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The British Council and Literature Across Frontiers choose 20 young authors to attend readings throughout South Eastern Europe. The Poetics of the Quotidian event in Bucharest hosted one of the readings. PoQ is a project of relational poetics. This month will POQ will host a Party of Poetry in Berlin at Literaturwerkstatt.

South Estern Europe Wordexpress

poetics poetry maps

young authors Literaturwerkstatt

poe-zine #05 2

After the screenings in Bucharest, Chisinau & Prague, “poetry. the power” is coming to Berlin.

24 young writers explain literature. Where it comes from and where it goes. Some may swear that prose is poetry's mother, others think it is a pyramid, a form of communication, or

rage, a beeline for rock celebrity.

Friday 30.10.2009 22:00

Before POETRY LIVE – The Long Night

of Young Romanian Poetry

Venue: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin,

Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin

"poetry. the power" is a documentary that takes the pulse of Romanian contemporary poetry, of its public an its indecency: an hour with new poets and their special powers. Constantin Acosmei, Şerban Axinte, Constantin Virgil Bănescu, Cătălina Cadinoiu, Dan Coman, Tudor Creţu, Sorin Despot, Cosmin Dragomir, Ana Dragu, Teodor Dună, Aida Hancer, Marin Mălaicu Hondrari, Marius Ianuş, Vasile Leac, Oana Cătălina Ninu, Florin Partene, Denisa Pişcu, Cosmin Perţa, Andra Rotaru, George Serediuc, Stoian G. Bogdan, Olga Ştefan, Adriana Teodorescu, Mihai Vakulovski

a movie by

Andrei Ruse and Răzvan Țupa

Meantime you can watch online 10 minutes episodes of “poetry. the power” with English subtitles.

Poetics of the Quotidian

Literary meetings in Bucharest

Since 2005

RĂZVAN TUPA was born in 1975 in

Braila.

Since 2006 he reads poetry at

internatio-nal festi-vals and

projects in Berlin

(2008), Bratislava (2008), New York

(2008), Prague (2008), Paris (2006,

2009) and Rome (2007) and developed

different projects for video

poetry. In 2009 deployed a project

of filming poetry. This project was

„poetry. the power” documentary. It

is a film that presents 24 new

Romanian poets selected for The

National New Writers Coloquium

in Alba Iulia (May, 2009).

He published „fetish” (2001, 2003)

and „corpuri romanesti” (2005), two

books of poetry.

Ccollection of texts on relational poetics. It was published in Romanian in September

2009 as a book in “Stare de Urgenta” magazine from Chisinau (Moldavia).

I. Policy. Performances

a) the poetic relationship

Looking at the vitality of art reshaping

it’s object in the last 20 years, we

realize that literature might seem an

fancy old lady, who purchases

fashionable gadgets occasionally but

only in her apartment decorated with

lace is where she feels best.

Sometimes one suspects she’s not

even watching TV either.

b) emotional pornography

It's almost an automatism to speak

about lost generations, shattered

illusions, betrayed ideals, etc. And who

could dear challenge God knows what

individual that is beaten. How would

one hit people that had fallen?!

There is no difficulty to realize that for

two hundred years there has been

only people who have lost. Who said

that won anything since Napoleon?!

Only dictators, and there was just

propaganda. Even revolutions are not

meant anymore as symbols of victory.

c) cultural entertainment & political

dada

The illusion that the speech was ever

any other than defect is more obvious

when you realize that the media

machine simply assumes the

traditional role of the artist, of a visual

and word artisan to provide a

consumer version for the Odes of

Pindar (for example).

Assertiveness is the quality that makes

the events to be suspicious.

The poet does not produce anything

concrete. Ironically, no other

occupation is not in a position as

immaterial as that of the poet. With

one exception and here comes the

irony: the politician.

d) poetic organization

Political power builds its strength on

the organization and management of

network resources set behind its

symbolic value. What keeps eccentric

the poetry is quite the opposite of

political power: isolation, discrediting

groups and encouraging a lack of

responsibility. And this is exactly what

we should not accept. Here poetry can

begin.

The practice of poetry Chishinau 2009

poe-zine #05 5

Short stories

May, 2009

As a preface for the 100 anniversary

Poetics of the Quotidian meetings we had

prepared a debate on how poetry is

perceived and written today. This text is an

adaptation of a conference designed

during January to May 2009 for the space

of art and contemporary culture Unicredit

Pavilion in Bucharest.

Compared to contemporary art,

literature (especially the Romanian

one) remains much quieter. Any

output to a wide audience is

automatically suspected of cheap

commercialism. Surprisingly or not,

aesthetic tendencies raised by Nicolas

Bourriaud in 2002 with his famous

series of comments over

contemporary artists can be found in a

basic XIXth century text, where

Romanticism was described by F.

Schlegel.

In this way we can recover a literary

consciousness that puts forward the

effectiveness of poetic approach in

contemporary society, beyond the

traditional aesthetics and

stubbornness of dwelling exclusively

an aesthetic autonomy.

This text aims to pursue a number of

genuine poetic elements identified as

functional in the various areas of social

life and politics today.

Whether metaphorical scrap, rhetoric

performances more or less cheap,

economic models, political discourse,

poe-zine #05 6

media are all based on elements and

even structures specific to poetry. In

the end, anarchy and rigid

conservatorism both assume

victimization as a personal process.

Poetic relationship

All you know about figures of speech,

fixed forms or concepts that the

universe poetic, lyrical feeling you can

find raised in literary criticism or

school textbooks that have selected

poems

published in

the last 10

years, but

implementatio

n of these

elements can

no longer

work.

As a reader,

without any

pretensions of art criticism, I see

relational aesthetics as one of the

most important tests of theoretical

approach to recovery original art in

social magnitude.

I was asked many times how a

specialized field in forging lines of

force of the word has not offered no

theoretical formulation that can

compare to a conceptual ruptures of

the art or music in the last half

century.

It is a surprise to find a correlation

between the formulations of the

theory of art that changed the

essential perspective on today's

artistic act and the different ways that

the poetic act was identified over

time.

One of the biggest problems for a

contemporary reader is the inaccuracy

of synthetic formulations in literary

history. Usually, the specific elements

listed for any literary movements are

only a few

features that

could provide

arguments in

an approach

aimed to

differentiate

artificially

between

historical

moments.

When it is mentioned Western

medieval poetry literary history states

the resignation from the poet's

creative position and focuses on the

song, the verse as word craft, it is only

a simplification of reality.

The studies in medieval poetics (the

transition from poetry to poetics is

perhaps best illustrated in this

moment - WTH Jackson Medieval

Literature: A History and a Guide)

poe-zine #05 7

insists ovet the meeting between

poetry (written in Latin scholastic era

in obligatory relationship with

Christian vision) and vernacular

poetry. However, when you read

verses like

Who's that I hear?—It's me—Who?—

Your heart

Hanging on by the thinnest thread

I lose all my strength, substance, and

fluid

When I see you withdrawn this way all

alone

Like a whipped cur sulking in the

corner

Is it due to your mad hedonism?—

What's it to you?—I have to suffer for

it—

Leave me alone—Why?—I'll think

about it—

When will you do that?—When I've

grown up—

I've nothing more to tell you—I'll

survive without it—

(The Debate Between Villon And His Heart by

François Villon

translated by

Galway Kinnell).

you can

understand that

the vitality of

the poetic

language goes

far beyond the

intentions of poetic theories. The

same happens with any poetic

moment that you may choose. Texts

that founded literary movements had

more nuances than historic

simplifications can address.

Only when we find the theoretical

formulations signed by Friedrich

Schlegel (1772-1829) we can

understand that a historic perspective

overlooks the very vitality of poetic in

a certain moment. “All art has been a

contemporary” states a work by

Maurizio Nannucci at the entrance of

Alte Museum in Berlin of entry into

the Museum of Ancient Art in Berlin.

That quality which have to be

contemporary poeticile in relation to

vital principles of their time in a lose

sight of the man approaches:

„Romantic poetry is a progressive,

universal poetry. Its aim isn’t merely to

reunite all the separate species of

poetry and put poetry in touch with

philosophy and rhetoric. It tries to and

should mix and fuse poetry and prose,

inspiration and

criticism, the poetry

of art and the

poetry of nature;

and make poetry

lively and social,

and life and society

poetical; poeticize

wit and fill and

saturate the forms

poe-zine #05 8

of art with every kind of good, solid

matter for instruction, and animate

them with the pulsations of humor.“

(here)

I am not sure when you thought about

romantic poet but I am almost certain

you haven’t included humor and the

clash between the society and

aesthetics. Yet it is a quote signed by F.

Schlegel and one of the birth acts of

Romanticism.

To conclude our introduction I will add

the indication offered by the French

art critic in order to determine the

mutation targeted in relational

aesthetics: Art begins to aim rather the

sphere of human interactions and its

social context than the affirmation of

self and private symbolic space

(Nicolas Bourriaud-Relational

Aesthetics 1998).

As the theoretical formulation of

relational aesthetics were caused by

lack of effectiveness of the concepts

required in the critical art of the 60’s

and by the search for functional

criteria to address contemporary

artistic approaches we can recognize

the same moment where poetry

criticism is blocked today.

poe-zine #05 9

II. Poetics

June, 2009

My first relational poetry event was a

grid poem online. After a few months I

repeated the experience as a preface

to a workshop in Constanta (Eastern

Romania). At some point I realized that

it showed up quite a few events in this

area and maybe it's time to see how

they stay together.

Right after I staged poem scale

experiment in Bratislava, where, the

audience chose one letter from each

of the 5 poems that I read, and in the

end, all the letters were dictated to be

written in a hopscotch in form of the

Slovak word basen (poem). Sure,

relational poetics is anything (or can

be). and yet ...

... Where we come

from

It’s no need to claim

we invent the wheel.

I've heard about the

relational poetics. In

2005 a number of

Fascicle publication,

Alan Gilbert

concludes his

dialogue with Dale

Smith talking exactly

about the relational

poetics: "a sensitivity to relationship

and context, an understanding of

language and even consciousness as

ongoing negotiation, an emphasis on

listening, all of which are accompanied

by the inevitable failures you mention,

are at the heart of my sense of an

aesthetics and an ethics that is neither

an aesthetics nor an ethics, but are

part of a larger critical and creative

reevaluation of these categories."

Since 1990 Édouard Glissant has

published essays on poetry in the

volume "Poetique de la relation"

(Gallimard). Later he lectured on his

concept with Tunisian poet Amina

Said. His concept is based on the

specific problems of poetry in Antilles

(where Glissant originates, in fact) and

emphasizes individual identity issues,

language and society.

poe-zine #05 10

I would be even more radical, because

the forms of poetry in their change

have drawn changes concerning the

role of poetry, but basically something

persisted. And it is not rhymes, or

rhythm and meter ... and not even the

written text that persists.

If you had read Homer or Pindar than

you realize that not even the poet’s

self is not customary in the poem. So

we are left to formulate a specific "to

be together" as the poet Constantin

Acosmei would say in

“poezie.puterea” documentary film,

"with people from different places,

from different times. And from there...

... Where we have seen each other

The first workshop relational poetics

that I was invited to perform was in

Timisoara, in the days of “Save Student

House” campaign. What emerged was

a spectacular map, edited by Ana

Toma in a one copy hand-made

volume. Instead of streets, the rule

was to name poets and quotes related

to Timisoara.

Also in Timisoara was organized and

first public meeting of relational

poetics. In the Cărtureşti bookshop

tea-house from Timisoara readers took

a line willing to have a poem written

especially for each of them by the

invited poets. This time, the poets

spoke in turn with each reader and

wrote a poem or prose turned from

what they were told.

The series of workshops from

Timisoara concluded with

yourPOETICmap at Sand Book

Bookshop. This time the workshop

completed a series of 5 pages for each

participant. Each page represented

aspects of poetic

perception of the

participant.

Then, the project was

developed in Constanta.

And there are still things

to be done about editing

yourPOETICmap. Not that

it would have great

difficulty, but it

introduces some terms

into question as...

poe-zine #05 11

... a manifesto

Last year (2008), Ian Irvine has

launched a transpersonal-relational

poetics manifesto changing the focus

theory of poetry to the development

of a non-oppressive language. The

theory calls for experiments with

language forms and uses references to

experiments with alienated forms of

language and moves the whole story in

a social area.

It is still an opportunity to emphasize

some theoretical historical landmarks:

Oulipean techniques associated with

'Constraints Based' writing (though

with minimal emphasis on

mathematical concepts), various

'Language' poetry techniques, non-

Western techniques related to anti-

colonialist/ethno poetic insights, as

well as a range of revised and up-

dated 20th century avant-garde

techniques / concepts eg: 'Writing as

Process', 'chance operations',

'deconstructive appropriation' etc..

Certain TRP techniques might also be

described as original. The interactivity

(and process / relational possibilities)

offered by the WWW is also under

exploration by TPR writers. Another

area of interest is creativity in relation

to personal healing and political

activism. In this sense some concepts

drawn from 'narrative therapy' is also

relevant to the TRP perspectives and

praxis."

"Poetics of relation" is the concept

provided by Edouard Glissant

(Galimard, 1990, University of

Michigan, 1997). The writer born in

French Antilles invokes as first poets of

relation Victor Segalen, Raymond

Roussel and Henri Rousseau. Glissant

considers them the first creators to

prove the kickbak that an event from a

remote culture can have over the life

of an individual in modernity (op cit, p.

27). As the unexplored territories

geographically shrank the act of

discovering the other is replaced by

the „understanding” of the other as a

foreign civilization. But this

understanding has a aggressive

meaning. The events that take place in

a remote space have a bigger

importance for an individual than

personal and familial events ever can.

Glissant sorts a vocal language and a

practical one and calls for a need for

de- colonization of creoles languages

poe-zine #05 12

by a „conspiracy of hiding sense”. The

release from conventional forms of

transparency in the language, the

deliberate use of linguistic opacity is

used as an instrument of poetic

politics. In the history of literature, the

same case can be considered

regarding Dante’s choice for

vernacular Italian instead of imperial

Latin («Patke, Rajeev S. in Post-colonial

Poetry in English», Oxford University

Press, 2006, p. 98).

When theorizing of the 80’s Romanian

textualism, Marin Mincu insisted on

how the author cut reality to provide

its text. Relational Poetics is an

invitation to record cuts that authors

and readers prefer for these partially

un-textual poems that we currently

call living.

figu

re lt

c.u

ma

nito

ba.c

a

poe-zine #05 13

III. Practice.

poets, readers, speakers =

inhabitants

By mid 2008, a series of events held in

Bucharest, Timisoara, Constanta,

Bratislava, Prague and Paris had been

transformed in practice for these

considerations, using poetry as a tool

for communication, documentation

and response to immediate reality. If

for Prague and Paris, projects for

which we worked with Claudiu

Komartin and Ana Maria Sandu were

held so far only in the virtual

environment, for all other events are

documented in order to restore and

indicate the stages of each workshops.

I added some notes related to Poetics

of the Quotidian meetings, which,

since 2005, has been a continuous

exercise and relationship with

literature. The first series of notes

presents the yourPOETICmap

workshop from Timisoara.

poe-zine #05 14

yourPOETICmap

(Timisoara, May 2009)

For each of us the world looks

different. Sand Book Bookshop invited

readers to Poetics of the Quotidian for

mapping their poetic world.

Razvan Tupa and Moni Stănilă

prepared writing instruments for each

of those who wished to participate in

this workshop.

WORKSHOP: 80-120 min

CONDUCT:

-Each participant will have 5 (five)

pages of A4 paper and writing

instruments.

The name of your poetic map is your

name.

- Choose a sign to represent you and

you use it on every page of the

workshop. Put the sign on

each of the five pages.

- It is important that each

participant to use each of

the five pages in the order

they will show that

coordinate the workshop.

- The workshop has five

stages (one for each of the

five pages of the participants)

- At the end of each stage, your sheet

is photographed.

- The end of the workshop is marked

by setting up an image in two ways:

1: by joining all the drawings with the

same number (all 1 then every 2 etc.)

to present a horizontal map.

2: the alignment of all pages (from 1 to

5 each time) and repeat the full

presentation for each participant.

You

In front of you is world

Behind you is world

In your left is world

The world is at your right

Above is world

Below is world

Before you is world and

After you is world

When is your world

poe-zine #05 15

Page 1

1: Think about the strongest feeling: -

5 min

If it is a taste - description of the area

into the brain (cerebral cortex) / write

on the edge of the sheet.

If it is an odor-limbic system (brain

center) write in the center of the

sheet

If it is related to touch - sensory cortex

- the left half of sheet

If it is related to hearing - temporal

lobe - the right half of sheet.

2: What would make you happy (s): - 5

min

3: When finished, ask someone to

read

Page 2

4: Places: important for you (in the

center of the page) 6 min

Geographical or emotional

5: items specific for you in these places

(sounds, people, buildings) 4 min

6: Ask someone to read

Page 3

7: How you see others - write about

them - 5 min

8: How do others see you. give them

your sheet to write - 5 min

9: Ask someone to read

Page 4

10: dream write / drawing - 10

minutes

11: choose another person in the room

and, if you have writen your dream,

ask him/her to draw it on your sheet.

If you've drawn your dream, you ask

them to write what you drew on your

sheet. 5 min

Page 5

12: Words-strings-order-words that do

order. Your labels: sharing the world -

10 min

FINALE

Each participant receives their pages

bonded in a cover as a book-

manuscript in a single copy.

poe-zine #05 16

Photo by Ulrikka S Gernes

POET

RELATION The reader and the writer of poetry

do things in words

Relational Poetics is only one meeting

between poetry and poetry, between

poetry and ways of seeing, especially

the ways to affirm the presence of real

dimensions of poetry.

Relational Poetics is not a discovery.

Relational Poetics is not an invention.

Relational Poetics is a meeting and,

moreover, growing sense that already

attend this meeting.

What do you do with poetry.

On one hand this is what you do with

poetry.

What is poetry to you?

We are interested if poetry or

something to say in that form of

expression. Yes, and more: It's good

that the poem is reduced to poetry?

What we have in common

If poetry is a medium, an area where

something happens, they are

landmarks that look?

Who says

you you you you you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you

poe-zine #05 17

Poetics of

the

Quotidian

poll

2005-2009

1. What was the most unexpected

reaction that you had from a reader?

2. How do you want your writing not

to be read?

3. With what writer don’t you want in

any circumstances to be confused?

Why?

4. Where do you think is best to be

read what you write?

5. If you were just a reader, what

would you believe about what you

write?

6. What has changed in your writing

from the first publication until now?

What caused this change?

7. What would change about your

writing if you would live somewhere

else? (where and why?)

8. What is your relationship with

different literary genres?

9. If you choose a single piece of what

you wrote what would it be?

10. Who influenced you mostly? How?

poe-zine #05 18

A literary journey through South‐East Europe In October 2009 twenty young authors will start a journey which will take them through the cities of South East Europe to Istanbul. On the way, they will meet colleagues, observe, debate, read, blog and take photos and sound recordings, and, above all, write, capturing their experience in words and images. In all, more than fifty young writers, artists and translators from the region will be involved in the project and will contribute to publications in literary magazines in the participating countries and in the final publication. The train journey will take three groups of writers from Bucharest to Sofia, from Sarajevo to Belgrade, and from Ljubljana via Zagreb to Skopje, converging in Thessaloniki and finally in Istanbul.

Word Express is a new project for literary

exchange in South-East Europe, organised

by the UK-based Literature Across Frontiers

in cooperation with Delta Publishing in

Istanbul, Profil Books in Zagreb, Helicon in

Tel Aviv and the National Book Centre in

Bucharest and other partners based in

twelve countries in the region. The project

is part of the EU-supported Literature

Across Frontiers Programme and of the

British Council’s Creative Collaboration

Programme which aims to enrich the

cultural life of Europe and its surrounding

countries and to build trust and

understanding across communities by

generating dialogue and debate. In a region

marked with past and present conflicts,

Word Express aims to cross cultural and

linguistic boundaries and bring new literary

voices of the region to the fore.

The project which started in May 2009,

aims to create opportunities for exchange

and dialogue by establishing a network of

young writers, translators, literary

magazines and venues in twelve countries

and connecting them with the UK.

Some fifty young authors and translators

will be eventually involved in the project,

exploring the region’s cultural, social and

political legacy and meeting their colleagues

from the participating countries. In October

2009, twenty of them will form three

groups each of which will take a train

journey through the Balkans to Istanbul,

stopping in different cities where they will

take part in readings, debates and

translation workshops. In Istanbul, where

they will spend five days at the end of their

journey, they will participate in the Istanbul

Book fair and in the new Istanbul Tanpinar

Literature Festival, as well as reading and

debating in other venues.

The participants come from the following

countries: Armenia, Bosnia and

poe-zine #05 19

Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece,

Israel, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania,

Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and the United

Kingdom – and their work will be translated

into the languages of the region and

published in literary magazines in each of

the participating countries . They will also

have the opportunity to work

collaboratively on projects combining

writing with video and film art, photography

and music, to be showcased in the second

stage of the project, in 2010.

For this project, led by Delta Publishing in

Istanbul, the British Council and Literature

Across Frontiers work with a range of other

partners, including the National Book

Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute

in Bucharest and Istanbul, Profil Books in

Zagreb, Blesok in Skopje, Sarajevske sveske

(Sarajevo Notebooks for Regional Culture),

Treci trg in Belgrade, Literaturen Vestnik in

Sofia, Young Writers Club in Ljubljana,

Endefktirio magazine and literary venue in

Thessaloniki, Inknagir literary magazine in

Yerevan, and Helicon - the Society for the

Advancement of Poetry in Israel and the

Helicon Poetry Journal in Tel Aviv.

The project is co-financed by the British

Council and Literature Across Frontiers

(supported by Culture Programme of the

European Union), with support from the

Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the

Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture of

the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Culture

of the Republic of Macedonia, the Scottish

Arts Council and Wales Arts International.

Visit www.wordexpress.org,

www.creativecollaborations.org.uk and

www.lit-across-frontiers.org to find out

more.

poe-zine #05 20

WORD EXPRESS program schedule

Group 1

Ljubljana – Zagreb – (via Belgrade) Skopje –

(via Thessaloniki) – Istanbul

Ljubljana - Raman Mundair, Efe Duyan +

local writer Mirt Komel

Zagreb - Raman Mundair, Efe Duyan + local

writers Marko Pogačar, Mima Simid

Skopje - Raman Mudair, Efe Duyan, Mirt

Komel (joins), Marko Pogačar, Mima Simid +

local writers Igor Isakovski, Aleksandra

Dimitrova travel via Thessaloniki (without

stopping) to Istanbul

Group 2

Bucharest – Sofia – Thessaloniki –

Istanbul

Bucharest – Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen

Spahid, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu + local writers

Adela Greceanu, Claudiu Komartin

Sofia – Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen Spahid,

Barış Müstecaplıoğlu, Adela Greceanu,

Claudiu Komartin + local writers Ivan

Hristov )

Thessaloniki - Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen

Spahid, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu, Adela

Greceanu, Claudiu Komartin, Ivan Hristov +

local writers Chris Chryssopoulos, Katerina

Iliopoulou

Group 3

Sarajevo – Belgrade – (via Skopje)

Thessaloniki – Istanbul

Sarajevo - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell +

local writer Adisa Basid

Belgrade - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell,

Adisa Basid + local writer Milan Dobričid

Thessaloniki - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell,

Adisa Basid, Milan Dobričid + local writers

Chris Chryssopoulos, Katerina Iliopoulou 19

travelling, joined by Uri Hollander in

Istanbul, where they meet Turkish writers.

poe-zine #05 21

Open your halls for reading An interesting cultural event held recently

at the Romanian Peasant’s Museum. In a

public reading, the poet Daniela Crăsnaru,

the writer Adela Greceanu and the

translator and poet Claudiu Komartin were

joined by Anahit Hayrapetyan (Armenia),

Barış Müstecaplıoğlu (Turkey) and Ognjen

Spahic (Montenegro). All

this happened in Word

Express project, initiated

by Literature Across

Frontiers and British

Council, developed

with Romanian Cultural

Institute support by the

National Book Center.

Claudiu Komartin read

three poems from his

most recent volume, "A

season in Berceni. If

Adela

Greceanu presented

excerpts from "The Bride

with red socks', a book

with a lively start and a flunk finishing, with

the frustration of a character who did not

find cadence in love made public under a

magnifying glass, Anahit Hayrapetyan

presented in a more direct style of the

poem of erotic memories from the Mount

Ararat.

Barış Müstecaplıoğlu talked about problems

in Turkish society . Daniela Crăsnaru, known

for her discursive verve, the

diffuse modesty read a poem about lust

spoken directly among gasps and open calls

for action.

Many of the foreign writers and poets

attending this public reading started their

career as journalists. The atmosphere was

relaxed by the narrative application of the

guest from Montenegro: "I cannot talk

before I have a beer and

an ashtray.” Author,

translated into English,

French and German,

Spahic wrote a short

story about Romanian

leprosaria, the last one

in Europe. "1

percent reality, 99,

fiction" he describe his

art for an audience

composed mostly

of youngsters.

In interwar period, such

meetings were mostly

held in cultu-

ral institutions. In this format, a public

hungry for knowledge can be closer to the

authors and their preferred writings.

Publishers should deal more than the

promotion of authors. The large number of

participants has shown a desire for such

events. The event was introduced by

Razvan Tupa, the founder of Poetics of the

Quotidian meetings.

Adapted from http://www.bookiseala.ro/

poe-zine #05 22

Meet the writers on board of Word Express:

BAŠID, ADISA Adisa Bašid was born in 1979 in Sarajevo. She has a degree in Comparative Literature, and an MA in Human Rights and Democracy. She spent a year in Germany on a DAAD grant studying German and Media at Phlipps University in Marburg. She has travelled widely and has participated in a number of literary encounters in Bosnia and abroad. In 2003 she spent four months travelling in the USA together with other young writers from conflict‐ridden countries and has given readings in many venues from San Francisco to Boston. She works as a journalist in the culture section of SlobodnaBosna weekly, the largest circulation Bosnian daily. She has published two poetry collections, Hava’s Sentences (1999) and Trauma Market (2004). Her poetry and literary criticism has been published in leading magazines in the region, including Sarajevske sveske, Novi pogledi and Treci trg. Her story “To Survive Hitchhiking” was awarded at UNESCO competition for best short stories of young writers from South‐Eastern Europe, while her second book Trauma market was selected for best poetry collection at International Publisher's Encounters “Voyage to the Center of Europe” in Pazin, Croatia, awarded with a one‐month fellowship in Graz, Austria.

BRAUN, NETALIE Netalie Braun, born 1978, is a film director of fiction and documentary films, a writer, lecturer in film studies and the artistic co‐director of the international women’s film festival in Israel. She wrote and directed three short films ‐ The Last Supper, 2004, Core, 2005, and Gevald, 2008 ‐ and a documentary Metamorphosis, 2006, based on testimonies of raped women. Her poems and short stories have been published in various literary magazines. Her first poetry volume called Kill and Breathe came out in 2006.

CHRYSSOPOULOS. CHRISTOS

Christos Chryssopoulos (1968) is a novelist, essayist and translator. He was born in Athens and is among the most prolific young prose writers on the Greek literary scene. He has authored five novels, most recently The London Day Of Laura Jackson (2008), a volume of essays (The Language Box, 2006), and one collection of short stories (Napolean Delastos’ Recipes, 1997). Since 1999, he has collaborated with the visual artist Diane Neumaier on several art projects.

poe-zine #05 23

Their artists’ book, The Black Dress, was published in the USA in 2002. Their exhibition Encounters was held at the Reykjavik Museum of Art in 2003 and the corresponding catalogue was published in 2004. Christos has been featured in many anthologies of contemporary Greek fiction and writes regularly on literary theory. His work appears in five languages. He has won a number of grants and has been invited to writers’ centres in Europe and America. He was an Iowa Fellow in 2007. His website is: http://chrissopoulos.blogspot.com/

DIMITROVA, ALEKSANDRA Aleksandra Dimitrova was born on 20 September 1977 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. She graduated in Macedonian Literature and South Slavic Literatures. During her studies at the St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, she published poetry in the Mugri student literary magazine and in the Lettre Internationale literary magazine. In 2002, her first book of poetry, Exercises For Proper Breathing was published by Makavej, Skopje. Her second collection of poetry entitled Me‐You was part of a project with the painter Marija Nikoloska Naneska in 2004. The project was installed in the Skopje City Museum on 12 October 2002. In 2003 and 2004, her poems were published in the literary magazine

Stremez. In 2008, her third collection of poetry entitled Goddess Of The Feral Cats was published by Blesok, Skopje, and in 2009 her fourth book was published by the same publisher. The fourth book is entitled In The Barbie’s Aquarium. Her poetry has been published in the electronic magazine for culture Blesok No.63. She is working on her master thesis on The Post‐Modernist Traps In Goran Stefanovski’s Plays. As well as poetry, she writes prose and literature reviews. She is an author of the blog www.bonbonce.blogspot.com. Aleksandra Dimitrova works and lives in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. MILAN DOBRIČID Milan Dobričid (1977, Belgrade) is a poet, prose writer, translator and editor. He holds degrees in Serbian and world literature from the University of Belgrade and from the Belgrade Open University. He is one of the founders of the cultural NGO NGO Tredi Trg (Third Square) which publishes the electronic and printed literary and art magazine Tredi Trg (www.trecitrg.org.rs), where he works as editor. He is also the founder director of the Belgrade International Poetry and Book Festival. His poetry and prose has been in various Serbian magazines and newspapers (Student, Beogradske novine, Pančevac, Rukopisi, Istočnik, Txt, URB, Re, Contrastes, Album), and he has also published studies about early Christianity. His short stories were included in the anthology Shortest stories (2006), and he has co‐authored the prose book Diary 2000 ( 2001). His poetry collections are Pressure (2002), Coping (2006) and Blessed Losers (2009). His works had been translated into English, French, Polish and Catalan.

poe-zine #05 24

DUYAN, EFE Efe Duyan, born 1981 in Istanbul, is a poet and architect. After graduating from the German School of Istanbul he studied Architecture and Philosophy at Middle East Technical University (B.A.) and History and Theory of Architecture in Yıldız Tecnical University (M.S). He teaches architecture at Mimar Sinan University. His poems and essays have been published in several literary reviews such as Edebiyat Eleştiri, Öteki‐Siz, Damar, Kavram Karmaşa, Akköy. He has been on editorial boards of the reviews Nikbinlik, Damar, Sol and Sanat Cephesi. He has published one collection of poems, Takas (2006) with Kemal Özer. His book The Construction of Characters in Nâzım Hikmet’s Poetry was published in 2008. GRECEANU, ADELA Her debut Titlul volumului meu, care mă preocupă atât de mult... (The Title Of My Collection, Which Preoccupies Me So Much...) made Adela Greceanu (1975) one of the voices that highlighted a certain shift of vision and attitude the new Romanian poetry. Concerned with femininity and the subjective emotional life of a "persona" called in her second book Domnişoara Cvasi (Miss Quasi, 2001), Adela Greceanu consolidated her reputation with every new book. Her latest collection (Understanding Right Through The Heart, 2004) and her

recent novel (The Red‐Socked Bride, 2008) develop her onirical, almost surrealistic vision, making her one of the most original contemporary Romanian writers whose poetry is considered to continue the tradition of Gellu Naum and Rene Char. Anahit Hayrapetyan was born in 1981 in Armenia. Initially she studied computer science at the State Engineering University of Armenia, and in 2005 she participated in World Press Photo seminars. Currently she is studying at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Copenhagen. In 2002, the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art published her first book of poems. In 2005, her second book Taboo was published, winning the Young Writer Award of the Writers Union of Armenia. Her poems have been published in Inknagir, Bnagir, Actual Art, Garun and Gretert magazines. Alongside writing she has been engaged in photography. Her photos have been published by National Gegraphic Traveler, Eurasianet.org, Armenianow.com, Zaman, Ogoniok, Newsweek. In 2006, she won the President's Prize in Armenia, as well as prizes for Eurasia Social Portrait 2007, Black Sea and Caucasus 2008, Europe and Asia 2009.

HAYRAPETYAN, ANAHIT Photo by Anahit Hayrapetyan

poe-zine #05 25

Uri Hollander (1979) is a poet, translator, musican, literary critic and journalist. He graduated summa cum laude from the Israeli Music Conservatory in Tel Aviv in 1997. In 2002, he studied at the Department of the Hebrew Bible at Tel Aviv University and from 2002 to 2005 he was a student in the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding students at Tel Aviv University. He received his MA in Judaic studies from the Tel Aviv University in 2005 and is currently a Doctoral student at the Department of Hebrew Literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include Notes from the Miracle Fair: Essays on Modern Poetry (2003), a Hebrew translation of E. E. Cummings: Selected Poems (2003), a book of poetry The Wandering Piano (2005), selected poems in Hebrew translation Max Jacob: Les vrais miracles (2006), Portrait on the Edge of Darkness: Essays on the poetry of Israel Har (2007), poems and a classical music CD Days of the Tel‐Aviv Conservatory (2007). He is currently working on selected poems in Hebrew translation Eugene Guillevic: Parenthèse and Lattices: Essays on Dan Tsalka. He is the recipeint of several awards including the Metula Poetry Festival Prize and the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Young Poets. He lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel. HOLLANDER, URI Photo by: Dan Porges

HRISTOV, IVAN Photo from the author’s archive

The poet and critic Ivan Hristov (1978) graduated in Bulgarian philology at Sofia University in 2001 and defended his PhD on Bulgarian 1920s Modernism at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 2008. His first book of poetry, Sbogom devetnajsti vek (Farewell To the 19th Century, 2001) won the prestigious 2002 Southern Spring award for the best debut book. His second collection, Bdin (2004) received critical acclaim, as well as the 2006 Svetlostrui Prize for poetry. He regularly publishes poems in anthologies and leading Bulgarian periodicals including Literary Newspaper, Altera, Sega, Capital. His work has been translated into English, Croatian, German and Hungarian. Ivan has participated in poetry festivals abroad, including Ars Poetica in Bratislava in 2007 and the Goran Spring Festival in Croatia in 2009, where hereceived first prize in the Poetry Marathon in Hvar. Ivan Hristov is also a leading literary critic of his generation with numerous academic publications and regular participation in conferences both in Bulgaria and abroad.

poe-zine #05 26

Katerina Iliopoulou was born in Athens and studied Chemistry at the University of Thessaloniki, and Fine Arts at Guildhall University in London. Her first book of poetry entitled Mister T. (2007) won the "prize for a new author" of the literary journal Diavazo. Asylum is her second book of poetry (2008). She is a member of the arts collective intothepill (www.intothepill.net). In 2007, as a parallel project of the first Athens Biennial, intothepill organized and presented Karaoke Poetry Bar, a multimodal installation with poetry, video and performance. She was the editor of the bilingual (Greek/English) anthology of contemporary Greek poetry Poetry Karaoke which was published as part of the project. She has edited and translated into Greek the poetry of Sylvia Plath (2003) and has also translated poetry by Mina Loy, Ted Hughes and Robert Hass for the journals Poiisi, Poiitiki and the e‐zine poema.gr. She is currently working on an anthology of Ted Hughes’ poetry due to be published in 2010. She is the editor of poetrybox in the e‐zine www.happyfew.gr. She is also a member of Poetry Now a poet’s collective which organizes regular discussions and readings investigating aspects of contemporary poetry. ILIOPOULOU, KATERINA

ISAKOVSKI, IGOR Photo by Goran Stoiljkovic

Igor Isakovski (1970 Skopje, Macedonia) is a poet and prose writer. He holds a BA in World and Comparative Literature from Sts. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje and MA in Gender and Culture, CEU, Budapest. He has worked as radio & TV show host for various stations in Macedonia. He is founder and director of the Cultural Institution Blesok and works as its editor‐in‐chief and webmaster. He has published Letters (1991, novel), Black Sun (1992, poetry), and many more. His work has been translated and published in USA, Australia, Korea, Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Israel, Poland, Hungary, and United Kingdom, including Sky (poetry in English, 1996, 2000), Sejanje smeha (selected poetry in Serbian and Macedonian, 2003), I & Tom Waits (selected poetry in English and Macedonian, 2003), Sandglass (short stories in English, 2003). He translates poetry, prose, and essays, from and into Macedonian, English, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrian. He lives in Skopje.

poe-zine #05 27

KOMARTIN, CLAUDIU Photo by Mihai Grecea Claudiu Komartin (1983) is a poet, literary critic and translator. He has published three collections: Păpuşarul şi alte insomnia (The Puppeteer and Other Insomnia, 2003, 2007), Circul domestic (Domestic Circus, 2005), which was awarded The Romanian Academy Poetry Prize, and the recent Un anotimp în Berceni (A Season in Berceni, 2009). The German writer Jan Koneffke wrote about him: "He makes a synthesis, both sarcastic and full of hope, of the Romanian contemporary society". Claudiu Komartin has translated poetry and prose from French, English and Italian and is preparing a book of literary criticism. His poems have appeared in international anthologies and literary reviews and have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Hebrew and Korean.

Mirt Komel was born in Šempeter pri Gorici, Slovenia, and now lives, works and writes between Nova Gorica, Ljubljana and Sarajevo. He studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and the Peace Institute in Ljubljana and is currently a PhD student at Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts. Since 2005 he has worked as Research Assistant at the Peace Institute of Ljubljana. He is the author of the first monograph about the physical and social aspects of touching in Slovenian (An attempt at a touch). He is the co‐founder and an active member of The Youth Club of the Slovenian Writer’s Association. He has published poems, novellas, plays and several literary reviews in the main literary journals in Slovenia and Bosnia (Apokalipsa, OtočjeO, Sarajevske sveske). He is the editor of an anthology of young Slovenian writers, Zbornik Mladinskega kluba DSP. His publications include Mes(t)ne drame (City Dramas, 2006), a collection of three plays. In 2008, he published Luciferjev padec (Lucifer's Fall), a dramatic poem in ten acts. His literary‐philosophical travelogue, Sarajevski dnevnik (Sarajevo Diary) came out in 2008.

KOMEL. MIRT Photo by Borut Krajnc

poe-zine #05 28

MARTELL, OWEN Owen Martell was born in 1976 and grew up in Pontneddfechan, south Wales. His first Welsh‐language novel, Cadw dyffydd, brawd, written while a student at Aberystwyth, won the Arts Council of Wales' Welsh Book of the Year award in 2001. His second novel, Dyn yr Eiliad (The Other Man), was short‐listed for the same prize in 2004 and, according to one reviewer, is "a landmark in recent Welsh fiction". His most recent book is Dolenni Hud, a collection of six short stories set in “Welsh” towns in the United States, produced in collaboration with photographer Simon Proffitt and accompanied by Cymru Arall / Parallel Wales, an installation shown at The LAB in San Francisco in 2008. Owen Martell works also as a translator. His adaptation of Martin Crimp's Attempts on Her Life will be produced by the Sherman Cymru theatre, Cardiff, in summer/autumn 2009. www.owenmartell.com MUNDAIR, RAMAN Photo by Iseult Timmermans Raman Mundair is a writer and artist. She was born in India, raised in Manchester and Leicester

and lives and works in Scotland. Mundair is the author of A Choreographer's Cartography, Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves and The Algebra of Freedom. She is a Rolex Mentor and Protégé Award nominee, a Robert Louis Stevenson Award winner and was identified recently by the BBC/Royal Court Theatre as one of the 'next generation of promising new writers in Britain'. Her artworks have been exhibited at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, City Art Gallery, Leicester and Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. The Independent newspaper wrote in a review of her work "Raman Mundair is a rare breed: a poet whose writing works on the page and the stage. Her readings reveal the secret music of the poem… Mundair is literature at its best: thoughtful, provocative and sharp." www.ramanmundair.com

poe-zine #05 29

MÜSTECAPLIOĞLU, BARIŞ Barış Müstecaplıoğlu (Istanbul 1977). After completing his university education at the Civil Engineering Department of the Bosphorus University, he began worked as a Human Resources Specialist. His short stories for youth as well as his book reviews were published in literary magazines such as E Edebiyat, Varlık, Altyazı, and Kitap‐lık. In 1995, he received the İstek Foundation Alumni Association’s İffet Esen Short Story Award. The first book of his four‐book series with the title Legends of Perg was Korkak ve Canavar (The Coward and the Beast) published in 2002. The story took place in the fantastic land of Perg, which was created by the author through a

successful synthesis of Eastern and Western cultures. Its sequel called Merderan'ın Sırrı (Merderan’s Secret) was published in the same year and the third book, Bataklık Ülke (Boggy Land) came out in 2004. The Perg series, published by Metis Edebiyat, also the publisher of The Lord of the Rings and the Earthsea series in Turkey, came to an end after the fourth book. The last book of the series, Tanrıların Alfabesi (The Alphabet of the Gods) was published in February 2005. After Legends of Perg, the author has written two novels in different genres. His novel Şakird (The Disciple) which is about young missionaries of Islam was published in October 2005. Kardeş Kanı (Brothers Blood), a thriller about street children and organized crime was published in 2006. His books have been translated into Polish and Bulgarian. Baris Mustecaplioglu has lately been working in cooperation with the illustrator Engin Deniz Erbaş from Bilgi University in order to visualize the Land of Perg. The author also writes reviews and essays for various magazines. He is currently working on a new novel which he plans to get published in the first months of 2009. www.barismustecaplioglu.com

Poetics of the Quotidian in Prague, the „poetry. the power” screening, in September 2009

Friday 30.10.2009 22:00

Aniversary in Berlin

POETRY LIVE – The Long Night of Young Romanian Poetry

Venue: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin

Entry free (expected to last until 3 am)

Featuring: Constantin

Acosmei (Romania), Svetlana

Carstean (Romania), Rita

Chirian (Romania), Gabi

Eftimie (Romania), Sorin

Gherguţ (Romania), Vasile

Leac(Romania), Stefan

Manasia (Romania), Vlad

Moldovan (Romania), Ioana

Nicolae(Romania)

Moderated by Răzvan Țupa

The young poets’ scene in Romania is

bubbling over with boiling creativity

and love of experimentation.

Dissatisfied with conventional ways of

doing things, it rampages uninhibitedly

into other art-forms and is totally

unafraid of unusual ways of presenting

work. It is just as much at home on

reading stages as in clubs. In the series

‘Young Blood from Romania’, ten

young poets who have been showered

with awards for their debuts will be

showing what poetry from Romania is

all about.Short video-poems by various

Romanian artists will accompany this

long night of poetry. The right mood

will be created by the sampling artist

Silent Strike. The poets will be doing

‘Poetry On Request’ in the

Kulturbrauerei on the evening before

this, when visitors can request a poem.

With video selection by Andrei Ruse.

An event sponsored by the „Titu

Maiorescu” Romanian Cultural

Institute in Berlin in partnership with

the Romanian literary journal ‘Noua

Literatura’

poe-zine #05 31

Program

30.10.2009

22.00 Film- poetry. the power

23.00- Introducing the evening

Razvan Tupa reading, Q&A

Each two poets are invited onstage in live

interviews as in poetics of the quotidian.

20.min din care 2 momente de lectura.

23.15 biografia poetica with

Svetlana Carstean, Sorin Gherguţ

23.35 Dj

23.50 poetics of the experience with

Constantin Acosmei, Ioana Nicolae

00.10 Dj

00.25– mythology of the trauma with

Rita Chirian, Stefan Manasia

00.45 Dj

01.00 poetics of the presence with

Gabi Eftimie, Vlad Moldovan

01:20 Dj

01:35 performing poetry

Vasile Leac, Videopoems selectated by Andrei

Ruse

01:55 DJ

poe-zine #05 32

The Poetics of the Quotidian celebrated 100 editions in May 2009, after 4 years of

weekley meetings in Club A.

In the 5th year seasons, the Poetics of

the Quotidian transformed the initial

effort of promoting contemporary

literature into a scene for debating and

presenting dynamic projects.

Contemporary writers answer to

questions from the audience and

present a personal approach for their

own work and for the poetry, prose and

theories that had influenced their

writing.

The new format of Poetics of the

Quotidian includes a section of open

mic for anyone who would perform

their own writing or the poems that are

important for their development.

In 2009, we developed the initial

“literature in motion” concept into

“Republica poetica”, an open structure

aimed to strengthen the poetic

consciousness of contemporary

expression.

SEASON X

NEXT EVENTS>>>

CIX October,30th- BERLIN LIVE POESIE -

Ioana Nicolaie, Sorin Ghergut, Rita

Chirian, Svetlana Carstean, Gabriela

Eftimie, Constantin Acosmei, Stefan

Manasia, Vasile Leac and Vlad Moldovan

CX November, 5th- Club A, 18.00 –

Twitter -literature –Dragos C

Butuzea, Adrian Ciubotaru, Andrei Ruse

CXI November, 12nd – Club A,

18.00 Olga Stefan

CXII November, 19th- Club A, 18.00-

Vasile Ernu, “The Last Heretics of the

Empire”

CXIII November, 26th- A bohemian

tradition of poetry with Alexandru

Tiepac, Octavian Mihalcea, Gabriel

Tudorie

All the events are to be confirmed