Open call for the International Residency Program for writers!

Kraków UNESCO City of Literature announces the 2024 call for applications for the International Residency Program for writers.

The Program is dedicated to all emerging writers, and poets having at least one published book working currently on a writing project and are willing to learn more about the Polish literary community. The Residency Program is a perfect opportunity to professionalize writing skills, find the optimal conditions for creative work, and present your own writing to a  new audience.

The call for applications for 2024 is now open. The deadline for application submission is the 31^st of May.

What we offer:

In 2024 the Residency Program in Krakow will offer the writer a two-month stay in the following period of the year:

1^st September – 31^st October

Residents will stay at the apartment of Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet and Nobel Prize laureate.

Besides the stipend (2700 PLN gross/month) we cover transportation costs to and from Krakow. The Krakow Festival Office will guarantee residents the opportunity to participate in the literary life of the city and help to develop opportunities for them to promote their works in Poland.

What we expect:

• Connection with any UNESCO City of Literature outside of Poland.
• At least one published book (fiction or non-fiction), a poetry collection, screenplay or theatre script by the applicant.
• Work on a literary project during the residency.
• Upper-intermediate level of spoken English.
• Interest in the Central European region.
• Readiness to participate in the literary life of Krakow, including events, meetings promotional interviews and engagements, and festivals, where applicable.
• Residents will be asked to write a text (work of fiction or non-fiction) that will feature the City of Krakow (min. 6 000 to max. 11 000 characters with spaces) in some fashion and will be used in the future, published collection for promotional purposes.

Required documents listed below should be sent to: residencies@miastoliteratury.pl

• Application form: HERE 
• Extract from a published text (in Polish or English), no more than 2 pages in length.
• Biography/CV
• Optional: recommendation letter, letter of motivation

Deadline

To submit an application, please fill out the application form along with the required documents by May 31^st 2024.

In case of inquiries, please contact Elżbieta Foltyniak, elzbieta.foltyniak@kbf.krakow.pl

Fot. Katarzyna Kukiełka dla KBF

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature use creativity and culture to promote the social, economic and cultural development of their cities. In these times of global uncertainty, the network continues to connect literary communities across the world, forging bonds through the power of books, words and ideas.

19 Cities of Literature, including Granada, are running celebrations for World Poetry Day 2024:  Dunedin, Edinburgh, Granada, Heidelberg, Iasi, Iowa, Krakow, Kuhmo, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, Nanjing, Norwich, Nottingham, Quebec City , Seattle, Tartu, Tukums and Wroclaw. Across the world, these activities celebrate poetry and its power to speak to our common humanity and our shared values. Other Cities of Literature around the world will share these initiatives, inviting their communities to join in and celebrate poetry in all its forms. World Poetry Day will be marked in this way around the world, and the Cities of Literature hope to raise awareness about the power of literature and poetry for building sustainable and inclusive societies.

Granada City of Literature in Spain leads the Cities of Literature World Poetry Day activity each year, and in 2024 their chosen theme is ‘the dawn of poetic spring’ whilst also celebrating 10 years as a UNESCO City of Literature. Granada’s celebrations will commence with an opening ceremony at the City Hall central court, with the attendance of the City Mayor and other authorities from the cultural sphere where three poets will perform readings, together with a guest poet from Nanjing UNESCO City of Literature, Mr. YU Bang. This will be followed by 80 poets reading from 5-9 pm in one of the faculties of the University of Granada and 14 city bookstores. They will also celebrate a long-running Poetry Slam in Granada at one of the University venues, in which 10 poets will compete to win by public vote.

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

Dunedin City of Literature is proud to be collaborating with City of Literature South D Poet Lorikeet, Jenny Powell, and SuperGrans Dunedin to offer SuperGrans staff, volunteers and their community a series of free poetry workshops over six weeks. SuperGrans staff and volunteers offer free holistic support to individuals and families to learn new skills. The series of workshops is a way of saying thank you for their great work in the community. Teacher and award-winning poet Jenny Powell says, ‘Poetry helps us identify what is important. It even enables us to become what we secretly yearn to be. I can’t wait to work with the SuperGrans, exploring this idea through poems. It doesn’t matter if people have never written poetry. Over a course of poetry writing sessions, I know that the group will develop these skills and, in the wonderful timelessness of poetry, become what they wish to be.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Edinburgh City of Literature will push the message of World Poetry Day through the libraries in the city. Many will be hosting readings with young and older audiences – Craigmillar Library will be hosting a workshop for adolescents to write their own haiku and acrostic poems, Stockbridge Library will have a display of poetry collections, Kirkliston and South Queensferry will have a family reading of poetry and the Scottish Poetry Library will be announcing the names of 20 new poets being added to their Online Guide to Scottish Poets. Napier University are celebrating World Poetry Day by launching a global science poetry competition (find out more here) and Edinburgh International Book Festival have a great archive of poetry events that are available to re-watch over on their website on World Poetry Day.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

Heidelberg City of Literature celebrates the World Poetry Day 2024 with a variety of events, embracing readings, poetry installations and events for children organised by a variety of stakeholders. Celebrations include: Bei Anruf: Poesie! (whereby poets will recite their poems over the phone to poetry lovers who registered for this intimate gift), Poesie in die Stadt (a poster exhibition until 2 April 2024 of poetry, highlighting a different by poets who write in a German language), Shared Reading (a poetic city walk alongside poster exhibition Poetry in the City where participants are invited to read a few poems whilst speaking about a few in the exhibition), as well as Goethe für Kinder (where kids are invited to read and talk about Goethe in a hands-on reading format).

IASI, ROMANIA

Iasi City of Literature will organise, in partnership with the National Museum for Literature Iasi and Alecart, the Zoon Poetikon – a poetry event on the day – at the Museum of Literature “St. Hierarch of Dosoftei ” Iași, 4:00 pm Romanian time (+1 to CET), which will be streamed online.

IOWA CITY, UNITED STATES

Iowa City of Literature will celebrate local poetry with a focus on the area’s long-standing “Poetry in Public” programme, and a reflection on the poets enshrined in the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk.

KUHMO, FINLAND

Kuhmo City of Literature will celebrate World Poetry Day in the Juminkeko Centre with an opening event for their new exhibition ‘Kalevala: muinaishaltijat ja luonto’. During this event there will also be a book launched and available with the same title – Kalevala: muinaishaltijat ja luonto, written by Jorma Keskitalo. The artist behind the exhibition is the photographer Hannu Ahonen.

KRAKOW, POLAND

Krakow City of Literature will celebrate World Poetry Day hosting a bilingual event on 21 March with Ukrainian poet, Ija Kiwa, and her translator, Aneta Kamińska. The meeting will take place in Nić, one of Kraków’s independent bookstores, which serves as the cultural center of the Ukrainian community of the city. Reading the latest poems by Ija Kiwa in the original and their Polish translations by Aneta Kamińska will be an opportunity to learn about the new work of one of the most important contemporary Ukrainian poets and reflect on poetic works commenting on the reality of war. The event will take place under the aegis of the Miłosz Festival, as part of the Versopolis program – the European Poetry Network, to which the festival belongs. Kiwa’s poetry will be available at the event in brochure format.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Manchester City of Literature’s multilingual City Poet Joya Bagioli Reyes will produce a newly commissioned poem about belonging and welcome, inspired by the newly refurbished Welcome Gallery at Manchester Museum, in both English and Spanish!

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Melbourne City of Literature offers a chance to get familiar with some of their local poets by hosting an online poetry salon with local poetry publisher Vagabond Press. Six poets will be reading and sharing their work at 8am AEDT, Thursday 21 March (World Poetry Day) via Zoom. Register here

Attached flyer with a QR code will also allow you to register for the Zoom link.

MILAN, ITALY 

Milan City of Literature will join the World Poetry Day celebrations on 21 and 24 March with ‘The Island of Poetry,’ ‘Word and Desire,’ ‘Poetry Bullfighting’ and ‘Poetry and the Voice,’ many readings some of which will have more unique components to them, such as reading to a blindfolded audience.  To find out more about the events: https://www.bookcitymilano.it/

NANJING, CHINA

Nanjing City of Literature is sending the poet Mr. YU Bang to Granada for a public poetry reading in the opening ceremony at the City Hall and for another literary event at the University, to celebrate World Poetry Day in the city of Granada.

NORWICH, ENGLAND

The National Centre for Writing in Norwich City of Literature is hosting a poetry event specifically in partnership with the Poetry Translation Centre, supported by Arts Council England, titled Living in Language: World Poetry Day with Yang Lian & Mohan Rana.

This event will feature readings from Living in Language, the Poetry Translation Centre’s groundbreaking anthology of lyric essays, fragments, letters and new poems from 21 poets from around the world, with poets Yang Lian and Mohan Rana. You can find out more about the event here. Chaired by Erica Hesketh, the editor of the anthology and Director of the Poetry Translation Centre.

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND 

There are several events celebrating World Poetry Day in Nottingham City of Literature. Firstly, Nottingham’s Youth Advisory Board are planning a Pizza and Poetry evening on 21 March, which will consist of a poetry workshop led by co-vice chair of the Youth Advisory Board, Oli Nicol, and young people will be encouraged to come along to enjoy a fun evening of poetry at local pizzeria, Pizza Pilgrims. Furthermore, Speak Easy, the young poetry collective established by members of the Youth Advisory Board, will host an open mic night the day after World Poetry Day encouraging young and aspiring writers to come along and perform their work. Nottingham will also share poetry-related content on their social media channels in the run up to the these events, including a Tiktok series exploring Nottingham landmarks through poetry, and a selection of some of the Youth Advisory Board’s favourite poems.

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

Quebec City of Literature will be celebrating, sharing and supporting poetic initiatives happening across the city.

SEATTLE, U.S.A.

Seattle City of Literature is celebrating World Poetry Day by creating letterpress cards that feature poems from Bucheon, Slemani, and Seattle. They will be distributed in Seattle commencing on 21 March and will be sent to the other cities, Slemani and Bucheon as well.

TARTU, ESTONIA 

On March 21st Tartu City of Literature will celebrate World Poetry Day with a diverse programme that involves different venues, age groups and audiences. The celebrations begin with an event for schoolchildren at Tartu Public Library where authors Ilme Mõttus and Contra will introduce their book of poetic forms and host a workshop for children. In the evening there will be shorter poetry reading at Tartu Observatory (performances by Sveta Grigorjeva, Teele Lember, Joonas Veelmaa, Sirel Heinloo, Rebeca Žukovits, and Jaan Malin), followed by a longer programme of poetry and music at the culture club Salong, where the programme includes Tartu City Writer 2024 Maarja Pärtna and musician Katariina Raska; the current guest of their Nordic-Baltic residency program, Ingólfur Eiríksson from Reykjavik, and Joonas Veelmaa, the winner of the European Poetry Slam Championship 2023. Tartu will also continue the tradition started in 2020 – everybody can send the organisers poetry videos, which will be published on the Facebook page of the event during the day. Stickers with quotes by the performers will also be printed and distributed before and during the WPD celebrations. Links to websites: tartu.kirjandus.ee

TUKUMS, LATVIA

Since 1965, poetry days in Latvia have traditionally been widely celebrated in September. Obviously as part of the Cities of Literature Network, Tukums City of Literature will join the World World Poetry Day celebrations on 21 March. Tukums Writers’ Association is joining Granada’s initiative and will spend this day in the city boarding house for the elderly, which is situated in the Rauda wood. Poetry and conversations with the elderly will take up the morning, whilst in the afternoon they will invite the residents to a literary-musical performance in the hall of the boarding house where Tukums` authors will read their poetry and Latvian classics and sing poetry accompanied by the guitar.

WROCLAW, POLAND

For World Poetry Day 2024 Wroclaw City of Literature has planned an evening of poetry readings and a discussion concerning two interesting debut books of poetry published recently: Erosion by Natalia Dziuba and rare by Joanna Wróbel. The event will be organised as part of the Silesius Salon –a series of poetry events organised throughout the year as a supplement for the Silesius International Poetry Festival that takes place every year in Wrocław in May. The event will be free to attend and will be streamed on their social media.

NOTES TO EDITORS

World Poetry Day: World Poetry Day takes place on 21 March, and was first declared by UNESCO during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard. For more information on World Poetry Day, please visit:

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday  

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN): Established in 2004, the UCCN aims to foster collaboration among cities that recognise creativity as a crucial element in achieving sustainable urban development. 350 cities worldwide are part of this network, united in their pursuit of a shared goal: integrating creativity and cultural industries into their local development strategies while actively cooperating on the global stage. The Network encompasses seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music.

Fifty-three UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature from 39 countries are currently members of the Network, diligently working together to harness the transformative power of literature in fostering sustainable and inclusive societies.

For more information on the UCCN, please visit: https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home

To learn more about the UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature Network: https://www.citiesoflit.com/

Enquiries to:

Granada Team

Carmen Casares: carmen@granadaciudaddeliteratura.com

Jesús Ortega: granada@granadaciuaddeliteratura.com

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature Network Lead

Hannah Trevarthen, Director, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature: mailto:hannah@nottmcityoflit.org ?subject=World Poetry Day

Follow the social media hashtag: #WorldPoetryDay

We know the winners of the third edition of the Translatorium mentoring programme! Each of them will have a unique opportunity work for six months on a translation under the guidance of an experienced and renowned mentor in their respective fields.

The third edition of the programme (January to June 2024) is targeted to emerging translators of literature written in Chinese (Taiwanese literature), Italian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

The current edition of the programme attracted 77 candidates (11 from Chinese, 19 from Italian, 42 from Spanish, and 5 from Ukrainian), demonstrating a considerable interest in this form of training. Emerging translators sent in samples of their works, among which 4 from Chinese, 5 from Italian, 5 from Spanish, and 2 from Ukrainian were selected for an interview.

The Translatorium Mentoring Programme was initiated in 2021 by Krakow Festival Office, the operator of the Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature programme, the Chair for Translation Studies at the Jagiellonian University and the Polish Literary Translators’ Association. Its mission is to train the next generation of translators who will bring foreign-language masterpieces to Polish readers, thus ensuring availability of high-quality literary translations of excellent literary works and popularising foreign literature on the Polish literary market. Taking part in the programme gives emerging translators the possibility to network with publishers and renowned colleagues, thus launching their professional careers.

Participants in the programme are selected through an open, nationwide, two-stage competition (first a piece of their translation is assessed and then the successful candidates are interviewed by a jury).

The mentors in this edition are four renowned translators: Katarzyna Sarek (Chinese), Tomasz Kwiecień (Italian), Carlos Marrodán Casas (Spanish), and Katarzyna Kotyńska (Ukrainian).

Chinese (Taiwanese literature):

Winner:

Zofia Mądry – a master’s student in sinology at the Jagiellonian University

Finalists

Piotr Machajek

Justyna Pacześniak

Italian

Winner:

Marta Pietrykowska – graduate in applied linguistics at the University of Warsaw

Finalists

Weronika Korzeniecka

Daria Kowalczyk-Cantoro

Hanna Kulińska

Amina Niepsuj-Wood

Spanish

Winner:

Maria Łaś – graduate in the Inter-area Individual Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw

Finalists

Klaudia Cierluk

Anna Janeczko

Joanna Nowak

Zuzanna Skoczylas

Ukrainian

Winner:

Elżbieta Marszałek – graduate in the Ukrainian and Russian Studies at the Jagiellonian University

Finalist

Małgorzata Kotarba

The Translatorium mentoring programme is organised by Krakow Festival Office, the operator of the Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature programme, the Chair for Translation Studies at the Jagiellonian University, the Polish Literary Translators’ Association and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, the Cervantes Institute and the Italian Cultural Institute in Krakow.

The theme of the 15th Conrad Festival will be migrations. The organisers have invited to Krakow authors from Iran, Indonesia, South Korea, Morocco and the United States, among others. The programme includes a plethora of events dedicated to literature written in French, Spanish, German or Norwegian. Meetings on the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border are also planned.

“We want to talk about the experience of people who were forced to leave their own homes, but also of those who decided to take such a step on their own, as their previous places of residence proved insufficient for them – for various reasons,” says Grzegorz Jankowicz, programme director of the Conrad Festival. “How are creators responding to the migration crisis? How do they talk about it? What are they trying to sensitise us to? Answers to such questions will be sought during the festival. We believe that literature will help us better understand complex situations – including those we have not experienced first-hand,” adds Jankowicz.

New challenges

Professor Michał Paweł Markowski, artistic director of the festival, points out that Poland today is one of the countries where migration is dynamically changing the society. In many ways we were not prepared for this. “For a long time, either Poland did not exist, so nobody chose it as a destination, or it did not have any attractions to make people want come here. People were fleeing Poland, rather than seeking here refuge,” says Markowski. The situation when there are more and more people who want to live in our country permanently or are trying to find asylum in it for a while is a completely new challenge.

The humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border will be the subject of a festival meeting with artists who are also activists: Krzysztof Czyżewski, Olga Hund and Mikołaj Grynberg. Contemporary migration to Europe and the role of non-fiction literature in social communication will be discussed by renowned reporters: Szymon Opryszek, Olga Stanisławska and Dionisios Sturis. An important moment of the festival will also be a meeting with Małgorzata Rejmer, who talks in her new book about extreme experiences. Its protagonists have to leave not only the place where they live, but also themselves, crossing the boundaries of their previous self.

The programme could not lack a meeting with Ukrainian literature. Krakow will host three acclaimed novelists who to talk about the situation in war-torn Ukraine in their latest books: Kateryna Babkina, Tamara Duda and Halyna Kruk. Importantly, during the festival it will be possible to support people with refugee experience by taking part in a fundraiser run by the Ocalenie Foundation.

“We try to think about the central theme in a broad and non-obvious way. Hence, the programme includes, for example, a meeting with philosopher and activist Darek Gzyra on animal refugees,” says Grzegorz Jankowicz. “Another type of migration is the flow of ideas. It is on this topic that we will be discussing with Inga Iwasiów, Ryszard Koziołek, Małgorzata Lebda and Jakub Żulczyk, among others. Here, I must also mention Georgi Gospodinov, a Bulgarian writer who has just received one of the most important literary awards: International Booker Prize. At the festival, he will talk about collective escapes to the past,” adds Jankowicz.

Babel Stage

The majority of the events of the main programme will take place at the Stanisław Wyspiański Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. During the Conrad Festival, the building located in the Kraków Planty Park will host artists representing various languages and cultural circles. Some of the meetings are scheduled in the intimate interiors of the Potocki Palace on the Main Square.

This year we will enjoy a number of meetings with leading figures of the French literature, including Grégoire Bouillier, Philippe Claudel and Maryam Madjidi, as well as the jurors and judges of France’s most important literary award, the Goncourt Prize. These events will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of a local version of the award, called Goncourt List: The Polish Choice. This award is organised by the French Institute and the verdict is decided by the students of Romance Studies from all over Poland.

The programme of meetings with Spanish language literature is particularly rich. The list of authors invited to the Conrad Festival includes Chilean Nona Fernández Silanes, Guatemalan Eduardo Halfon, as well as the Argentinian-born Martín Kohan and Samanta Schweblin. The festival will also offer meetings with authors of the younger generation writing in German: Laura Freudenthaler from Austria and Judith Schalansky from Germany. What is more, the Conrad Festival will host also interesting female authors coming from Asia: Bora Chung from South Korea and Intan Paramaditha from Indonesia.

“This year we are not only celebrating the 15th edition of the Conrad Festival, but also the 10th anniversary of Kraków being awarded the title of UNESCO City of Literature. On this occasion, we will be meeting characters whose books have already gained some popularity in Poland, such as Natasha Brown and Sofi Oksanen – but also those who are so far known only in a narrower circle of readers. Each of them, however, deserves equal attention because they create original stories that broadens our knowledge and develops our sensitivity,” argues Urszula Chwalba, executive director of the Conrad Festival.

“Reading Lessons”, Conrad Award and much more

Following the pattern of previous years, the festival is hosting a literary interpretation workshop called “Reading Lessons”. A detailed programme of accompanying events, including the children’s and family section, a film section at the Pod Baranami cinema and the Book Congress aimed at the book industry, will be announced shortly. Festival week will be crowned with the Conrad Award ceremony, presented for the best literary debut of the past year. Distribution of free electronic tickets will begin on October 16. More information on the Conrad Festival website.

Conrad Festival organisers: City of Krakow, KBF – operator of the Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature programme, Fundacja Tygodnika Powszechnego.

Funding: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

Strategic partners: Tygodnik Powszechny and Allegro.

Partners: Académie Goncourt, Austrian Cultural Forum, British Council, Cervantes Institute, French Institute, Korean Cultural Centre, Kraków Library, Literary Union association, Polish Literary Translators Association, International Book Fair in Krakow.

Media patrons: RMF Classic, Wyborcza.pl, Książki – Magazyn do czytania, Czas Literatury.

We invite you to visit the Conrad Festival channels:

WWW

Facebook

Instagram

Kraków UNESCO City of Literature announces the 2023 call for applications for the International Residency Program for writers and translators.

The Residency Program is realized by the Kraków Festival Office, operator of the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature program in partnership with the Villa Decius Institute for Culture.

The Program is dedicated to all emerging writers, and poets having at least one published book working currently on a writing project and are willing to learn more about the Polish literary community. The Residency Program is a perfect opportunity to professionalize writing skills, find the optimal conditions for creative work, and present your own writing to a  new audience.

The call for applications for 2023 is now open. The deadline for application submission is the 23^rd of April.

What we offer:

In 2023 the Residency Program in Krakow will offer the writer a two-month stay in the following period of the year:

1^st July – 31^st August

Residents will stay at the Villa Decius, the official partner of the project with years of experience running international residencies, including the Visegrad Literary Residency and the ICORN residency program.

Besides stipend (2500 PLN gross/month) we cover transportation costs to and from Krakow. The Krakow Festival Office will guarantee residents the opportunity to participate in the literary life of the city and help to develop opportunities for them to promote their works in Poland.

What we expect:

– Connection with any UNESCO City of Literature outside of Poland.

– At least one published book (fiction or non-fiction), a poetry collection, screenplay or theatre script by the applicant.

– Work on a literary project during the residency.

– Upper-intermediate level of spoken English.

– Interest in the Central European region.

– Readiness to participate in the literary life of Krakow, including events, meetings promotional interviews and engagements,and  festivals, where applicable.

– Residents will be asked to write a text (work of fiction or non-fiction) that will feature the City of Krakow (min. 6 000 to max. 11 000 characters with spaces) in some fashion and will be used in the future, published collection for promotional purposes.

Required documents listed below should be sent to: residencies@miastoliteratury.pl

– Application form

– Extract from a published text (in Polish or English), no more than 2 pages in length

– Biography/CV

– Optional: recommendation letter, letter of motivation

Deadline
To submit an application, please fill out the application form along with the required documents by April 23^rd 2023.

In case of inquiries, please contact residencies@miastoliteratury.pl

The meeting, chaired by the program director of the Conrad Festival, Grzegorz Jankowicz, will be attended by:

🇨🇿 Pavla Horákova (Czech writer and journalist)

🇭🇺 Viktor Horváth (Hungarian prose writer and university teacher)

🇵🇱 Weronika Gogola (winner of the Conrad Prize, permanently residing in Slovakia)

🇸🇰 Silvester Lavrík (Slovak writer and theater director).

In the year 2005 – not long after the enlargement of the European Union to include new countries – Alexandra Laignel-Lavastine’s book “Spirits of Europe” was published in France. The author states that new hope for the European community would come from Central European countries. “Revival can only come on the condition of reassimilating the Central European part of our intellectual heritage,” wrote Laignel-Lavastine. Central Europe, however, is not only about ideas and stories, but above all about experience, which Milan Kundera once called “work in the laboratory of twilight.” The enslavement against which the people living in this part of the continent struggled was, as Václav Havel said, a shorthand for the entire 20th century world.

What else is Central Europe and what is its contemporary literature? What experiences are described today by writers from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland? What are the specifics of what is called Central European literature?

Join us for a discussion with four distinguished authors: Pavla Horáková (Czech writer and columnist), Viktor Horváth (Hungarian prose writer and academic teacher), Weronika Gogola (Polish writer living permanently in Slovakia), and Silvester Lavrík (Slovak prose writer and theater director). All of them are engaged not only in the creation of stories, but also in translation, which enables them to constantly dialogue with other literatures, both Central European and Western. What they also have in common is that they publish in Hungary’s The Continental Literary Magazine, an English-language periodical that presents writers from Central Europe, promoting their work in Western countries, primarily in the United States.

The discussion will be accompanied by a presentation of the publishing activities of The Continental Literary Magazine by Margit Garajszki, editor, and will be moderated by Grzegorz Jankowicz (Polish essayist and the program director of the Conrad Festival).

The event is a part of the CONRAD AFTER HOURS cycle. The Continental Literary Magazine is a partner.

The organizers of the Conrad Festival are the City of Krakow, the KBF and the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation.

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature use creativity and culture to promote the social, economic and cultural development of their cities. In these times of global uncertainty, the network continues to connect literary communities across the world, forging bonds through the power of books, words and ideas.

Granada City of Literature in Spain leads the Cities of Literature World Poetry Day activity each year, and in 2022 their chosen theme is ‘Let’s Poetry’. Granada’s celebrations kick off with an opening ceremony at the Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo where four poets will read, followed by 25 poets reading in the gardens of the University of Granada Law School, and the long-running Poetry Slam Granada, in which 10 poets will compete to be judged the winner by public vote.

11 Cities of Literature are running activity for World Poetry Day 2022: Dunedin, Heidelberg, Kraków, Kuhmo, Manchester, Melbourne, Milan, Nanjing, Obidos, Tartu and Wonju. Across the world, these activities celebrate poetry and its power to speak to our common humanity and our shared values. Other Cities of Literature around the world will share these initiatives, inviting their communities to join in and celebrate poetry in all its forms. World Poetry Day will be marked in this way around the world, and the Cities of Literature hope to raise awareness about the power of literature and poetry for building sustainable and inclusive societies.

Nine Cities of Literature have collaborated on a chain reading of the ‘So I’ll Talk About It’, by Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan: Edinburgh, Exeter, Granada, Heidelberg, Iowa City, Kuhmo, Manchester, Norwich, and Tartu. Poets from these cities have come together to celebrate the culture of Ukraine, and share a message of solidarity, hope and resilience.

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

A free poem video will be shared featuring the renowned performance poet David Eggleton, Poet Laureate of New Zealand, reading ‘Time of the Icebergs’. The film by David and Richard Wallis, which will also screen on high rotate on the City Library Cube, is rich with verbal and visual references to Dunedin City of Literature.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

In ‘Bei Anruf: Poesie’: Poetry by dial’, 35 poets from Heidelberg will call poetry lovers by telephone across the city and the region and will read their own poems aloud. Poets and listeners will be matched by the cultural departments. There will also be an exhibition at the City Library for children to experience creative play with words; poet, translator and co-founder of the independent publishing house Das Wunderhorn will present his latest work at the Maison de Heidelberg; and there will be a music and reading event on March 20^th at the central graveyard of Heidelberg.

KRAKÓW, POLAND

Krakow will contribute to the WPD’s celebrations Planting a Tree of Poetry as a commemoration of Adam Zagajewski on the 1^st anniversary of his passing, with poets from Kraków, literary community and readers at Planty Park. They will also offer a Multipoetry activity, screening 5 poems by Adam Zagajewski on the wall of the Potocki Palace on the Main Square.

KUHMO, FINLAND

For WPD 2022, Kuhmo City of Literature will contribute with an event at the Juminkeko Centre celebrating the Year of Vepsian Culture with a Vepsian evening, where people can learn more about their history, culture, and language.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

Manchester will be participating in the World Poetry Day celebrations with a film of a newly commissioned poem from one of their newly appointed Multilingual City Poets.

MELBOURNE CITY OF LITERATURE

Melbourne City of Literature will have 4 Melbourne poets read Ukrainian poems to celebrate the poetry, words and writers of Ukraine. The poems will be posted on their social media on the day.

MILAN, ITALY

Starting on March 20th, Milan will join the World Poetry Day celebrations with Water Rims, poetry walks from Chiesa Rossa Library to Via San Domenico Savio 3; readings by the Poetry and the City group (Nicola Gardini, Vivian Lamarque and Vittorio Lingiardi) with local secondary school students in the Perego Garden; Sowing Poetry, a musical reading with Stefano Orlandi (voice) and Giulia Bertasi (accordion) organized by MaMu Cultura Musicle; Poets Against War,a poetry event that engages authors who gather to recite against the war; and on March 21st, Tribute to Poetry, two poetry houses meet to give life to a choral poetry Reading.

NANJING, CHINA

Nanjing will join WPD 2022 celebrations with two events. Night of Poetry will feature readings from 20 Nanjing poets at the newly-launched Nanjing Literature Centre on the topic ‘Miracle Happens in the Spring’. Poem Walk with a White Cane sees 20 visually impaired students from the anjing School for the blind and a group of volunteers paired up to enjoy a literary walk together and share classic Chinese poems on the Mochou Lake.

OBIDOS, PORTUGAL

Obidos will join the World Poetry Day celebrations with online poetry readings, with poems from their most famous local poet, Armando da Silva Carvalho, in the Public Library which will be broadcasted online. This event is in partnership between the Library, the Municipality and local schools.

TARTU, ESTONIA

Tartu will celebrate WPD with a poetry night with readings and music from Doris Kareva, poet; Andra Teede, poet; Jaan Pehk, poet and musician at Club Salong at Tartu Literature House. Continuing the tradition started in 2020, people are invited to record and send in poetry videos, either original works or the works of others. The event is not limited by language and videos are welcomed from all parts of the world, especially from the Cities of Literature, for posting on a dedicated Facebook page during the day.

WONJU, SOUTH KOREA

Wonju will join the World Poetry Day celebrations with a Facebook and Instagram campaign, with a live event later in the year. Starting on March 17 and ending on March 21, five poets will each contribute a poem, available in both English and Korean.

For more information

About World Poetry Day: World Poetry Day takes place on 21 March, and was first declared by UNESCO during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.

For more information on World Poetry Day, please visit: https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday

About the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN): Created in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network gathers 246 cities from over 80 UNESCO Member States, that have positioned culture and creativity as strategic enablers for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the local level. The Network covers seven creative fields that are Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music. 39 UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature from 28 countries are currently members of the Network and collaborate actively and closely to promote the power of literature for sustainable and inclusive societies.

For more information on the UCCN, please visit: https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home

To learn more about the UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature Network:  https://www.citiesoflit.com/

The Cities of Literature press pack is here

Enquiries to:

Granada Team

Carmen Casares: carmen@granadaciudaddeliteratura.com

Jesús Ortega: granada@granadaciuaddeliteratura.com

UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature Network Lead

John Kenyon: john-kenyon@iowacityofliterature.org

Follow the social media hashtag: #WorldPoetryDay

The Residency Program is realized by Kraków Festival Office, operator of the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature program in partnership with Villa Decius Institute for Culture.

The Program is dedicated to all emerging writers, and poets having at least one published book working currently on a writing project and willing to learn more about the Polish literary community. The Residency Program is a perfect opportunity to professionalize writing skills and find the optimal conditions for creative work, and present own writing to the new audience.

The call for applications for 2022 is now open. Deadline for application submission is 4^th of April.

What we offer:

In 2022 the Residency Program in Krakow will offer writers a two-month stay in the following period of the year:

1^st June – 31^st August

Residents will stay at the Villa Decius, official partner of the project with years of experience running international residencies, including the Visegrad Literary Residency and the ICORN residency program.

Besides stipend we cover transportation costs to and from Krakow. The Krakow Festival Office will guarantee residents the opportunity to participate in the literary life of the city and help to develop opportunities for them to promote their works in Poland.

What we expect:

• Connection with any UNESCO City of Literature.
• At least one published book (fiction or non-fiction), a poetry collection, screenplay or theatre script by the applicant.
• Work on a literary project during the residency
• Upper-intermediate level of spoken English.
• Interest in the Central European region.
• Readiness to participate in the literary life of Krakow, including events, meetings promotional interviews and engagements, festivals, where applicable.
• Residents will be asked to write a text (work of fiction or non-fiction) that will feature the City of Krakow (min. 6 000 to max. 11 000 characters with spaces) in some fashion and will be used in the future, published collection for promotional purposes.

Required documents listed below should be sent at: residencies@miastoliteratury.pl

• Application form
• Extract from a published text (in Polish or English), no more than 2 pages in length.
• Biography/CV
• Optional: recommendation letter, letter of motivation

Deadline

To submit an application, please fill out the application form by April 4^st, 2022.

In case of inquiries, please contact Elżbieta Foltyniak, elzbieta.foltyniak@kbf.krakow.pl.

The Residency Program is a strategic project of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Program, operated by the Krakow Festival Office, which will fulfill the priority of strengthening international cooperation in the field of literature and the creative industries. It aims to promote the Cities of Literature Network, provide writers with a platform to showcase their work and talent to a Central European audience, support greater diversity of voices and literature on the Polish and Central European book market and offer local writers the chance to create links with international writers as well.

UNESCO has announced the designation of 49 new Cities to join its Creative Cities Network making for a total of 295 Creative Cities from 90 countries worldwide. Among these new Creative Cities, 3 have been designated as Creative Cities of Literature: Gothenburg, Sweden; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Vilnius, Lithuania.

There are now 42 designated Creative Cities of Literature from 31 countries across the globe. The UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature extend a warm welcome to their new sibling Cities and look forward to collaborating to promote the power of literature for sustainable and inclusive societies.

‘We warmly welcome our colleagues in the newly designated Creative Cities of Literature. We look forward to working with our new partners as we promote our values, including the need to celebrate and protect freedom of speech and expression. As our network diversifies, adding new cultural perspectives, new languages, and new stories, we strengthen the base from which we do that work.’ (John Kenyon, Executive Director, Iowa City UNESCO Creative City of Literature and Creative Cities of Literature Network Lead)

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created by UNESCO in 2004 and gathers Cities that have positioned culture and creativity as strategic enablers for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Network recognises Cities from the seven creative fields of Craft and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts, and Music. Designated Creative Cities place creativity at the core of their development to enhance inclusivity, safety, and sustainability.

For more information:

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN): https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home
UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature Network: https://www.citiesoflit.com/