Ptuj Hosts Days of Poetry and Wine
More than 50 events are to be held. Apart from meetings with the poets and round table discussions, there will be a variety of exhibitions, talks, private readings, performances, as well as wine tasting and workshops for children.
In the Vrazov trg square in Ptuj, four open readings will be given by the poets in their native language, accompanied by a Slovenian and English translation.
There will also be Japanese-Slovenian translation workshop, held by five Japanese poets and a few of their Slovenian colleagues. The participants will work on translations of their own poems as well as of Japanese and Slovenian contemporary poetry. The first part of the workshop will close with a reading of translated fragments and a discussion about translation issues.
This year's guest poets include: Dan Coman (Romania), Jose F. A. Oliver (Germany), Joseph Gale Burns (Great Britain), Ekaterina Josifova (Bulgaria), Andras Gerevich (Hungary), Alexander Irvanec (Ukraine), Andrzej Sosnowski (Poland), Mile Stojić (BiH), Eduard Escoffet (Spain), Maarja Kangro (Estonia), Semier Insayif (Austria), Andre Velter (France), Valerie Mejer (Mexico), Ilma Rakusa (Switzerland) and Gajas Al-Madhun (Palestine).
The festival website www.stihoteka.com, also includes an archive of all the poems ever presented at the festival. Also, a special app is available for smartphones and tablets.
The 2012 festival is part of the European Capital of Culture 2012 programme, taking place in Maribor and its partner cities.