PRESS RELEASE
5h “Patras World Poetry Festival”
“From Hippocrates to poetry therapy”
1 – 4/09/2022 PATRAS – ANCIENT OLYMPIA
Along with many other important international participations and a rich event programme, this year, the 5th “Patras World Poetry Festival” is going to be held between the 1 and 4 of September, in different cultural locations of Patras and not only.
After two years of online realization of the Festival, Patras is again glad to receive in person 65 important poets from 13 different countries, 20 among them, being poets from abroad. This year’s programme has in store many surprises for the participants and for the audience, with visits and poetry recitations in particular places and in alternative ways.
The subject area of PWPF2022 concerns the healing properties of art and especially of poetry and it is entitled “From Hippocrates to poetry therapy”, so the complete action programme was planned with the purpose of creating a back – to - back interaction of arts, poetry and psychology.
The events are going to take place in the mornings and in the evenings in different locations of Patras every time, such as the Epikentro Theatre, the Foundation of Hellenic Diaspora, Achaia Clauss Winery and the Villa of Kolla, while the last recitation is going to take place in Ancient Olympia through an all – day excursion of experiential character. The programme includes further guided tours, food and wine tasting and activities of cultural tourism, in order for the visitors to obtain the best possible experience from our land!
Ιmportant guests participate at the events, among them ambassadors of collaborating countries, internationally renowned academics, belletrists and representatives of entities.
Special moments of the Festival are the tribute to the poet Titos Patrikios, the Round Table with the subject “Healing through Poetry”, the visit at the “Foundation of Hellenic Diaspora” with its art exhibitions from important emigrant Greek artists and the set to music poetry event, entitled “Like a Shiver...”, which is going to take place at the Honorable Evening of the Festival.
All the events are open for the audience with FREE entrance.
At the same time. The Festival converses with visual arts and hosts two visual and one photographical project.
In passing of the collaboration of the contemporary art gallery “Cube Gallery” and Liana Zoza as a curator, with Patras World Poetry Festival, the art platform “Lagrange Points” was created.
The idea came up simultaneously with the proposition for the presentation of the two on going art projects “Open Studio” and “Invisible cities”, during the Festival and under the common title “L3 point”, at the same time with the desire for the continuation of the creative meetings of all forms of art.
Even if the term is a loan from the mechanics of celestial bodies, which discusses the rules of equilibrium and affinity of their relationship and coexistence, it also works with the same equilibrium at the coexistence of different art forms.
During the Festival, the photographer Peny Delta is going to create the portraits of the participant at the Festival poets and poetesses, which are going to be used at the archive of the Poetry Office and in the related publishing of the Festival.
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The World Patras Poetry Festival is organized by the “Poetry Office” of Patras and the CultureBook (Culturebook.gr), with the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Region of Western Greece, the Regional Union of Municipalities of Western Greece, the the University of Patras, the University of Western Macedonia, the Hellenic Open University, the Poetry Festival of Larnaka, the Embassy of Hungary, the Embassy of Czech Republic and the Athens Czech Center, the Embassy of Poland, the Greek Library of London, the World Poetry Movement, the Epikentro Theatre, the Cube Gallery and other entities. It is under the evaluation of Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism.
Patras World Poetry Festival forms one of the greatest literature institutions in Greece, the greatest of the Region, and has already stood out amongst the most estimable Festivals all over the world. Each year it receives important names of world literature and it offers an abundant programme of events, including poetry readings, presentations, meetings and cultural galas. Its vision is to promote the Greek literary creation globally and to popularize the capital of West Greece as a European literature center. Through its actions, it communicates with Chairs of Hellenic studies all over the world and it catalogues the recent poetry production.
*The organising of the Festival has a non-profitable character in every aspect and the participation of the people is costless.
CONCERT IDENTITY
POETRY SET TO MUSIC
“Like a Shiver...”
Like the way a note touches the word,
And oxygen life.
Music fights against verse, in a fight for love, man, society, existence, love, hate, passion and nature.
Participants:
Yorgos Georgiadis, Mandolin (evikoon melos)
Sani Peta, Mandolin (evikoon melos)
Yannis Anagnostopoulos, Guitar
Thomas Pallas, Guitar
Andreas Zafiropoulos, Piano
Themis Martekas, Percussion
Interpretation:
Hristos Konstantopoulos
Dora Mpeleri
Artistic curation
Yannis Anagnostopoulos
Orchestrations
Yannis Anagnostopoulos
Yorgos Georgiadis
PROGRAMME
5th PATRAS WORLD POETRY FESTIVAL
THURSDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2022
20.00 // Theatre Epikentro+
Welcome Drink
1st Cycle of Poetic Readings
Presentation L3 point: on going art projects “Open Studio” & amp “Invisible Cities”
Dinner for the participants
FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2022
11.00 // Theatre Epikentro
2nd Cycle of Poetic Readings
Round Table on the subject “The Healing Properties of Poetry”
Free Programme – Knowing the City
19.00 // Winery Achaia Clauss
Guided tour at the Winecastle
3rd Cycle of Poetic Readings
Dinner for the participants
SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2022
11.00 // Foundation Greek Diaspora, Kastritsi
Guided Tour at the Exhibition of Greek artists of Diaspora
4th Cycle of Poetic Readings
Lunch for the participants
20.00 // Villa Kolla
Formal Ceremony
Greetings – speeches
5th Cycle of Poetic Readings
Honorable Evening for Titos Patrikios
Concert with Poetry set to Music “Like a Shiver...”
Official Reception at Achaia Clauss
SUNDAY 4 SEPTEMBER 2022
09.00-20.00 // Ancient Olympia
Excursion to Ancient Olympia
Guided Tour at the archaeological site
Visit of the Digital Museum 1821 – Krestena
15.00 // Lunch for the Participants
17.30 // 6th Cycle of Poetic Readings
The programme also includes:
- Tribute “meet the poets” from Culturebook.gr: presentation of the participants and diffusion in social networks
- Anthology of the Festival. Offspring of the organization and a literature consignment constitutes the collective trilingual Edition (and e- book) with the poems of the participants, in each one’s language, in Greek and in English.
- Art Platform | Lagrange Points / simultaneously with the presentation of the participants at the Culturebook.gr the art platform Lagrange Points is created
- Peny Delta poet portaits / During the Festival, the photographer Peny Delta is going to create the portraits of the participant poets and poetesses, which are also going to be used at the relevant publication of the Festival
PARTICIPANTS
ALBANIA Alma Braja
BULGARY Roman Kissiov, Nadya Radulova
ITALY Matthias Tarantino
CZECH REPUBLIC Josef Hrdlička, Jan Škrob, Tim Postovit
CROATIAN Marija Dejanović
CYPRUS Eleni Artemiou-Fotiadou
HUNGARY Weiner Sennyei Tibor, Izsó Zita, Bek Timur
NORTH MACEDONIA Michailo Svidersky, Andrej Al Asadi, Gjoko Zdraveski
POLAND Anna Adamowicz, Antonina Tosiek
SERBIA Ana Marija Grbić
SLOVENIA Petra Kolmancic
USA Don Schofield
GREECE
Kyriaki-Koula Adaloglou, Giannis Alexandropoulos, Popi Aroniada, Anna Afentoulidou, Spyros L. Vrettos, Thanos Gogos, Yiannis Doukas, Lena Kallergi,, Dimitris Kalokiris , Kostas Kanavouris, Menelaos Karalis, Christos Katroutsos, Nikos Katsalidas, Giorgos Kozias,, Alexandros Kordas, Elsa Korneti, Dimitris Kosmopoulos, Giorgos Koutouvelas, Chloe Koutsoumpeli, Kostas A. Kremmydas, Triantafyllos H. Kotopoulos, Vasilis Ladas, Konstantinos Ch. Loukopoulos, Alexandra Bakonika, Theocharis Bikiropoulos, Konstantinos Bouras, Vasilis Pandis, Theofanis Papageorgiou, Sotirios Pastakas, Titos Patrikios, Aggeliki Pechlivani, Eleni Sigalou, Angeliki Sidira Papakosta, Antonis D. Skiathas, Yannis Stefanakis, Manos Stefanidis, Vangelis Tasiopoulos, John Tolias, Lina Fitili, Thanassis Hatzopoulos
Statement of Antonis Skiathas (President of the Poetry Office)
The Patras World Poetry Festival has created an international institution of literature that honors Greek letters, promotes Greek poetry and brings in contact Greek poets and poetesses with related poets and poetesses from all over the world.
Along its way, poets and poetesses from fifty countries have conversed at the Patras World Poetry Festival.
It is extremely important for all of us at the Poetry Office that the Festival is a matter of the whole town, as panhellenic, regional, local, institutions, businesses, citizens stand for the organising by every means.
The Ministry of Culture, the Region of Western Greece and the University of Patras are some of the institutions that support it.
The publishing that is been organized and the events at emblematic locations of the wider area like Achaia Clauss, the museum Diaspora, form the Festival’s identity.
At the same time, the synergism with cultural institutions and the connection of Poetry with other arts like music, visual arts, photography create all things that make the Festival unique.
Poemas del libro Los apuntes de Humboldt | Poems from the book, Humboldt's notes
La herencia del cosmos
Hay una hora en que la canción de los grillos
hace brillar las estrellas
una hora en que la gallina se yergue
como su antepasado dinosaurio
el fresno percibe las plumas húmedas
del vencejo y lo deja posar en su rama seca
hay una hora en que las estrellas
escriben sus memorias en la arena
una hora en que el fruto que cae
se convierte en una casa
y las hormigas llevan sus huevos
a la orilla del río
hay una hora en que la araña desteje
la trampa y fabrica un lecho
los pájaros sienten los lentos ríos de fuego
que corren debajo de la tierra
y el cielo entra en el cascarón
que dejó la chicharra
hay una hora en que las especies
se anudan al hilo de la vida
una hora en que comprendo
la herencia del cosmos
una hora en que no estorbo
The cosmos's inheritance
There's an hour when the song of the crickets
makes the stars shine
an hour in which the hen straightens
like her dinosaur ancestors
the ash perceives the swift's damp feathers
and lets it to perch on its dry branch
there's an hour in which the stars
write their memories in the sand
an hour in which the fallen fruit
becomes a home
and the ants carry their eggs
to the river's edge
there's an hour in which the spider unravels
the trap and makes a bed
the birds feel the slow rivers of fire
that flow beneath the earth
and the sky fills the husk
left by the cicada
there's an hour when the species
tie themselves to the thread of life
an hour in which I understand
the cosmos's inheritance
an hour in which I'm not in the way
Instrucciones para el aprendiz de botánico
Si crece en el fuego
es un crisantemo
si crece en el horizonte
es un hinojo
si crece en las estrellas
es un cactus
si crece en el viento
es una siempreviva
si crece en la nieve
es un liquen
Dentro de tu oído
ya crece una orquídea
No es mucho para conocer el mundo
es cierto
pero a qué le puedes temer
si adonde vayas habrá una flor
esperándote siempre
Instructions for a botanist's apprentice
If it grows in the fire
it's a chrysanthemum
if it grows on the horizon
it's fennel
if it grows in the stars
it's a cactus
if it grows in the wind
it's a houseleek
if it grows in the snow
it's a lichen
Within your ear
an orchid is already growing
It's not much for getting to know the world
true
but what do you have to fear
if wherever you go there'll be a flower
waiting for you always
The Poet
Poet, narrator and professor Ibagué University
Master in Neuropsychology and Education at University of La Rioja, in Spain, with a degree in Spanish Language at University of Tolima. Member of the National Network of Creative Writing, Relata-Liberatura. Member of the Colombian Academic Network of Higher Education Institutions, Redlees, and active member of the World Poetry Movement (WPM).
Winner of the 41st Ibero-American Poetry Prize Juan Ramón Jiménez in Spain (2021). Winner of the 9th Granajoven Poetry Prize, in Granada, Spain (2018). Second prize in the 15th Bonaventurian International Poetry Contest, in Colombia, (2018).
He has written the collections of poems "The Book of Errors (El libro de los errores) in 2018, "Air Polyptych (Políptico del aire) in 2018, "Paternity manual (Manual de Paternidad) in 2019 and "Humboldt's Notes (Los apuntes de Humboldt) in 2021.
He has also published several anthologies of short stories and poetry.