Days of Poetry and Wine in PETANJCI

Sameer Sayegh (IRQ)

Moderator: Katja Šifkovič

Poetry reading

Sameer Sayegh

Sameer Sayegh is an Iraqi poet, writer and journalist. He writes in Arabic and English.
Born in 1949 in southern Iraq, he spent much of his time in the capital of Nineveh province, Mosul, from which he had to flee years ago due to Islamic State pressure. He holds degrees in English Language and Literature. He has published several English translations and a collection of poems in English, entitled The Wanderer. He has also worked as a translator and interpreter for the Iraqi Red Crescent, for the German Red Cross in Mosul, and for experts and lecturers from Switzerland, Germany, Norway and Italy. For many years he worked as a cultural correspondent for the daily newspapers Al-Jumhuriyah and Azzaman.
On 8 February 2016, he came to Ljubljana as a guest writer within the ICORN program - the international network of places of refuge for persecuted writers.
In Ljubljana, after recovering from the traumatic experience in Mosul, he also began public work. His conversations and work were published in Dnevnik, on various radio stations (Radio Kranj, Radio Študent, Radio Slovenia, ARS program - literary nocturne), he participated in the show Profil on RTV Slovenia and in various informative broadcasts.
As a guest, he gave several lectures and performances in high schools throughout Slovenia. He has read on a wide variety of stages, from CD to Rog, through the Diwan Cultural Center. He has twice been a guest of the International Literary Festival Faces of Peace, organized by the Slovenian PEN, last year he was a guest of the International Festival Vilenica.
He published a collection of poems Luma, which was entirely created during his stay in Slovenia. This is also reflected in the poems, as they use Slovenian motifs, places and people.

Gaia Ginevra Giorgi

Gaia Ginevra Giorgi (1992, Italy) is a poet and performer. In 2016, she published her first poetry collection Sisifo (“Sisyphus”), and a year later, her second collection Manovre segrete (“Secret Manoeuvres”). In 2019, Giorgi created a performance Proprio come per le formule magiche (“Just Like the Magic Formulas”), which exceeds mere poetry lyrics by connecting the body, word, and machine. Also in 2019, she published Sylvia Plath. L’altare scuro del sole (“The Dark Altar of the Sun”), which is not only the poet’s biography, but also an insight into the time of Sylvia Plath's life and work. Giorgi's poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, and Turkish.

Ivo Stropnik

Ivo Stropnik (Slovenija, 1966) je glavni in odgovorni urednik Velenjske knjižne fundacije ter vodja mednarodnega književnega festivala Lirikonfest Velenje. Objavil je 18 samostojnih leposlovnih knjig za odrasle in mladino, od tega 12 zbirk poezije za odrasle, predstavljene tudi v revijalnih, festivalnih in antologijskih prevodih. Bil je pobudnik in večletni organizator mednarodne Pretnarjeve nagrade ambasadorjem SKJ po svetu, Akademije Poetična Slovenija, pesniške nagrade velenjica ‒ čaša nesmrtnosti ter drugih literarnih in prevajalskih nagrad. Živi in ustvarja v Velenju.

*In cooperation with the Dr. Šiftar's Foundation Institution, Vrabec Anarhist, Unesco City of Literature, and International Cities of Refuge – ICORN