Synopses & Reviews
Six Slovenian Poets is the first in a new series of bilingual anthologies which brings the work of a younger generation of poets from across Europe to a wider English-language readership, a series which aims to keep a finger on the pulse of the 'here-and-now' of European poetry.
The six poets represented here three men and three women are all under forty, have all been published for the first time within the past decade, and all (though in very different ways) break with, and re-evaluate, the Slovenian literary tradition. This tradition is outlined in the informative introduction to the anthology, from which it becomes clear that these young poets, all of whom take an independent nation-state with its benefits of unrestricted education, communication, and travel as a given, may have more in common with their peers from the rest of Europe and North America than with their Slovenian forebears.
Energetic, unexpected, at times hard hitting, this volume makes for an exciting and thought-provoking beginning to the New Voices from Europe and Beyond anthology series.
Synopsis
Part of the "New Voices from Europe and Beyond" anthology series, this work brings the work of a younger generation of poets from across Europe to a wider English-language readership. It includes 6 poets all under 40, who (though in different ways) break with, and re-evaluate, the Slovenian literary tradition.
Synopsis
Contributors:
- Vida Mokrin-Pauer
- Gregor Podlogar
- Peter Semolic
- Natasa Velikonja
- Maja Vidmar
- Uros Zupan
Synopsis
The first volume in a new series of bilingual anthologies brings the work of six poets under 40 from across Europe to a wider English-language readership.
About the Author
Vida Mokrin-Pauer was born in Šempeter close to the town of Nova Gorica, where she has lived since she was four. A poet, writer, literary critic and journalist, she holds a double degree in comparative literature and librarianship from the University of Ljubljana. She worked as a librarian for five years, before devoting herself full-time to writing. She was the literary editor of the journal Primorska srecanja for nine years, and has written seven poetry collections, the last of which was published as
Selected Poems in Bulgaria in 2005. She has also written poetry for children, convinced that such poems are as much for adults as they are for children. Her poetry has been translated into French, English, Sebian, Italian, Macedonian, Czech, as well as Bulgarian, and has appeared in a number of anthologies internationally.
Gregor Podlogar was born in Ljubljana in 1974 and graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Ljubljana. He writes literary criticism and book reviews for Slovenian National Radio, the daily newspaper Vecher, and the Literatura literary journal, among others. He has published his poems in various literary magazines in Slovenia and abroad. Aleph Press published his first two poetry collections, States (1997) and Joy in Vertigo (2002). In co-authorship with the poet Primoz Cucnik and the painter Ziga Kariz, an experimental book on New York entitled Ode on Manhattan Avenue came out with Sherpa Press in Slovenia in 2003. He lives and works in Ljubljana.
Peter Semolic was born in 1967 in Ljubljana. He studied linguistics and cultural studies at the University of Ljubljana. Besides poetry, he also writes radio plays, children's literature and translates from English, French, Serbian and Croatian. He has published seven books of poetry to date: Tamarisk (1991), The Roses of Byzantium (1994), House Made of Words (1996), Circles Upon the Water (2000), Questions About the Path (2001), Border (2002) and Space for You (2006), and has received many awards, including the two most eminent ones, the Jenko Prize and the Prešeren Foundation Award. In 1998 he won the Vilenica Crystal Award. His poetry has been translated widely into many European languages.
Nataša Velikonja was born in 1967 in Nova Gorica. She graduated in theoretical sociology from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. She is the author of three poetry collections: Subscription (Abonma, 1994), Thirst (Zeja, 1999) and Weeds (Plevel, 2004). A lesbian activist, she has translated a number of literary works from the field of queer and lesbian theory (including such authors as Lillian Federman, Monique Wittig, Shari Benstock, Richard Goldstein, Laura Cottingham). Over the last decade she has published almost 300 articles, columns and essays in various journals in Slovenia and abroad, and since 1997 she has been the editor of the political and cultural journal Lesbo. She is the founder and coordinator of the Lesbian Library and Archive in Ljubljana, the city where she lives and works.
Maja Vidmar was born in 1961 in Nova Gorica. She studied comparative literature in Ljubljana, where she currently lives as a free-lance writer. She is the author of several poetry collections: Body Distances (1984), Ways of Binding (1988), Urgent Direction: Selected Poems (1989), At the Base (1998) and Presence (2005), which was awarded the Jenko Prize. She is also the winner of the prestigious Prešeren Foundation Award, and her work has appeared internationally in various literary journals and anthologies. Her selected poems were published in German translation in Graz and this book received the Hubert-Burda-Stifung Prize in 1999. A Croatian translation was also published in the same year in Zagreb under the title Akt.
Uroš Zupan, a poet and essayist, was born in 1963 in Trbovlje and graduated in comparative literature from the University of Ljubljana. A winner of numerous prizes, including the Prešeren Foundation Award, the Jenko Prize, the Herman Lenz Prize (Langenburg 1999, Germany) and the Premio della VI Edizione del Festival Internazionale di Poesia (Genova 2000), he has published eight collections of poetry and three books of essays. His poetry titles include Sutras (1991), River (1993), Opening of Delta (1995), Succession (1998), A Tree and a Sparrow (1999), Oil (2002) and Locomotives (2004). The books of essays are: Light Inside an Orange (1996), The Songs Stays the Same (2000), Walker (2003) and Autumn Leaves (2006). He has translated a number of poets, including Yehuda Amichai and John Ashbery. His own work has appeared in numerous languages, books and journals. He lives with his family in Ljubljana and is a free-lance writer.