The Days of Poetry and Wine festival will host 21 poets from 14 countries, carefully selected by the festival's program director, poet Kristina Kočan, and this year's curator of Ukrainian-Jewish-American origin, Ilya Kaminsky. Festival's main guests will present themselves in Ptuj: the Danish poet Pia Tafdrup, the Belarusian-American poet and translator Valžina Mort, and the Polish writer and translator Jacek Dehnel, who is also the author of this year's Open Letter to Europe.
More than 60 events will take place in many venues, which, in addition to the main events in Ptuj, will also take place in Belo, Dornava, Filovski gaj, Gornja Radgona, Janški vrh, Juršinci, Križevci pri Ljutomer, Krško, Ljubljana, Ljutomer, Makole, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Ormož, Petanjci, Selce, Vitomarci, Potrna in Austria and Varaždin in Croatia.
This year's Slovenian author in focus is the versatile literary creator and long-time journalist Zdenko Kodrič, who will be honored at as many as four different events: a children's workshop, a film screening, a photography exhibition, and a poet's walk.
This year, the festival also puts South Korean literature at the fore - South Korean poet and performance artist Kim Kyung Ju and South Korean poets and novelists Choi Young-mi and Kim Yi-deum will participate in the poetry-translation workshop. In the company of Slovenian colleagues, they mutually translated their poetry and presented themselves to the audience at special events. The festival will also present the rich South Korean culture through film screenings and the poetry-culinary event Culinary Rhymes and Rhythm of Culture: The Taste of South Korea.
The main highlights - poetry and wine - are joined by a thoughtful accompanying program in the field of music, visual and film arts for all age and interest groups, as well as concerts by the bands Emkej in Muzičari, Kokosy, trio akk:zent.
The official opening of the festival will take place on Thursday, 22 August, at 8 p.m. on Vrazov Square in Ptuj.
Welcome!
In the photo: spatial installation meadow/river of poetry, author of the installation: Stanka Vauda Benčevič
Photo: Matej Pušnik
