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Meet the guests of the 8th edition of the Miłosz Festival!

Between the 6th and 9th of June, the Miłosz Festival will host exceptional poets from Poland and abroad. This year’s festival centre, the Helena Modrzejewska National Old Theatre, festival bookshops, cafés and clubs, where poetry will be the most important on these days – the poetic polyphony of our guests will be present in all those places. Today, we present their profiles and remind you that the largest poetry festival in this part of Europe is just around the corner!

This year’s Miłosz Festival, taking place under slogan “The Seizure of Power “, is a living forum of dialogue taking place in many languages and at the intersection of many cultures. Who will provide this dialogue with high-octane, lyrical fuel? One of the most important contemporary English poets and the winner of probably all-important poetry awards in the UK has confirmed his presence at the festival. Simon Armitage is a professor at Oxford University and commander of the Order of the British Empire: he knows all about the collapse of this empire and the hated word “Brexit”. His poetry, disturbing, dynamic and drawing on prose forms, continues to influence Polish poetry.  Denise Riley, a poet and political theory scholar, lecturer at English universities and an expert on the history of feminism, will also come to Krakow from the British Isles. The author of the renowned War in the Nursery: Theories of the Child and Mother and Marxism for Infants is an intriguing poet who combines lyricism with a cool theoretical impulse in her poems.

The invited artists will share with us their experiences gained in places where censorship deprives people of their freedom, the fate of citizens is often determined by violence and where armed conflicts were or are taking place.  Ferida Duraković, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, called her most famous volume of poems Heart of Darkness. The siege of Sarajevo and the images of war emerge in her poems and essays. One of the most prominent figures in contemporary Russian poetry, Elena Fanailova, winner of the prestigious Andrei Bely Prize, manifests an intellectual “resistance movement” against symbolic violence and the policy of aggression in her contentious poetry which exposes the mechanisms of social life. Saleh Diab, born in Aleppo, a city-symbol and a testing ground for international war interests, has lived in France for many years, tirelessly promoting and translating Syrian poetry. In his work, he combines the experience of suffering and hope. Athena Farrokhzad, one of the most important and youngest voices of contemporary Swedish poetry, born in Tehran, will introduce herself to the Krakow audience. Her debut volume, White Blight, has been translated into twelve languages, including Polish, and has been staged several times at the theatre. Her poetry is a polyphony of voices full of anger and grief, practically begging to be shouted from the stage. The festival will not lack bold, radical gestures. Cypriot-Australian poet and actress Koraly Dimitriadis, author of the volume Love and Fuck Poems, currently a scholarship holder of the UNESCO City of Literature residency programme in Krakow, uncompromisingly opposes cultural and religious repression in her work. Poetry is the basis for her theatrical performance and a series of short films in which she herself appeared. Speaking of unruly artists, it is worth mentioning the musical duo Landschaft. Grygorii Semenchuk from Lviv and Ulrike Almut Sandig from Berlin combine their German and Ukrainian poems with hip-hop, electropunk and pop. In the vapours of dense, claustrophobic sounds, they express a generational rebellion, a rejection of the growing importance of right-wing movements and the migration crisis in Europe.

The Miłosz Festival is also a presentation of the works of authors whose voices delight and surprise, arousing the curiosity of readers of contemporary Polish poetry. The festival will be an opportunity to meet Krystyna Dąbrowska. The latest volume of the winner of the first edition of the Wisława Szymborska Award, Ścieżki dźwiękowe, brings to perfection the sparse poetics of observing the world, in which minor movements and situations instantly recall the general meanings and the always debatable, existential diagnoses of our “here and now”. Maciej Melecki, a fierce avant-garde artist and author of the “radical sadness” living in each of his poems, also refers to the world around us. His work is an expression of his refusal to accept the existing world of social, political and metaphysical illusions. Magdalena Kicińska is undoubtedly one of the most promising voices of young poetry. Her bravura poetic debut, Środki transportu immediately puts the author in an uncomfortable role – her second book will have to confirm her literary talent, with which she delighted in Pani Stefa. Presenting his performance at the festival will be Jakub Kornhauser, poet, translator, literary critic and literary scholar, another winner of the  Wisława Szymborska Award among this year’s festival guests. In each of these fields, he is immersed in the heritage of the avant-garde, with particular emphasis on surrealism and concrete poetry (a genre combining elements of poetry and visual arts) of the Romance and Central European countries.

In the fire of literary polemics, in a café setting with a glass of wine or in the hum of the mixed voices of a crowd in a club – we invite you to actively commune with the most current poetry and its outstanding representatives. An opportunity like this only comes along once a year!

In conclusion: the rich programme of the Miłosz Festival includes, among others, meetings with authors, panel debates, poetry translation workshops, as well as the OFF band, presenting experimental and performative poetry. To find out more about the guests of this year’s edition, visit the website www.miloszfestival.pl and the festival fanpage on Facebook. See you there!

The Miłosz Festival is organised by the City of Krakow, Krakow Festival Office and the City of Literature Foundation.

The Miłosz Festival, the 8th edition of which will explore The Seizure of Power will once again make some room in the city space for experimental poetry. Stage, microphone, movement and voice, and above all, a sense of disagreement with the existing reality — all of these features will characterise this year’s OFF Stream at the Miłosz Festival.

On the 6th–9th of June, poets from all over the world will come to Krakow once again, and they can surely expect that their uncompromising forms of poetic expression will enjoy a warm and cordial welcome. Join us for a meeting with experimental, performative and noisy poetry, poems that sound the best with electronic music, bass guitar and applause of the audience. “If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution!” — these words, inspired by works by Emma Goldman, perfectly reflect the formula of this year’s OFF Stream at Miłosz Festival. 150 years after the birth of the famous writer, feminist and activist, we are going to start the revolution on the Vistula with dance and your applause. And it’s going to be loud!

Seizure of power requires crossing boundaries. The guests of this year’s OFF Stream are far from following the well-trodden paths in their ways of artistic expression. Athena Farrokhzad, an Iranian poet, critic and translator, will cross the boundaries of poetic form. It will be no different in the case of Tatev Chakhian — an Armenian poet who combines poetry with visual art — and Jurij Zawadski, a poet and performer from Ternopil. Landschaft — two young experimental poets, Grigory Semenchuk (Lviv) and Ulrike Almut Sandig (Berlin) — will combine their own poems with hip-hop, electropunk and pop music. Koraly Dimitriadis, a Cypriot-Australian poet and actress, author of Love and F—k Poems — a best-selling volume of poetry in Australia, as well as Jakub Kornhauser — poet, essayist, winner of the Wisława Szymborska Award. Can you hear us now? SIKSA will make sure that there’s just enough decibels and lyrical rumble. “Rebellion without having to organise tenders & clickbait controversy” — that’s what the most punk poet in Poland has to say about herself. Sorry, that’s what punk is all about now.

The works of all invited poets — regardless of differences in literary expression — refer to or are marked by revolution, war and, above all, violence, including symbolic one. Their experimental artistic gesture is an attempt to respond peacefully to violence. Is it a gesture of a seizure of power? Or rather a sign of giving it up in favour of an attempt to establish a new order? OFF will present what has so far been unknown, but there will be no shortage of regular staples characteristic for this festival stream. Kolanko No. 6 will host a poetic slam, in which poets will fight for power over the audience using the only weapons allowed in this battle — their words and a microphone. They will be accompanied by an international performance of the Drop the Mic project (Iceland, Estonia, Norway).

OFF is all about its audience, and it has been a long-standing tradition of this stream that the festival audience takes on the role of its creators. The youth stage of the OFF Stream will showcase students of a Krakow-based high school, who will conclude the Engage! Young Producers project. The editors of the KONTENTquarterly, the aim of which is to establish an independent platform for the exchange of ideas between young authors, will also get an opportunity to speak their minds, since the Festival will also coincide with the première of a new issue of the magazine.

Young, experimental poetry from all over the world will become a battleground in a struggle for social change and your recognition — from the 6th to the 9th of June in Krakow during the Miłosz Festival. Admission to all festival events is free of charge.

The Miłosz Festival is organised by the City of Krakow, Krakow Festival Office and the City of Literature Foundation.

This year Kraków will host four exceptional writers. The artists from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand will come to Kraków for monthly or two-month residences!

In May Kraków will welcome Georgina Wilding from Nottigham, Creative Director of Nottingham Poetry Festival, as well as being the Founding Editor of Mud Press, and Nottingham’s first young poet laureate. She has performed her poetry both nationally and internationally, and writes to commission for organisations such as BBC Radio Nottingham and the Royal Shakespeare Society. She has been published in journals such as “The Rialto”, and teaches poetry and performance across the midlands. Georgina will stay in Kraków until the end of June.

Koraly Dimitriadis form Melbourne will join us in June. Koraly is a Cypriot-Australian writer, actor, and the author of the poetry books Just Give Me The Pills and Love and F—k Poems. The latter is a bestseller for the poetry genre in Australia, and has had rights sold into Europe. Her two books form the basis of her poetic play “I say the wrong things all the time” which premiered in Melbourne’s renowned La Mama Theatre. Koraly is currently developing her debut novel, Divided Island, a love story set in Melbourne and Cyprus that explores how our upbringing effects who we love and how we love. She writes opinion for the Australian media and has been published in The Independent(UK) and The Washington Post internationally. Much of Koraly’s work is to do with cultural and religious repression. She is also working on a non-fiction book called Not Till You’re Married

In autumn, we will welcome two more residents. Liz Breslin and Nadia Bailey will spend two months (September and October) in our city of literature.

Representing Dunedin Liz Breslin writes plays, poems, stories and a fortnightly column, Thinking Allowed, for the “Otago Daily Times”. Her poetry collection, Alzheimer’s and a spoon (Otago University Press), was listed as one of The NZ Listener’s Top 100 Books of 2017. At home on the page and on the stage, Liz’s recent performances include ‘Love in a time of netball’ at the sold-out Wanaka season of Tall Tales and True, and the back end of Jill the Cow for her 2018 pantomime, Jac and the Beansprouts.

Nadia Bailey is an author, journalist and critic. She has published three non-fiction books on popular culture with Smith Street Books, and her short fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction has been widely represented in journals and independent presses. She was awarded highly commended in the 2017 OutStanding Queer Short Story Award, first place in the 2014 Adrien Abbott Poetry Prize among others. Her work has appeared in “The Lifted Brow”, “Cordite”, “The Australian and The Age/SMH”. She holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

The residents will stay in the guest rooms of Villa Decius, project co-organizer. During their stays, you will have a chance to get to know them better at festivals, author’s meetings and other literary events.

The Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Residency Program is dedicated to writers from the Cities of Literature of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. It aims to provide writers with a platform to showcase their work and talent to a Central European audience, support greater diversity of voices and literatures on the Polish and Central European book market and offer local writers the chance to create links with international writers as well.

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