Poesie unterwegs 2024

Die beteiligten Lyriker:innen aus UNESCO Cities of Literature

Angoulême

Laurine Rousselet, born 1974, is a French poet and prose writer. She speaks a poetic language that she has mastered since a very young age. She published around twenty works. Her voice is often accompanied by the work of painters and engravers, by music and by dance, most recently with dancer Sara Orselli of the Carolyn Carlson Company.


Bremen

Sujata Bhatt was born in India; she grew up there and in the USA. Currently she lives in Bremen. She has published nine collections of poetry with Carcanet Press, UK, for which she received numerous awards. A bilingual edition of her work, Die Stinkrose, translated by Jan Wagner, was published by Hanser in 2020.


Dunedin

Annie Villiers’ writing has always been influenced by her landscapes in her life – especially those of Aotearoa New Zealand, her home, her tūrangawaewae.  She lives in the southern area of Te Waipounamu, the South Island;  an island of diverse landscapes known as Central Otago.  Her Scottish and Irish ancestors were drawn to this place in the 19th century. 
She has published several books including two poetry collections and a novel. Her work has been published in various media, both locally and nationally.  She is currently working on several literary projects including a travel memoir set in 2020 (Covid year) and a new poetry collection.


Durban

Deborah Ewing is a Durban-based writer. She has authored 12 books, fiction and non-fiction, some with translations into French, Swahili, Amharic and isiZulu. Deborah has edited newspapers and magazines, and contributed chapters and articles to books and journals on social justice. Her poetry has featured in anthologies, including Voices Unbound.
 
Sana-Bella Ebrahim is Senior Research Studies Lecturer at AFDA Durban. On International Artist Day 2020, Sana-Bella founded the ArtScribes Global Calligraphy Workshop venture. In 2022, she launched the ArtScribes Global publishing house. In 2024, Sana-Bella launched ‘Lockdown Lift-off’, a collection of prose and poetry, at Ike’s Books and Collectables, Durban.


Edinburgh

Ken Cockburn is a poet and translator (mainly from German) living in Edinburgh, where he leads poetry walks in the city's Old Town. His books include The Road North (with Alec Finlay), Heroines from Abroad (translations of Christine Marendon), On the flyleaf and Floating the Woods.


Krakau

Ryszard Krynicki (1943) is one of the most prominent poets of postwar Poland. He is also a distinguished translator of German-language poetry: Bertold Brecht, Nelly Sachs, Gottfried Benn, Paul Celan, Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Reiner Kunze among others. Since 1989 he is the head of the prestigious independent publishing house a5.


Leeuwarden

Arjan Hut (1976) made his debut as poet in 2004, and now, 20 years later, he is the Poet Laureate of the province of Fryslân. Hut teaches poetry and creative writing, and is editor for cultural magazine ‘de Moanne’. His most recent, sixth poetry collection ‘Ien tel de ierde stil’ was published in 2023.
 
 
Manchester
 
Laura Taylor was born into a working-class family in the North of England and has challenged arbitrary forms of authority all her life. Now in her prime, she understands fully the potency of kindness in a world intent on creating division. Laura has three poetry collections published by Flapjack Press: Speaking in Tongues (2021), Fault Lines (2018), and Kaleidoscope (2016).
 
 
Melbourne

Ray Liversidge is an Australian poet. His latest book is …of a sudden published in 2023. His other books are: Oradour-sur-Glane; no suspicious circumstances: portraits of poets (dead); The Divorce Papers; The Barrier Range; Obeying the Call. Ray is currently experimenting with flash fiction/memoir.
 
Bel Schenk is the author of the novella, The Most Famous Boy in Town, Spineless Wonders, 2024. She has also written three collections of poetry, Ambulances & Dreamers, Urban Squeeze and Every Time You Close Your Eyes (Wakefield Press, 2014).
 
 
Norwich

Ramona Herdman’s recent publications are ‘Glut’ (Nine Arches Press), ‘A warm and snouting thing’ (The Emma Press) and ‘Bottle’ (HappenStance Press). She lives in Norwich and helps run the live literature organisation Cafe Writers.
 

Nottingham

Georgina Wilding has had the pleasure of working as Nottingham's First Young Poet Laureate, The Creative Director of Nottingham Poetry Festival, Manager of the Writing East Midlands Writers Conference 2023, and has been working as a freelance writer creating pieces to commission alongside this. Her Debut poetry collection, Hag Stone, was released with Verve Poetry Press in 2022, and she recently collaborated with Nottingham University Hospitals and Vicky McClure on a poem celebrating the NHS. Currently, she is the Events Lead at the new Nottingham Central Library, creating a cultural programme that celebrates the artistic talent thriving here in Nottingham.
 

Prag

Petr Borkovec, born in 1970 in Louňovice pod Blaníkem in Central Bohemia, lives in Černošice near Prague. He writes poetry, short stories and texts for children. He has also published numerous translations of 20th century Russian poetry. Together with the philologist Matyáš Havrda, he has translated ancient dramas, including Sophocles' “Oedipus Rex” (1999), Aeschylus' “Oresteia” (2002), Euripides' “The Bacchae” (2023) and Euripides' “Medea” (premiere April 2024) for the National Theatre Prague. From 2005 to 2023 he ran the Fra Literature Café. He teaches at the Chair of Literary Production at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.
 

Québec

Poet and novelist, Nora Atalla has Greek, Lebanese, French and Georgian ancestry. She was born in Cairo but grew up and still lives in Quebec City. She has published over a dozen books. Morts, debout! (Dead, Stand Up!) and La révolte des pierres (The Stones’ Rebellion), were published by Écrits des Forges.
With a master's degree in poetic creation, Mathieu Simoneau has published several collections. The author is above all inspired by nature. In addition to his poetry, he is passionate about forestry and vegetable gardening. Des longueurs dans le crépuscule (Lengths in the Twilight) (Noroît, 2024) is his most recent title.
 

Reykvavik

María Elísabet Bragadóttir (1993) is a writer and former columnist renowned for her two celebrated short story collections. She has garnered praise from critics, fellow writers, and readers in Iceland. Her debut work, "A Room in Another World" (2020), was chosen by booksellers as one of the top three works of fiction in its release year and earned her the title of Discovery of the Year in Morgunblaðið, Iceland's prominent newspaper. In 2024, she was nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature for her second book, "The Soap Bird" (2022), and received a Special Mention.
 

Slemani

Born in 1971 in the town of Maxmwr, Talat Tahir writes since 1986. He is an active member of Kurdish Writers’ Union and the deputy director of Galawej Cultural Center. In addition, his, currently eight, published books enrich Kurdish literature. He has been residing in Slemani since 1997.
 

Tartu

Maarja Pärtna is the 2024 Tartu City Writer, translator, and editor, who engages in her work with socio-ecological themes. She has published five poetry collections, the most recent are the spatially poetic "Vivarium" (2019), which combines historical trauma with climate anxiety, and the prose poetry collection "Living City" (2022), which focuses on urban nature, the possibility of better coexistence with non-human animals, as well as the lyrical self's childhood memories.
 

Tukums
 
Jānis Baltvilks (1944–2003) – poet and ornithologist, is one of the most popular authors of Latvian children's literature. An award in Baltvilks' name is given annually on his birthday for achievements in children's literature.
Iveta Šimkus (1964) – Latvian poet and philosopher, is author of 3 poetry collections. She has published poems, stories and reviews about theatre and literature.
 
 
Vilnius
 
Marius Burokas (1977), poet and translator. Debuted with a book of poetry Ideograms in 1999. Third book – I‘ve Learned Not To Be was awarded “The Young Yotvingian prize” as a best young poet’s book in 2011. Fourth poetry book of clean life was awarded Poetry Spring-Maironis prize for the best poetry book in 2018. His selected poetry book in English “Now I Understand” was published by “Parthian Books” in 2018, as well as „Найменші речі“ in Ukrainian and „Tu miezkal Jonasz“ in Polish in 2021. Poetry translated into more than 15 languages.
 
The creative works of the poet Jurgita Jasponytė (1981) combine symbols of ethnic culture with the experiences of a woman, a mother going through contemporary challenges. The poet is a very original reciter of poetry, imbuing her poems with the tones of folklore songs. Her first collection of poems, Šaltupė (2014), won the prestigious Zigmas Gėlė Prize for best debut poetry. Jasponytė’s third book Visata atsisėda netinkamoje vietoje is coming out in May 2024. Her works have been translated into English, German, Latvian, Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.