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.
Η ΕΑΡΙΝΗ ΥΠΟΣΧΕΣΗ
Έχετε κάποια ιδέα για την Εαρινή Υπόσχεση; Δόθηκε κατά τας γραφάς αρχές του τρίτου μήνα. Θα την καταλάβουμε, λένε, από έναν ξαφνικό παλμό κάτω από το υπογάστριο. Θα φουσκώσουμε σαν βασανισμένα πουλιά, όπως αν μας φυσούσαν αέρα στην κοιλιά, κι ύστερα θα αιωρηθούμε - πάνω κάτω -, θα σκάσουμε με θόρυβο υπόκωφο σε έδαφος ελαστικό, σε στρώμα χλόης. Θα κοιτάμε ψηλά. Παραδομένοι ανάσκελα. Να δούμε αν θα πέσει πάνω μας σαν γύρη, ή σαν αστέρι - ποιος άραγε ξέρει τι ήχο κάνει η υπόσχεση που αποφάσισε να 'ρθει να μας μιλήσει.
Ω, πείτε μας! Έχει υπόσταση;
THE SPRING PROMISE
Do you have any idea about the Spring Promise? It was given, according to the Scriptures, at the beginning of the third month. We will understand it, they say, from a sudden pulse beneath the underbelly. We will swell like tortured birds, as if air were blown into our belly, and then we will float – up down-, we will burst with a hollow sound on an elastic ground, on a mattress of grass, we will be looking up. Having surrendered face up. To see whether it falls on us like pollen or a star – indeed, who knows what sound the promise that decided to come and speak to us makes.
Oh, tell us! Does it have any substance?
ΤΟ ΓΥΑΛΙΝΟ ΣΠΙΤΙ
Το γυάλινο σπίτι είχε από καιρό φυσηθεί, είχε ψηθεί σε χιλιάδες βαθμούς Κελσίου· η αποστείρωση επετεύχθη, κάτι μικροοργανισμοί εξαφανίσθηκαν και ορθώθηκε σε θέα κοινή. Η άφιξή μας στην κορυφή του λόφου έγινε αισθητή, τα κλειδιά πετάχτηκαν στα γκρεμνά, μαζί με την καμπάνα ήχησαν σε συγχορδία αρμονική – δεν τα είχαμε ανάγκη. Στο σπίτι τούτο εξάλλου οι νέοι κάτοικοι θα ήταν αποκαλυπτικοί, ολόκληρη η ζωή τους περίοπτη. Η μοναξιά του κρεβατιού τους, η τόσο απόλυτη, τώρα θα ίδρωνε σε οργασμικές στιγμές και οι γυάλινοι επισκέπτες με ζώων χνότα θα θόλωναν το τζάμι· αράχνη δεν θα εισέβαλλε καμία, γνωρίζοντας πως δεν θα 'βρισκε ταβάνι για να κρεμαστεί.
Ανάμεσα σε δυο πελώρια βράχια, σαν βόλος που παίζαμε παιδιά, κύλησε η μπίλια· χωρίς θεμέλια, μόνον ένας θόλος μας αγκαλιάζει, καμιά πλεκτάνη στην κάψουλά μας δεν περνάει, κρεμάστηκε και η ταμπέλα: ΤΟ ΓΥΑΛΙΝΟ ΣΠΙΤΙ. Το όραμα του δάσους που μας ακολουθεί ανακλάται πάνω μας σαν αρχαία προβολή.
Δεν επιδιώκουμε την εξαφάνιση, και η πρόθεσή μας αυτή είναι, αν μη τι άλλο, έντιμη.
THE GLASS HOUSE
The glass house was blown long ago, it was baked at thousands degrees Celsius; the sterilization was accomplished, a few microorganisms disappeared, and it stood up in common view. Our arrival at the top of the hill was felt, the keys were thrown from the cliff, they sounded in a harmonious chord along with the bell– we didn't need them. Besides, in this house the new residents would be revealing, their whole life would be prominent. The loneliness of their bed, that was so absolute, would now sweat in organic moments, and the glass visitors would fog up the windowpane with their animal breaths; no spider would invade, knowing that it wouldn't find a ceiling to hang from.
Between two enormous rocks, the ball rolled like a marble we were playing with when we were kids; without any foundations, only a vault is hugging us, no plot enters our capsule, the sign was also hung: "THE GLASS HOUSE". The vision of the forest that follows us reflects in us like an ancient projection.
We do not pursue disappearance, and this very intention of ours is, if anything, honest.
Σοφία Περδίκη, "Το Αιώνιο Αίνιγμα", εκδ. Κίχλη
Απόδοση στα αγγλικά: Στέλλα Περδίκη
The Poetess
Sofia Perdiki was born in Thessaloniki, and lives and works there. She studied at the School of Applied Arts "Vakalo" and at the School of Fine Arts of Saint-Étienne. Her visual work has been presented in individual and group exhibitions. Her poems have been published in various literary magazines, in the collective volume of the CRAFT group ("mikres ekdoseis", 2015) and in the periodical prose and poetry anthologies diP generation ("Thraka" publications, 2016, "Mandragoras" publications, 2017 and 2020). Her poetry collection "The Eternal Enigma" was published by "Kichli" publications in 2020. In 2021, Sofia Perdiki was awarded the "Jean Moréas" and "Maria Polydouri" poetry awards for her first poetry collection, which was also shortlisted by the literary magazine "O Anagnostis", in the category of " poets first book award ".