Festival 2007
POETRY, LUNACY & MELANCHOLY AT THE POETRY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
May 14, 2007
16 - 22 June 2007 at the Rotterdam City Theatre
This year’s 38th Poetry International Festival explores the links between poetry, lunacy and melancholy. Events at the seven-day festival include poetry presentations, movies, musical performances, lectures and panel discussions inspired by this theme. This year’s regional focus is on poetry from the Caucasus. The festival starts off with an “Ode to the Word”, a grand parade of poets each presenting a poem on the subject of a single word – just a word, a favourite word, or a word lost in time. Poets taking part in the 2007 festival include Yves Bonnefoy (France) Lennart Sjögren (Sweden) and Anneke Brassinga (the Netherlands).
This year’s 38th Poetry International Festival explores the links between poetry, lunacy and melancholy. Events at the seven-day festival include poetry presentations, movies, musical performances, lectures and panel discussions inspired by this theme. This year’s regional focus is on poetry from the Caucasus. The festival starts off with an “Ode to the Word”, a grand parade of poets each presenting a poem on the subject of a single word – just a word, a favourite word, or a word lost in time. Poets taking part in the 2007 festival include Yves Bonnefoy (France) Lennart Sjögren (Sweden) and Anneke Brassinga (the Netherlands).
Poetry, lunacy, melancholy
The festival’s theme is the relationship between poetry and lunacy, the often thin dividing line between creativity and insanity, and the role of melancholy in fostering both. Speakers on the subject are poets Menno Wigman, who recently published his chronicle Het Gesticht (The Institution) of his stay as ‘writer in residence’ at a mental home in the village of Den Dolder, and Jan Lauwereyns, who looks at the matter from the viewpoint of neuropsychology. Among poets to be discussed as cases in point are Sylvia Plath, Hans Vlek and Leopoldo María Panero. The closing event of the festival, mottoed “Melancholy Inexplicable”, features a parade of poets exposing the true face of melancholy.
Poetry from the Caucasus
The Arabs have called the Caucasus mountain range “the mountains of many languages”. It is a uniquely multilingual area separating Europe from Asia, a crucible of many and widely different cultures. For the first time in its history the Poetry International Festival is offering a platform to poets from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Translations and awards
All poems read at the festival are presented in their original languages as well as in Dutch and English translation, to serve both a Dutch and international audience. An anthology of poetry from all festival participants in Dutch translation, entitled Hotel Parnassus, will be published by De Arbeiderspers. As every year at the festival, the C. Buddingh’ Prize will be presented to a Dutch poetry debutant(e), and a biennial oeuvre prize, the James Brockway Prize, will be awarded to a translator of poetry from Dutch. The Brockway Prize was first awarded in 2005.
Poetry International WEBlog / archive
For audio recordings. video, photo's and discussion, see media.poetryinternational.org/weblog
The festival’s theme is the relationship between poetry and lunacy, the often thin dividing line between creativity and insanity, and the role of melancholy in fostering both. Speakers on the subject are poets Menno Wigman, who recently published his chronicle Het Gesticht (The Institution) of his stay as ‘writer in residence’ at a mental home in the village of Den Dolder, and Jan Lauwereyns, who looks at the matter from the viewpoint of neuropsychology. Among poets to be discussed as cases in point are Sylvia Plath, Hans Vlek and Leopoldo María Panero. The closing event of the festival, mottoed “Melancholy Inexplicable”, features a parade of poets exposing the true face of melancholy.
Poetry from the Caucasus
The Arabs have called the Caucasus mountain range “the mountains of many languages”. It is a uniquely multilingual area separating Europe from Asia, a crucible of many and widely different cultures. For the first time in its history the Poetry International Festival is offering a platform to poets from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Translations and awards
All poems read at the festival are presented in their original languages as well as in Dutch and English translation, to serve both a Dutch and international audience. An anthology of poetry from all festival participants in Dutch translation, entitled Hotel Parnassus, will be published by De Arbeiderspers. As every year at the festival, the C. Buddingh’ Prize will be presented to a Dutch poetry debutant(e), and a biennial oeuvre prize, the James Brockway Prize, will be awarded to a translator of poetry from Dutch. The Brockway Prize was first awarded in 2005.
Poetry International WEBlog / archive
For audio recordings. video, photo's and discussion, see media.poetryinternational.org/weblog