As it is accustomed, Beletrina has published bilingual collections of the festival's honored guests, which are already attainable at Beletrina's physical and online bookstore, soon joined by other major bookstores in Slovenia.
A selection of poetry by the Lithuanian poet Eugenijus Ališanka, translated by Klemen Pisak and titled Če, is the author's second collection of poems in Slovenian (the first Iz nenapisanih zgodb was published in 2008). This time's selection, prepared by the author himself, includes 44 poems from the author's last three collections, namely Examplum (2006), Če (Jeigu, 2011) and Samo črtkane črte hrbtenice (Stuburo tik punkyrai, 2016).
Eugenijus Ališanka writes deep, sophisticated poetry. In his individual authenticity, he finds a language whose metaphors and images transcend national boundaries with their complex universality. Universal themes are enriched with various personal experiences, echoes of childhood, authentic impressions and various poetic intonations.
His poetry will be heard as part of the festival in Belo (23 August), Murska Sobota (24 August) and Ptuj (25 August).
The set of poems Impressum: Upočasnjena svetloba by Ilma Rakusa in Slovenian translation by Amalija Maček, is a combination of chosen poems from her last two collections.
Impressum: Langsames Licht (2016) is a collection of the author's impressions, selected from her daily life, memory, and many travels. The motif of light dictates the calmness of the song, the clarity of the language and shapes the atmosphere. The opposite of this balance is represented by the poems from the collection Kein Tag ohne (2022), which the poet wrote between October 2020 and February 2022. With them, she fights against silence, loneliness and alienation during the period of forced isolation and premonition of war in Ukraine.
Readings of Ilma Rakusa will take place in Ljubljana (23 August), Ptuj (24 August) and Vitomarci (25 August).
Ten attractive booklets of guest poets of the festival were also published, including the author of this year's Open Letter to Europe, David Harsent, and the curator of this year's edition, Yolanda Castaňo. They will be available during the festival itself, but you can also browse them now in the Beletrine bookstore at Old Square (Stari trg) 3 in Ljubljana.
