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A world of verse



By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 7th, 2007 issue

9th Annual Prague International Poetry Days

Nov. 12–19
At various venues

What began as a modest homage to the great Czech Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha nine years ago has mushroomed into a festival of international poetry. From Cheb to Třeboň, theaters, schools and libraries will be celebrating verse throughout November with a wealth of workshops, readings and nights of music.
Prague will naturally be the center of the celebration, and though some of the events here will be inaccessible to monoglot English speakers, there are a number that are primarily geared for speakers of the Queen’s tongue.
The launch of a new anthology of contemporary Czech poetry in English, Six Czech Poets, will be held at The Globe bookshop at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14. Published by the British Arc Publications, the anthology boasts work from some of the finest Czech poets writing today.
Joining translator and Prague-based poet Justin Quinn will be Petr Borkovec and Kateřina Rudčenková (see accompanying story), as well as Viola Fisherová, Petr Halmay, Zbyněk Hejda and Pavel Kolmačka. Borkovec and Quinn have worked very closely together, and a collection of the Czech’s selected poems, translated by Quinn, is forthcoming from the Welsh Seren Press.
Another book launch follows the next day at the same time and same venue, when the Globe throws open its dining room to Basque poets. Arc Publication’s Six Basque Poets is another new anthology of poetry in English, this time from the Basque region. Along with the readings in both the poets’ native tongue and in English, Basque music will be performed by Ruper Ordorika.
The Czech Center on Rytířská will hold an international poetry reading at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, with Israel’s Sabina Messeg, Portugal’s Francisco José Viegas and Romania’s Ioan Es. Pop. The evening might feel more like an eisteddfod with a reading by Welsh poet Christine Evans, accompanied with music on the Celtic harp by Alexandra L.
For more intrepid poetry audiences, there will be an evening devoted to modern Hungarian poetry at the Hungarian Cultural Center beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12. A reading from some contemporary Romanian poets takes place at the Romanian Cultural Institute at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15. Both will feature work in new Czech translations.
Moving away from Europe, there will be two events Saturday, Nov. 17, dedicated to poetry in the Arab world. At
2 p.m. at Nová síň on Voršilská, there will be a discussion about the current state of poetry and publishing in predominately Muslim countries. At the same venue at 7:30 p.m. there will be an evening of Arab poetry and music featuring poets from Jordan, Algeria and Iraq.
For a full schedule of events both in Prague and further afield, check www.volny.cz/denpoezie.
— Steffen Silvis


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