Relational Poetics

poe-zine
November 2009, #05

South Estern Europe The British Council and Literature Across

Frontiers choose 20 young authors to attend
Wordexpress readings throughout South Eastern Europe. The
poetics Poetics of the Quotidian event in Bucharest
poetry maps hosted one of the readings. PoQ is a project of
young authors relational poetics. This month will POQ will host a
Party of Poetry in Berlin at Literaturwerkstatt.
Literaturwerkstatt
After the screenings in Bucharest,
Chisinau & Prague, “poetry. the
power” is coming to Berlin.
24 young writers explain literature.
Where it comes from and where it
goes. Some may swear that prose is
poetry's mother, others think it is a
pyramid, a form of communication, or
poe-zine #05
rage, a beeline for rock celebrity.
Friday 30.10.2009 22:00
Before POETRY LIVE – The Long Night
of Young Romanian Poetry
Venue: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin,
Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin
"poetry. the power" is a documentary
that takes the pulse of
Romanian contemporary
poetry, of its public an its
indecency: an hour with new
poets and their special
powers.
Constantin Acosmei, Şerban
Axinte, Constantin Virgil
Bănescu, Cătălina Cadinoiu, Dan
Coman, Tudor Creţu, Sorin
Despot, Cosmin Dragomir, Ana
Dragu, Teodor Dună, Aida
Hancer, Marin Mălaicu
Hondrari, Marius Ianuş, Vasile
Leac, Oana Cătălina Ninu, Florin
Partene, Denisa Pişcu, Cosmin
Perţa, Andra Rotaru, George
Serediuc, Stoian G. Bogdan,
Olga Ştefan, Adriana
Teodorescu, Mihai Vakulovski
a movie by
Andrei Ruse and Răzvan Țupa
Meantime you can watch
online 10 minutes episodes
of “poetry. the power” with
English subtitles.
2
 Poetics of the Quotidian

Literary meetings in Bucharest

Since 2005

RĂZVAN TUPA was born in 1975 in

Braila.
Since 2006 he reads poetry at
internatio-nal festi-vals and
projects in Berlin
(2008), Bratislava (2008), New York
(2008), Prague (2008), Paris (2006,
2009) and Rome (2007) and developed
different projects for video
poetry. In 2009 deployed a project
of filming poetry. This project was
„poetry. the power” documentary. It
is a film that presents 24 new
Romanian poets selected for The
National New Writers Coloquium
in Alba Iulia (May, 2009).
He published „fetish” (2001, 2003)
and „corpuri romanesti” (2005), two
books of poetry.
 The practice of poetry
Chishinau 2009
Ccollection of texts on relational poetics. It was published in Romanian in September
2009 as a book in “Stare de Urgenta” magazine from Chisinau (Moldavia).
I. Policy. Performances
a) the poetic relationship
Looking at the vitality of art reshaping
it’s object in the last 20 years, we
realize that literature might seem an
fancy old lady, who purchases
fashionable gadgets occasionally but
only in her apartment decorated with
lace is where she feels best.
Sometimes one suspects she’s not
even watching TV either.
b) emotional pornography
It's almost an automatism to speak
about lost generations, shattered
illusions, betrayed ideals, etc. And who
could dear challenge God knows what
individual that is beaten. How would
one hit people that had fallen?!
There is no difficulty to realize that for
two hundred years there has been
only people who have lost. Who said
that won anything since Napoleon?!
Only dictators, and there was just
propaganda. Even revolutions are not
meant anymore as symbols of victory.
c) cultural entertainment & political
dada
The illusion that the speech was ever
any other than defect is more obvious
when you realize that the media
machine simply assumes the
traditional role of the artist, of a visual
and word artisan to provide a
consumer version for the Odes of
Pindar (for example).
Assertiveness is the quality that makes
the events to be suspicious.
The poet does not produce anything
concrete. Ironically, no other
occupation is not in a position as
immaterial as that of the poet. With
one exception and here comes the
irony: the politician.
d) poetic organization
Political power builds its strength on
the organization and management of
network resources set behind its
symbolic value. What keeps eccentric
the poetry is quite the opposite of
political power: isolation, discrediting
groups and encouraging a lack of
responsibility. And this is exactly what
we should not accept. Here poetry can
begin.
Short stories
May, 2009
As a preface for the 100 anniversary
Poetics of the Quotidian meetings we had
prepared a debate on how poetry is
perceived and written today. This text is an
adaptation of a conference designed
during January to May 2009 for the space
of art and contemporary culture Unicredit
Pavilion in Bucharest.
Compared to contemporary art,
literature (especially the Romanian
one) remains much quieter. Any
output to a wide audience is
automatically suspected of cheap
commercialism. Surprisingly or not,
aesthetic tendencies raised by Nicolas
Bourriaud in 2002 with his famous
poe-zine #05
series of comments over
contemporary artists can be found in a
basic XIXth century text, where
Romanticism was described by F.
Schlegel.
In this way we can recover a literary
consciousness that puts forward the
effectiveness of poetic approach in
contemporary society, beyond the
traditional aesthetics and
stubbornness of dwelling exclusively
an aesthetic autonomy.
This text aims to pursue a number of
genuine poetic elements identified as
functional in the various areas of social
life and politics today.
Whether metaphorical scrap, rhetoric
performances more or less cheap,
economic models, political discourse,
5
media are all based on elements and It is a surprise to find a correlation
even structures specific to poetry. In between the formulations of the
the end, anarchy and rigid theory of art that changed the
conservatorism both assume essential perspective on today's
victimization as a personal process. artistic act and the different ways that
the poetic act was identified over
Poetic relationship time.
All you know about figures of speech, One of the biggest problems for a
fixed forms or concepts that the contemporary reader is the inaccuracy
universe poetic, lyrical feeling you can of synthetic formulations in literary
find raised in literary criticism or history. Usually, the specific elements
school textbooks that have selected listed for any literary movements are
poems only a few
published in features that
the last 10 could provide
years, but arguments in
implementatio an approach
n of these aimed to
elements can
differentiate
no longer artificially
work. between
As a reader, historical
without any moments.
pretensions of art criticism, I see When it is mentioned Western
relational aesthetics as one of the medieval poetry literary history states
most important tests of theoretical
the resignation from the poet's
approach to recovery original art in creative position and focuses on the
social magnitude. song, the verse as word craft, it is only
I was asked many times how a a simplification of reality.
specialized field in forging lines of The studies in medieval poetics (the
force of the word has not offered no transition from poetry to poetics is
theoretical formulation that can perhaps best illustrated in this
compare to a conceptual ruptures of moment - WTH Jackson Medieval
the art or music in the last half Literature: A History and a Guide)
century.

poe-zine #05 6
insists ovet the meeting between intentions of poetic theories. The
poetry (written in Latin scholastic era same happens with any poetic
in obligatory relationship with moment that you may choose. Texts
Christian vision) and vernacular that founded literary movements had
poetry. However, when you read more nuances than historic
verses like simplifications can address.
Only when we find the theoretical
Who's that I hear?—It's me—Who?— formulations signed by Friedrich
Your heart Schlegel (1772-1829) we can
Hanging on by the thinnest thread understand that a historic perspective
I lose all my strength, substance, and overlooks the very vitality of poetic in
fluid a certain moment. “All art has been a
When I see you withdrawn this way all contemporary” states a work by
alone Maurizio Nannucci at the entrance of
Like a whipped cur sulking in the
Alte Museum in Berlin of entry into
corner the Museum of Ancient Art in Berlin.
Is it due to your mad hedonism?— That quality which have to be
What's it to you?—I have to suffer for contemporary poeticile in relation to
it— vital principles of their time in a lose
Leave me alone—Why?—I'll think sight of the man approaches:
about it—
„Romantic poetry is a progressive,
When will you do that?—When I've universal poetry. Its aim isn’t merely to
grown up— reunite all the separate species of
I've nothing more to tell you—I'll poetry and put poetry in touch with
survive without it— philosophy and rhetoric. It tries to and
(The Debate Between Villon And His Heart by should mix and fuse poetry and prose,
François Villon inspiration and
translated by criticism, the poetry
Galway Kinnell). of art and the
poetry of nature;
and make poetry
you can
lively and social,
understand that
and life and society
the vitality of
poetical; poeticize
the poetic
wit and fill and
language goes
saturate the forms
far beyond the

poe-zine #05 7
of art with every kind of good, solid
matter for instruction, and animate
them with the pulsations of humor.“
(here)
I am not sure when you thought about
romantic poet but I am almost certain
you haven’t included humor and the
clash between the society and
aesthetics. Yet it is a quote signed by F.
Schlegel and one of the birth acts of
Romanticism.
To conclude our introduction I will add
the indication offered by the French
art critic in order to determine the
mutation targeted in relational
poe-zine #05
aesthetics: Art begins to aim rather the
sphere of human interactions and its
social context than the affirmation of
self and private symbolic space
(Nicolas Bourriaud-Relational
Aesthetics 1998).
As the theoretical formulation of
relational aesthetics were caused by
lack of effectiveness of the concepts
required in the critical art of the 60’s
and by the search for functional
criteria to address contemporary
artistic approaches we can recognize
the same moment where poetry
criticism is blocked today.
8
II. Poetics
June, 2009
My first relational poetry event was a
grid poem online. After a few months I
repeated the experience as a preface
to a workshop in Constanta (Eastern
Romania). At some point I realized that
it showed up quite a few events in this
area and maybe it's time to see how
they stay together.
Right after I staged poem scale
experiment in Bratislava, where, the
audience chose one letter from each
of the 5 poems that I read, and in the
end, all the letters were dictated to be
written in a hopscotch in form of the
Slovak word basen (poem). Sure,
relational poetics is anything (or can
be). and yet ...
poetics: "a sensitivity to relationship
and context, an understanding of
language and even consciousness as
ongoing negotiation, an emphasis on
listening, all of which are accompanied
by the inevitable failures you mention,
are at the heart of my sense of an
aesthetics and an ethics that is neither
an aesthetics nor an ethics, but are
part of a larger critical and creative
reevaluation of these categories."
Since 1990 Édouard Glissant has
published essays on poetry in the
volume "Poetique de la relation"
(Gallimard). Later he lectured on his
concept with Tunisian poet Amina
Said. His concept is based on the
specific problems of poetry in Antilles
(where Glissant originates, in fact) and
emphasizes individual identity issues,
language and society.

... Where we come

from

It’s no need to claim

we invent the wheel.
I've heard about the
relational poetics. In
2005 a number of
Fascicle publication,
Alan Gilbert
concludes his
dialogue with Dale
Smith talking exactly
about the relational

poe-zine #05 9
I would be even more radical, because
the forms of poetry in their change
have drawn changes concerning the
role of poetry, but basically something
persisted. And it is not rhymes, or
rhythm and meter ... and not even the
written text that persists.
If you had read Homer or Pindar than
you realize that not even the poet’s
self is not customary in the poem. So
we are left to formulate a specific "to
be together" as the poet Constantin
Acosmei would say in
“poezie.puterea” documentary film,
"with people from different places,
from different times. And from there...
... Where we have seen each other
The first workshop relational poetics
that I was invited to perform was in
Timisoara, in the days of “Save Student
poe-zine #05
House” campaign. What emerged was
a spectacular map, edited by Ana
Toma in a one copy hand-made
volume. Instead of streets, the rule
was to name poets and quotes related
to Timisoara.
Also in Timisoara was organized and
first public meeting of relational
poetics. In the Cărtureşti bookshop
tea-house from Timisoara readers took
a line willing to have a poem written
especially for each of them by the
invited poets. This time, the poets
spoke in turn with each reader and
wrote a poem or prose turned from
what they were told.
The series of workshops from
Timisoara concluded with
yourPOETICmap at Sand Book
Bookshop. This time the workshop
completed a series of 5 pages for each
participant. Each page represented
aspects of poetic
perception of the
participant.
Then, the project was
developed in Constanta.
And there are still things
to be done about editing
yourPOETICmap. Not that
it would have great
difficulty, but it
introduces some terms
into question as...
10
 ... a manifesto
Last year (2008), Ian Irvine has
launched a transpersonal-relational
poetics manifesto changing the focus
theory of poetry to the development
of a non-oppressive language. The
theory calls for experiments with
language forms and uses references to
experiments with alienated forms of
language and moves the whole story in
a social area.
It is still an opportunity to emphasize
some theoretical historical landmarks:
Oulipean techniques associated with
'Constraints Based' writing (though
with minimal emphasis on
mathematical concepts), various
'Language' poetry techniques, non-
Western techniques related to anti-
colonialist/ethno poetic insights, as
well as a range of revised and up-
dated 20th century avant-garde
techniques / concepts eg: 'Writing as
Process', 'chance operations',
'deconstructive appropriation' etc..
Certain TRP techniques might also be
described as original. The interactivity
(and process / relational possibilities)
offered by the WWW is also under
exploration by TPR writers. Another
area of interest is creativity in relation
to personal healing and political
activism. In this sense some concepts
drawn from 'narrative therapy' is also
poe-zine #05
relevant to the TRP perspectives and
praxis."
"Poetics of relation" is the concept
provided by Edouard Glissant
(Galimard, 1990, University of
Michigan, 1997). The writer born in
French Antilles invokes as first poets of
relation Victor Segalen, Raymond
Roussel and Henri Rousseau. Glissant
considers them the first creators to
prove the kickbak that an event from a
remote culture can have over the life
of an individual in modernity (op cit, p.
27). As the unexplored territories
geographically shrank the act of
discovering the other is replaced by
the „understanding” of the other as a
foreign civilization. But this
understanding has a aggressive
meaning. The events that take place in
a remote space have a bigger
importance for an individual than
personal and familial events ever can.
Glissant sorts a vocal language and a
practical one and calls for a need for
de- colonization of creoles languages
11
 by a „conspiracy of hiding sense”. The how the author cut reality to provide
release from conventional forms of its text. Relational Poetics is an
transparency in the language, the invitation to record cuts that authors
deliberate use of linguistic opacity is and readers prefer for these partially
used as an instrument of poetic un-textual poems that we currently
politics. In the history of literature, the call living.
same case can be considered
regarding Dante’s choice for
vernacular Italian instead of imperial
Latin («Patke, Rajeev S. in Post-colonial
Poetry in English», Oxford University
Press, 2006, p. 98).

When theorizing of the 80’s Romanian

textualism, Marin Mincu insisted on
figure ltc.umanitoba.ca

poe-zine #05 12
III. Practice.
poets, readers, speakers =
inhabitants
By mid 2008, a series of events held in
Bucharest, Timisoara, Constanta,
Bratislava, Prague and Paris had been
transformed in practice for these
considerations, using poetry as a tool
for communication, documentation
and response to immediate reality. If
for Prague and Paris, projects for
which we worked with Claudiu
poe-zine #05
Komartin and Ana Maria Sandu were
held so far only in the virtual
environment, for all other events are
documented in order to restore and
indicate the stages of each workshops.
I added some notes related to Poetics
of the Quotidian meetings, which,
since 2005, has been a continuous
exercise and relationship with
literature. The first series of notes
presents the yourPOETICmap
workshop from Timisoara.
13
yourPOETICmap five pages of the participants)

(Timisoara, May 2009) - At the end of each stage, your sheet

For each of us the world looks
different. Sand Book Bookshop invited
readers to Poetics of the Quotidian for
mapping their poetic world.
Razvan Tupa and Moni Stănilă
prepared writing instruments for each
of those who wished to participate in
this workshop.
WORKSHOP: 80-120 min
CONDUCT:
-Each participant will have 5 (five)
pages of A4 paper and writing
instruments.
The name of your poetic map is your
name.
- Choose a sign to represent you and
you use it on every page of the
workshop. Put the sign on
each of the five pages.
is photographed.
- The end of the workshop is marked
by setting up an image in two ways:
1: by joining all the drawings with the
same number (all 1 then every 2 etc.)
to present a horizontal map.
2: the alignment of all pages (from 1 to
5 each time) and repeat the full
presentation for each participant.
You
In front of you is world
Behind you is world
In your left is world
The world is at your right
Above is world
Below is world
Before you is world and
After you is world
When is your world

- It is important that each

participant to use each of
the five pages in the order
they will show that
coordinate the workshop.

- The workshop has five

stages (one for each of the

poe-zine #05 14
 Page 1 8: How do others see you. give them
your sheet to write - 5 min
1: Think about the strongest feeling: -
5 min 9: Ask someone to read

If it is a taste - description of the area

into the brain (cerebral cortex) / write
on the edge of the sheet.
If it is an odor-limbic system (brain
center) write in the center of the
sheet
If it is related to touch - sensory cortex
- the left half of sheet
If it is related to hearing - temporal
lobe - the right half of sheet.
2: What would make you happy (s): - 5
min
Page 4
10: dream write / drawing - 10
minutes
11: choose another person in the room
and, if you have writen your dream,
ask him/her to draw it on your sheet.
If you've drawn your dream, you ask
them to write what you drew on your
sheet. 5 min
Page 5

3: When finished, ask someone to 12: Words-strings-order-words that do

read order. Your labels: sharing the world -
10 min

Page 2 FINALE

4: Places: important for you (in the Each participant receives their pages
center of the page) 6 min bonded in a cover as a book-
manuscript in a single copy.
Geographical or emotional
5: items specific for you in these places
(sounds, people, buildings) 4 min

6: Ask someone to read

Page 3

7: How you see others - write about

them - 5 min

poe-zine #05 15
Photo by Ulrikka S Gernes
POET
RELATION
The reader and the writer of poetry
do things in words
Relational Poetics is only one meeting
between poetry and poetry, between
poetry and ways of seeing, especially
the ways to affirm the presence of real
dimensions of poetry.
Relational Poetics is not a discovery.
Relational Poetics is not an invention.
Relational Poetics is a meeting and,
moreover, growing sense that already
attend this meeting.
poe-zine #05
What do you do with poetry.
On one hand this is what you do with
poetry.
What is poetry to you?
We are interested if poetry or
something to say in that form of
expression. Yes, and more: It's good
that the poem is reduced to poetry?
What we have in common
If poetry is a medium, an area where
something happens, they are
landmarks that look?
Who says
you you you you you you you you you
you you you you you you you you you
you you you you you you you you you
you you you you you you you you you
you you you you you you you you you
you you you you you you you you you
16
 3. With what writer don’t you want in
Poetics of any circumstances to be confused?
Why?

the 4. Where do you think is best to be

read what you write?

5. If you were just a reader, what

Quotidian would you believe about what you
write?

poll 6. What has changed in your writing

from the first publication until now?
What caused this change?
2005-2009 7. What would change about your
writing if you would live somewhere
else? (where and why?)

8. What is your relationship with

1. What was the most unexpected
different literary genres?
reaction that you had from a reader?
9. If you choose a single piece of what
2. How do you want your writing not
you wrote what would it be?
to be read?
10. Who influenced you mostly? How?

poe-zine #05 17
 A literary journey through South‐East Europe
In October 2009 twenty young authors will start a journey which will take them through the
cities of South East Europe to Istanbul. On the way, they will meet colleagues, observe, debate,
read, blog and take photos and sound recordings, and, above all, write, capturing their
experience in words and images. In all, more than fifty young writers, artists and translators
from the region will be involved in the project and will contribute to publications in literary
magazines in the participating countries and in the final publication.
The train journey will take three groups of writers from Bucharest to Sofia, from Sarajevo to
Belgrade, and from Ljubljana via Zagreb to Skopje, converging in Thessaloniki and finally in
Istanbul.

Word Express is a new project for literary
exchange in South-East Europe, organised
by the UK-based Literature Across Frontiers
in cooperation with Delta Publishing in
Istanbul, Profil Books in Zagreb, Helicon in
Tel Aviv and the National Book Centre in
Bucharest and other partners based in
twelve countries in the region. The project
is part of the EU-supported Literature
Across Frontiers Programme and of the
British Council’s Creative Collaboration
Programme which aims to enrich the
cultural life of Europe and its surrounding
countries and to build trust and
understanding across communities by
generating dialogue and debate. In a region
marked with past and present conflicts,
Word Express aims to cross cultural and
linguistic boundaries and bring new literary
voices of the region to the fore.
The project which started in May 2009,
aims to create opportunities for exchange
and dialogue by establishing a network of
young writers, translators, literary
magazines and venues in twelve countries
and connecting them with the UK.
Some fifty young authors and translators
will be eventually involved in the project,
exploring the region’s cultural, social and
political legacy and meeting their colleagues
from the participating countries. In October
2009, twenty of them will form three
groups each of which will take a train
journey through the Balkans to Istanbul,
stopping in different cities where they will
take part in readings, debates and
translation workshops. In Istanbul, where
they will spend five days at the end of their
journey, they will participate in the Istanbul
Book fair and in the new Istanbul Tanpinar
Literature Festival, as well as reading and
debating in other venues.
The participants come from the following
countries: Armenia, Bosnia and

poe-zine #05 18
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece,
Israel, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania,
Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and the United
Kingdom – and their work will be translated
into the languages of the region and
published in literary magazines in each of
the participating countries . They will also
have the opportunity to work
collaboratively on projects combining
writing with video and film art, photography
and music, to be showcased in the second
stage of the project, in 2010.
For this project, led by Delta Publishing in
Istanbul, the British Council and Literature
Across Frontiers work with a range of other
partners, including the National Book
Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute
in Bucharest and Istanbul, Profil Books in
Zagreb, Blesok in Skopje, Sarajevske sveske
(Sarajevo Notebooks for Regional Culture),
Treci trg in Belgrade, Literaturen Vestnik in
poe-zine #05
Sofia, Young Writers Club in Ljubljana,
Endefktirio magazine and literary venue in
Thessaloniki, Inknagir literary magazine in
Yerevan, and Helicon - the Society for the
Advancement of Poetry in Israel and the
Helicon Poetry Journal in Tel Aviv.
The project is co-financed by the British
Council and Literature Across Frontiers
(supported by Culture Programme of the
European Union), with support from the
Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the
Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture of
the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Culture
of the Republic of Macedonia, the Scottish
Arts Council and Wales Arts International.
Visit www.wordexpress.org,
www.creativecollaborations.org.uk and
www.lit-across-frontiers.org to find out
more.
19
 WORD EXPRESS program schedule
Group 1
Ljubljana – Zagreb – (via Belgrade) Skopje –
(via Thessaloniki) – Istanbul
Ljubljana - Raman Mundair, Efe Duyan +
local writer Mirt Komel
Zagreb - Raman Mundair, Efe Duyan + local
writers Marko Pogačar, Mima Simid
Skopje - Raman Mudair, Efe Duyan, Mirt
Komel (joins), Marko Pogačar, Mima Simid +
local writers Igor Isakovski, Aleksandra
Dimitrova travel via Thessaloniki (without
stopping) to Istanbul
Group 2
Bucharest – Sofia – Thessaloniki –
Istanbul
Bucharest – Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen
Spahid, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu + local writers
Adela Greceanu, Claudiu Komartin
Sofia – Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen Spahid,
poe-zine #05
Barış Müstecaplıoğlu, Adela Greceanu,
Claudiu Komartin + local writers Ivan
Hristov )
Thessaloniki - Anahit Hayrapetyan, Ognjen
Spahid, Barış Müstecaplıoğlu, Adela
Greceanu, Claudiu Komartin, Ivan Hristov +
local writers Chris Chryssopoulos, Katerina
Iliopoulou
Group 3
Sarajevo – Belgrade – (via Skopje)
Thessaloniki – Istanbul
Sarajevo - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell +
local writer Adisa Basid
Belgrade - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell,
Adisa Basid + local writer Milan Dobričid
Thessaloniki - Netalie Braun, Owen Martell,
Adisa Basid, Milan Dobričid + local writers
Chris Chryssopoulos, Katerina Iliopoulou 19
travelling, joined by Uri Hollander in
Istanbul, where they meet Turkish writers.
20
 Open your halls for reading
An interesting cultural event held recently
at the Romanian Peasant’s Museum. In a
public reading, the poet Daniela Crăsnaru,
the writer Adela Greceanu and the
translator and poet Claudiu Komartin were
joined by Anahit Hayrapetyan (Armenia),
Barış Müstecaplıoğlu (Turkey) and Ognjen
Spahic (Montenegro). All
this happened in Word
Express project, initiated
by Literature Across
Frontiers and British
Council, developed
with Romanian Cultural
Institute support by the
National Book Center.
Claudiu Komartin read
three poems from his
most recent volume, "A
season in Berceni. If
Adela
Greceanu presented
excerpts from "The Bride
with red socks', a book
with a lively start and a flunk finishing, with
the frustration of a character who did not
find cadence in love made public under a
magnifying glass, Anahit Hayrapetyan
presented in a more direct style of the
poem of erotic memories from the Mount
Ararat.
Barış Müstecaplıoğlu talked about problems
in Turkish society . Daniela Crăsnaru, known
for her discursive verve,
diffuse modesty read a poem about lust
spoken directly among gasps and open calls
for action.
Many of the foreign writers and poets
attending this public reading started their
career as journalists. The atmosphere was
relaxed by the narrative application of the
guest from Montenegro: "I cannot talk
before I have a beer and
an ashtray.” Author,
translated into English,
French and German,
Spahic wrote a short
story about Romanian
leprosaria, the last one
in Europe. "1
percent reality, 99,
fiction" he describe his
art for an audience
composed mostly
of youngsters.
In interwar period, such
meetings were mostly
held in cultu-
ral institutions. In this format, a public
hungry for knowledge can be closer to the
authors and their preferred writings.
Publishers should deal more than the
promotion of authors. The large number of
participants has shown a desire for such
events. The event was introduced by
Razvan Tupa, the founder of Poetics of the
Quotidian meetings.
the
Adapted from http://www.bookiseala.ro/

poe-zine #05 21
 Meet the writers on board of Word Express:

BRAUN, NETALIE
Netalie Braun, born 1978, is a film director
of fiction and documentary films, a writer,
lecturer in film studies and the artistic
co‐director of the international women’s
film festival in Israel. She wrote and
directed three short films ‐ The Last Supper,
2004, Core, 2005, and Gevald, 2008 ‐ and a
documentary Metamorphosis, 2006, based
on testimonies of raped women. Her poems
and short stories have been published in
BAŠID, ADISA various literary magazines. Her first poetry
Adisa Bašid was born in 1979 in Sarajevo. volume called Kill and Breathe came out in
She has a degree in Comparative Literature, 2006.
and an MA in Human Rights and
Democracy. She spent a year in Germany on
a DAAD grant studying German and Media
at Phlipps University in Marburg. She has
travelled widely and has participated in a
number of literary encounters in Bosnia and
abroad. In 2003 she spent four months
travelling in the USA together with other
young writers from conflict‐ridden
countries and has given readings in many
venues from San Francisco to Boston. She
works as a journalist in the culture section
of SlobodnaBosna weekly, the largest
circulation Bosnian daily. She has published
two poetry collections, Hava’s Sentences
(1999) and Trauma Market (2004). Her
CHRYSSOPOULOS. CHRISTOS
poetry and literary criticism has been
Christos Chryssopoulos (1968) is a novelist,
published in leading magazines in the
essayist and translator. He was born in
region, including Sarajevske sveske, Novi
Athens and is among the most prolific
pogledi and Treci trg. Her story “To Survive
young prose writers on the Greek literary
Hitchhiking” was awarded at UNESCO
scene. He has authored five novels, most
competition for best short stories of young
recently The London Day Of Laura Jackson
writers from South‐Eastern Europe, while
(2008), a volume of essays (The Language
her second book Trauma market was
Box, 2006), and one collection of short
selected for best poetry collection at
stories (Napolean Delastos’ Recipes, 1997).
International Publisher's Encounters
Since 1999, he has collaborated with the
“Voyage to the Center of Europe” in Pazin,
visual artist Diane Neumaier on several art
Croatia, awarded with a one‐month
projects.
fellowship in Graz, Austria.

poe-zine #05 22
Their artists’ book, The Black Dress, was
published in the USA in 2002. Their
exhibition Encounters was held at the
Reykjavik Museum of Art in 2003 and the
corresponding catalogue was published in
2004. Christos has been featured in many
anthologies of contemporary Greek fiction
and writes regularly on literary theory. His
work appears in five languages. He has won
a number of grants and has been invited to
writers’ centres in Europe and America. He
was an Iowa Fellow in 2007. His website is:
http://chrissopoulos.blogspot.com/
DIMITROVA, ALEKSANDRA
Aleksandra Dimitrova was born on 20
September 1977 in Skopje, Republic of
Macedonia. She graduated in Macedonian
Literature and South Slavic Literatures.
During her studies at the St. Cyril and
Methodius University in Skopje, she
published poetry in the Mugri student
literary magazine and in the Lettre
Internationale literary magazine. In 2002,
her first book of poetry, Exercises For
Proper Breathing was published by
Makavej, Skopje. Her second collection of
poetry entitled Me‐You was part of a
project with the painter Marija Nikoloska
Naneska in 2004. The project was installed
in the Skopje City Museum on 12 October
2002. In 2003 and 2004, her poems were
published in the literary magazine
poe-zine #05
Stremez. In 2008, her third collection of
poetry entitled Goddess Of The Feral Cats
was published by Blesok, Skopje, and
in 2009 her fourth book was published by
the same publisher. The fourth book is
entitled In The Barbie’s Aquarium. Her
poetry has been published in the electronic
magazine for culture Blesok No.63. She is
working on her master thesis on The
Post‐Modernist Traps In Goran Stefanovski’s
Plays. As well as poetry, she writes prose
and literature reviews. She is an author of
the blog www.bonbonce.blogspot.com.
Aleksandra Dimitrova works and lives in
Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
MILAN DOBRIČID
Milan Dobričid (1977, Belgrade) is a poet,
prose writer, translator and editor. He holds
degrees in Serbian and world literature
from the University of Belgrade and from
the Belgrade Open University. He is one of
the founders of the cultural NGO NGO Tredi
Trg (Third Square) which publishes the
electronic and printed literary and art
magazine Tredi Trg (www.trecitrg.org.rs),
where he works as editor. He is also the
founder director of the Belgrade
International Poetry and Book Festival. His
poetry and prose has been in various
Serbian magazines and newspapers
(Student, Beogradske novine, Pančevac,
Rukopisi, Istočnik, Txt, URB, Re, Contrastes,
Album), and he has also published studies
about early
Christianity. His short stories were included
in the anthology Shortest stories (2006), and
he has co‐authored the prose book Diary
2000 ( 2001). His poetry collections are
Pressure (2002), Coping (2006) and Blessed
Losers (2009). His works had been
translated into English, French, Polish and
Catalan.
23

DUYAN, EFE
Efe Duyan, born 1981 in Istanbul, is a poet
and architect. After graduating from the
German School of Istanbul he studied
Architecture and Philosophy at Middle East
Technical University (B.A.) and History and
Theory of Architecture in Yıldız Tecnical
University (M.S). He teaches architecture at
Mimar Sinan University. His poems and
essays have been published in several
literary reviews such as Edebiyat Eleştiri,
Öteki‐Siz, Damar, Kavram Karmaşa, Akköy.
He has been on editorial boards of the
reviews Nikbinlik, Damar, Sol and Sanat
Cephesi. He has published one collection of
poems, Takas (2006) with Kemal Özer. His
book The Construction of Characters in
Nâzım Hikmet’s Poetry was published in
2008.
GRECEANU, ADELA
Her debut Titlul volumului meu, care mă
preocupă atât de mult... (The Title Of My
Collection, Which Preoccupies Me So
Much...) made Adela Greceanu (1975) one
of the voices that highlighted a certain shift
of vision and attitude the new Romanian
poetry. Concerned with femininity and the
subjective emotional life of a "persona"
called in her second book Domnişoara Cvasi
(Miss Quasi, 2001), Adela Greceanu
consolidated her reputation with every new
book. Her latest collection (Understanding
Right Through The Heart, 2004) and her
poe-zine #05
recent novel (The Red‐Socked Bride, 2008)
develop her onirical, almost surrealistic
vision, making her one of the most original
contemporary Romanian writers whose
poetry is considered to continue the
tradition of Gellu Naum and Rene Char.
Anahit Hayrapetyan was born in 1981 in
Armenia. Initially she studied computer
science at the State Engineering University
of Armenia, and in 2005 she participated in
World Press Photo seminars. Currently she
is studying at the Danish School of Media
and Journalism in Copenhagen. In 2002, the
Armenian Center for Contemporary
Experimental Art published her first book of
poems. In 2005, her second book Taboo
was published, winning the Young Writer
Award of the Writers Union of Armenia. Her
poems have been published in Inknagir,
Bnagir, Actual Art, Garun and Gretert
magazines. Alongside writing she has been
engaged in photography. Her photos have
been published by National Gegraphic
Traveler, Eurasianet.org, Armenianow.com,
Zaman, Ogoniok, Newsweek. In 2006, she
won the President's Prize in Armenia, as
well as prizes for Eurasia Social Portrait
2007, Black Sea and Caucasus 2008, Europe
and Asia 2009.
HAYRAPETYAN, ANAHIT
Photo by Anahit Hayrapetyan
24
Uri Hollander (1979) is a poet, translator,
musican, literary critic and journalist. He
graduated summa cum laude from the
Israeli Music Conservatory in Tel Aviv in
1997. In 2002, he studied at the
Department of the Hebrew Bible at Tel Aviv
University and from 2002 to 2005 he was a
student in the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary
Program for Outstanding students at Tel
Aviv University. He received his MA in
Judaic studies from the Tel Aviv University
in 2005 and is currently
a Doctoral student at the Department of
Hebrew Literature at The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. His publications
include Notes from the Miracle Fair: Essays
on Modern Poetry (2003), a Hebrew
translation of E. E. Cummings: Selected
Poems (2003), a book of poetry The
Wandering Piano (2005), selected poems in
Hebrew translation Max Jacob: Les vrais
miracles (2006), Portrait on the Edge of
Darkness: Essays on the poetry of Israel Har
(2007), poems and a classical music CD Days
of the Tel‐Aviv Conservatory (2007). He is
currently working on selected poems in
Hebrew translation Eugene Guillevic:
Parenthèse and Lattices: Essays on Dan
Tsalka. He is the recipeint of several awards
including the Metula Poetry Festival Prize
and the Israel Ministry of Education Prize
for Young Poets. He lives and works in Tel
Aviv, Israel.
HOLLANDER, URI
Photo by: Dan Porges
poe-zine #05
HRISTOV, IVAN
Photo from the author’s archive
The poet and critic Ivan Hristov (1978)
graduated in Bulgarian philology at Sofia
University in 2001 and defended his PhD on
Bulgarian 1920s Modernism at the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 2008. His
first book of poetry, Sbogom devetnajsti vek
(Farewell To the 19th Century, 2001) won
the prestigious 2002 Southern Spring award
for the best debut book. His second
collection, Bdin (2004) received critical
acclaim, as well as the 2006 Svetlostrui
Prize for poetry. He regularly publishes
poems in anthologies and leading Bulgarian
periodicals including Literary Newspaper,
Altera, Sega, Capital. His work has been
translated into English, Croatian, German
and Hungarian. Ivan has participated in
poetry festivals abroad, including Ars
Poetica in Bratislava in 2007 and the Goran
Spring Festival in Croatia in 2009, where
hereceived first prize in the Poetry
Marathon in Hvar. Ivan Hristov is also a
leading literary critic of his generation with
numerous academic publications and
regular participation in conferences both in
Bulgaria and abroad.
25
Katerina
Iliopoulou
was born
in Athens
and
studied
Chemistry
at the
University
of
Thessaloni
ki, and
Fine Arts
at
Guildhall
University
in London.
ISAKOVSKI, IGOR
Her first book of poetry entitled Mister T.
Photo by Goran Stoiljkovic
(2007) won the "prize for a new author" of
Igor Isakovski (1970 Skopje, Macedonia) is a
the literary journal Diavazo. Asylum is her
poet and prose writer. He holds a BA in
second book of poetry (2008). She is a
World and Comparative Literature from Sts.
member of the arts collective intothepill
Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
(www.intothepill.net). In 2007, as a parallel
and MA in Gender and Culture, CEU,
project of the first Athens Biennial,
Budapest. He has worked as radio & TV
intothepill organized and presented
show host for various stations in
Karaoke Poetry Bar, a multimodal
Macedonia. He is founder and director of
installation with poetry, video and
the Cultural Institution Blesok and works as
performance. She was the editor of the
its editor‐in‐chief and webmaster. He has
bilingual (Greek/English) anthology of
published Letters (1991, novel), Black Sun
contemporary Greek poetry Poetry Karaoke
(1992, poetry), and many more. His work
which was published as part of the project.
has been translated and published in USA,
She has edited and translated into Greek
Australia, Korea, Netherlands, Romania,
the poetry of Sylvia Plath (2003) and has
Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia
also translated poetry by Mina Loy, Ted
and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria,
Hughes and Robert Hass for the journals
Montenegro, Israel, Poland, Hungary, and
Poiisi, Poiitiki and the e‐zine poema.gr. She
United Kingdom, including Sky (poetry in
is currently working on an anthology of Ted
English, 1996, 2000), Sejanje smeha
Hughes’ poetry due to be published in 2010.
(selected poetry in Serbian and
She is the editor of poetrybox in the e‐zine
Macedonian, 2003), I & Tom Waits
www.happyfew.gr. She is also a member of
(selected poetry in English and Macedonian,
Poetry Now a poet’s collective which
2003), Sandglass (short stories in English,
organizes regular discussions and readings
2003). He translates poetry, prose, and
investigating aspects of contemporary
essays, from and into Macedonian, English,
poetry.
Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and
ILIOPOULOU, KATERINA
Montenegrian. He lives in Skopje.

poe-zine #05 26

KOMARTIN, CLAUDIU
Photo by Mihai Grecea
Claudiu Komartin (1983) is a poet, literary
critic and translator. He has published three
collections: Păpuşarul şi alte insomnia (The
Puppeteer and Other Insomnia, 2003,
2007), Circul domestic (Domestic Circus,
2005), which was awarded The Romanian
Academy Poetry Prize, and the recent Un
anotimp în Berceni (A Season in Berceni,
2009). The German writer Jan Koneffke
wrote about him: "He makes a
synthesis, both sarcastic and
full of hope, of the Romanian
contemporary society". Claudiu
Komartin has translated poetry
and prose from French, English
and Italian and is preparing a
book of literary criticism. His
poems have appeared in
international anthologies and
literary reviews and have been
translated into German,
French, Spanish, Polish,
Swedish, Serbian, Slovenian,
Bulgarian, Hebrew and Korean.
poe-zine #05
Mirt Komel was born in Šempeter pri
Gorici, Slovenia, and now lives, works and
writes between Nova Gorica, Ljubljana and
Sarajevo. He studied at the Faculty of Social
Sciences, Faculty of Arts and the Peace
Institute in Ljubljana and is currently a PhD
student at Department of Philosophy,
Faculty of Arts. Since 2005 he has worked as
Research Assistant at the Peace Institute of
Ljubljana. He is the author of the first
monograph about the physical and social
aspects of touching in Slovenian (An
attempt at a touch). He is the co‐founder
and an active member of The Youth Club of
the Slovenian
Writer’s Association. He has published
poems, novellas, plays and several literary
reviews in the main literary journals in
Slovenia and Bosnia (Apokalipsa, OtočjeO,
Sarajevske sveske). He is the editor of an
anthology of young Slovenian writers,
Zbornik Mladinskega kluba DSP. His
publications include Mes(t)ne drame (City
Dramas, 2006), a collection of three plays.
In 2008, he published Luciferjev padec
(Lucifer's Fall), a dramatic poem in ten acts.
His literary‐philosophical travelogue,
Sarajevski dnevnik (Sarajevo Diary) came
out in 2008.
KOMEL. MIRT
Photo by Borut Krajnc
27
MARTELL, OWEN and lives and works in Scotland. Mundair is
Owen Martell was born in 1976 and grew the author of A Choreographer's
up in Pontneddfechan, south Wales. His Cartography, Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and
first Welsh‐language novel, Cadw dyffydd, Thieves and The Algebra of Freedom. She is
brawd, written while a student at a Rolex Mentor and Protégé Award
Aberystwyth, won the Arts Council of nominee, a Robert Louis Stevenson Award
Wales' Welsh Book of the Year award in winner and was identified recently by the
2001. His second novel, Dyn yr Eiliad (The BBC/Royal Court Theatre as one of the 'next
Other Man), was short‐listed for the same generation of promising new writers in
prize in 2004 and, according to one Britain'.
reviewer, is "a landmark in recent Welsh Her artworks have been exhibited at the
fiction". His most recent book is Dolenni Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, City Art
Hud, a collection of six short stories set in Gallery, Leicester and Kevin Kavanagh
“Welsh” towns in the United States, Gallery, Dublin. The Independent
produced in collaboration with newspaper wrote in a review of her work
photographer Simon Proffitt and "Raman Mundair is a rare breed: a poet
accompanied by Cymru Arall / Parallel whose writing works on the page and the
Wales, an installation shown at The LAB in stage. Her readings reveal the secret music
San Francisco in 2008. Owen Martell works of the poem… Mundair is literature at its
also as a translator. His adaptation of best: thoughtful, provocative and sharp."
Martin Crimp's Attempts on Her Life will be www.ramanmundair.com
produced by
the Sherman
Cymru
theatre,
Cardiff, in
summer/aut
umn 2009.
www.owenm
artell.com

MUNDAIR,
RAMAN
Photo by
Iseult
Timmermans
Raman
Mundair is a
writer and
artist. She
was born in
India, raised
in
Manchester
and Leicester

poe-zine #05 28

MÜSTECAPLIOĞLU, BARIŞ
Barış Müstecaplıoğlu (Istanbul 1977). After
completing his university education at the
Civil Engineering Department of the
Bosphorus University, he began worked as a
Human Resources Specialist. His short
stories for youth as well as his book reviews
were published in literary magazines such
as E Edebiyat, Varlık, Altyazı, and Kitap‐lık.
In 1995, he received the İstek Foundation
Alumni Association’s İffet Esen Short Story
Award. The first book of his four‐book
series with the title Legends of Perg was
Korkak ve Canavar (The Coward and the
Beast) published in 2002. The story took
place in the fantastic land of Perg, which
was created by the author through a
Poetics of the Quotidian in Prague, the „poetry. the power” screening, in September 2009
poe-zine #05
successful synthesis of Eastern and Western
cultures.
Its sequel called Merderan'ın Sırrı
(Merderan’s Secret) was published in the
same year and the third book, Bataklık Ülke
(Boggy Land) came out in 2004. The Perg
series, published by Metis Edebiyat, also the
publisher of The Lord of the Rings and the
Earthsea series in Turkey, came to an end
after the fourth book. The last book of the
series, Tanrıların Alfabesi (The Alphabet of
the Gods) was published in February 2005.
After Legends of Perg, the author has
written two novels in different genres. His
novel Şakird (The Disciple) which is about
young missionaries of Islam was published
in October 2005. Kardeş Kanı (Brothers
Blood), a thriller about street children and
organized crime was published in 2006. His
books have been translated into Polish and
Bulgarian. Baris Mustecaplioglu has lately
been working in cooperation with the
illustrator Engin Deniz Erbaş from Bilgi
University in order to visualize the Land of
Perg. The author also writes reviews and
essays for various magazines. He is
currently working on a new novel which he
plans to get published in the first months of
2009.
www.barismustecaplioglu.com
29
 Friday 30.10.2009 22:00
Aniversary in Berlin
POETRY LIVE – The Long Night of Young Romanian Poetry
Venue: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin
Entry free (expected to last until 3 am)
reading stages as in clubs. In the series
Featuring: Constantin ‘Young Blood from Romania’, ten
Acosmei (Romania), Svetlana young poets who have been showered
Carstean (Romania), Rita with awards for their debuts will be
Chirian (Romania), Gabi showing what poetry from Romania is
Eftimie (Romania), Sorin all about.Short video-poems by various
Gherguţ (Romania), Vasile Romanian artists will accompany this
Leac(Romania), Stefan long night of poetry. The right mood
Manasia (Romania), Vlad will be created by the sampling artist
Moldovan (Romania), Ioana Silent Strike. The poets will be doing
Nicolae(Romania) ‘Poetry On Request’ in the
Moderated by Răzvan Țupa Kulturbrauerei on the evening before
The young poets’ scene in Romania is this, when visitors can request a poem.
bubbling over with boiling creativity
and love of experimentation. With video selection by Andrei Ruse.
Dissatisfied with conventional ways of
An event sponsored by the „Titu
doing things, it rampages uninhibitedly
Maiorescu” Romanian Cultural
into other art-forms and is totally
Institute in Berlin in partnership with
unafraid of unusual ways of presenting
the Romanian literary journal ‘Noua
work. It is just as much at home on
Literatura’
 Program

30.10.2009

22.00 Film- poetry. the power 00.10 Dj

00.25– mythology of the trauma with

23.00- Introducing the evening
Rita Chirian, Stefan Manasia
Razvan Tupa reading, Q&A
00.45 Dj
Each two poets are invited onstage in live
interviews as in poetics of the quotidian. 01.00 poetics of the presence with

20.min din care 2 momente de lectura. Gabi Eftimie, Vlad Moldovan

23.15 biografia poetica with 01:20 Dj

Svetlana Carstean, Sorin Gherguţ 01:35 performing poetry

23.35 Dj Vasile Leac, Videopoems selectated by Andrei

Ruse
23.50 poetics of the experience with
01:55 DJ
Constantin Acosmei, Ioana Nicolae

poe-zine #05 31
 The Poetics of the Quotidian celebrated
100 editions in May 2009, after 4 years of
weekley meetings in Club A.
In the 5th year seasons, the Poetics of
the Quotidian transformed the initial
effort of promoting contemporary
literature into a scene for debating and
presenting dynamic projects.
Contemporary writers answer to
questions from the audience and
present a personal approach for their
own work and for the poetry, prose and
theories that had influenced their
writing.
The new format of Poetics of the
Quotidian includes a section of open
mic for anyone who would perform
their own writing or the poems that are
important for their development.
In 2009, we developed the initial
“literature in motion” concept into
“Republica poetica”, an open structure
aimed to strengthen the poetic
poe-zine #05
consciousness of contemporary
expression.
SEASON X
NEXT EVENTS>>>
CIX October,30th- BERLIN LIVE POESIE -
Ioana Nicolaie, Sorin Ghergut, Rita
Chirian, Svetlana Carstean, Gabriela
Eftimie, Constantin Acosmei, Stefan
Manasia, Vasile Leac and Vlad Moldovan
CX November, 5th- Club A, 18.00 –
Twitter -literature –Dragos C
Butuzea, Adrian Ciubotaru, Andrei Ruse
CXI November, 12nd – Club A,
18.00 Olga Stefan
CXII November, 19th- Club A, 18.00-
Vasile Ernu, “The Last Heretics of the
Empire”
CXIII November, 26th- A bohemian
tradition of poetry with Alexandru
Tiepac, Octavian Mihalcea, Gabriel
Tudorie
All the events are to be confirmed
32