόλια

[2 ποιήματα από την τελευταία συλλογή Ακόμα Βαφτιζόμαστε, εκδ. Κείμενα, 2022]

[ακόμα βαφτιζόμαστε]

μέρες καλοκαιριού του δύο χιλιάδες δεκαοκτώ
έναν αιώνα μετά·
ακόμα χωρίς δουλειά

από το Dalston στο Jericho
και πάλι πίσω
μια στη Βαλτετσίου
και μια γύρω απ' τη Λουκιανού

ανάνθιστος φοράω πάλι μαύρα
κι αφήνω γένια

σας συναντώ ξανά
επιχειρούμε το θαύμα
στο ασυνεχές
ανακαλύπτουμε ουλές

με δίκαιους φόβους
σε αυθαίρετους καιρούς και τόπους

ανάμεσα στον ήλιο και σε μια ανοιχτή φλέβα

το παρελθόν είχε άλλα σχέδια για μας

βαφτιζόμαστε
στις νεραντζιές που ανθίζουν
στους δρόμους του κέντρου

κρίσης κρήνες
ποτίστε μας κι άλλο

οι κυκλικοί ρυθμοί ακτινοβολούν

κι όπως δεν ήταν το πριν γιορτή
δεν είναι και το τώρα απόγνωση

θα υποφέρουμε κι αυτή την ειρήνη

ό,τι κόσμος ήταν
κόσμος παραμένει

[Still Getting Baptized]

Summer days of two thousand eight
A century later;
Still unemployed

From Dalston to Jericho
And back
Sometimes in Loukianou
Sometimes around Valtetsiou

Unflowered I wear black again
And grow a beard

I meet you anew
We attempt the miracle
To the uncontinuum
We discover scars

With fair fears
In arbitrary times and places

Between the sun and an open vein

The past had other plans for us

We are baptized
To the bitter orange trees that blossom
To the city center streets

Crisis fountains
Water us more

Circular rhythms shine

And as before was not a celebration
Likewise, now is not despair

We will suffer this peace too

Whatever was cosmos;
Cosmos remains

[στην πιο συναρπαστική καμπύλη της ρωγμής]

οι ζωές μας πλέον αντιστοιχούν
σε κάτι που απροσδόκητα πλησιάζει

μοιάζει όμορφη μέρα να κρυφτείς

βρίσκομαι στους χωρίς εσένα δρόμους
οι στιγμές σ' ενέχουν ακόμα
το πρωινό σε χρειάζεται

προσπαθώ να φέρω πίσω
όσα δραπέτευσαν

με τη σοφία της ανασφάλειας
εισχωρώ σε κάποιο τέλος

νιώθω το ένστικτό σου μέσα μου
με συνοδεύει σε υπολείμματα ονείρων

αφαιρείς τον διάκοσμο
αφήνομαι στην τυραννία της ειλικρίνειας

τα πράγματα είναι πιο σκληρά
απ' όσο είμαστε εμείς

μεγαλώνω
κι όμως υπάρχουν ακόμα εκείνες οι στιγμές

άλλο η ζωή, άλλο η αλήθεια·
άλλο εμείς

ας συγκρίνουμε μυθολογίες
δίνω ό,τι μπορώ να δώσω

συναντηθήκαμε στην πιο
συναρπαστική καμπύλη της ρωγμής

θα φύγεις;
ή μήπως σ' αρέσει ο τρόπος που καίει;

υγρή ροή που συνεπαίρνεις
θα σε συναντήσω στην έκπληξη

εκεί που τίποτα
δεν πληγώνει πια

[in the most fascinating curve of rupture]

our lives now correspond
to something unexpectedly approaching
it seems like a great day to hide

I find my self in the without you streets
the moments still involve you
the morrow requires you

I strive to bring back
all that fled

with the wisdom bestowed by insecurity
I squeeze myself into a random ending

I feel your gut in mine
escorting me in shrapneled dreams
you strip all ornament
and I surrender to the tyranny of candor

matters are toughter
than we are

I age
and yet these moments still exist

life is another, truth is another and we another

let's compare mythologies
I'll go all in

we met at the most fascinating curve of rupture

are you leaving ?
or maybe you like the way it burns

liquid flow that swipes away,
I'll meet you at the unexpected;

where nothing wounds anymore

The Poet

Nikos Erinakis [Athens, 1988] is an Asst. Professor of Social & Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Culture at the University of Crete, while teaching also at the University of Athens and the Athens School of Fine Arts. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of London, where he began his thesis while continuing and completing it as a recognized research student at the University of Oxford. He studied Economics [AUEB], Philosophy & Literature [Warwick], and Philosophy of Social Science [LSE]. He is also the Scientific Director of the think-tank ENA, he was a member of the Board of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, and is a member of the Board of the Hellenic Youth Symphony Orchestra. Three books of his poetry have been published, as well as two books of German-speaking poets of modernism, with a number of related essays, in his translation. He has been honoured with the Award of the Academy of Athens for his first philosophy book, while collective volumes have been published under his supervision as editor. His poems, essays and articles have been published in various peer-reviewed international journals, collective volumes, anthologies and conference proceedings.