The Syrian poet Adonis, who has been featured in several Colophon posts and articles in The Prague Post, has always been divisive, as a poet, literary scholar and as an outspoken critic against what he sees as a lack of innovation in Arab culture. Adonis has written several editorials and open letters since uprisings occurring throughout the Arab world have also taken hold in Syria. Sinan Antoon has written a scathing response to Adonis’ response to the Arab Spring, saying that the uprisings have rendered Adonis “irrelevant.”

To coincide with the Prague Microfest, which begins tonight, Prague publisher Litteraria Pragensia has released three new books written or edited by writers based in Prague.

Prague’s Microfestival of literature returns next week for its third installment – a week of readings and discussions in Czech and English from a number of Prague-based and international writers. Colophon talked to festival organizer Louis Armand about the purpose of the festival and its place on the Prague literary landscape.

As mentioned in the March 2 edition of The Prague Post, the latest edition of the American literature journal Absinthe: New European Writing has a strong Prague contingent. Appearing twice per year, Absinthe: New European Writing is an essential journal for anyone interested in the best in contemporary and historic European writing in English translation.

Mark Terrill, an American poet living in Germany, has published a new chapbook of prose poems as part of Poetry Salzburg Review’s new chapbook series. Terrill is one of the most exciting American poets now living in Europe and the publication of this chapbook, entitled Laughing Butcher Berlin Blues, is a welcome edition to the literary landscape.

This year’s Poetry Hearings, an annual English language poetry festival in Berlin, had a strong Prague contingent, with one performing poet and several audience members making the trek to Germany.

Catherine Hales seems calmly aware of what is at stake in great poetry. Hazard or Fall is a book of poems which risk failure to explore the limits of language and its ability to describe and capture perceptions. The best poems in the book are all the more successful for what they risk, and finally achieve: fresh language which expresses the chaos of life in the 21st century, but does not sacrifice human warmth and the sure intelligence of tradition.