Year

2005

One hundred twelve participants, among them twenty-two from abroad, took part in the 16th festival on 12-17th October. All poets published in the anthology participated in festival readings:

Marcel Beyer (Germany); Anneke Brassinga (The Netherlands); Peters Bruveris (Latvia); Kristina Ehin (Estonia); Patricia Goodrich (USA); Tautvyda Marcinkevičiūtė (Lithuania); Bob Hansson (Sweden); Brian Johnstone (Scotland); Christian Katt (Austria); Marcelijus Martinaitis (Lithuania); Maria Martysevich (Belarus); Sabina Naef (Switzerland); Bragi Ólafsson (Iceland); Kęstutis Navakas (Lithuania); Claudio Pozzani (Italy); Rein Raud (Estonia); Donatas Petrošius (Lithuania); Steven Schroeder (USA); Rebecca Seiferle (USA); Rimvydas Stankevičius (Lithuania); Ilpo Tiihonen (Finland); Gunnar Wærness (Norway); and Patricija Šmit (Lithuania).

The festival began with readings in the American Center in Vilnius by three American women poets, Patricia Goodrich, Rebecca Seiferle, and J.C. Todd. The following day in the Writers' Club a meeting was held with German poet Marcel Beyer and the traditional evening of poetry by younger writers also took place. The programs in Druskininkai and in Vilnius were relatively traditional: two poetry evenings, the presentation of books published during the year, chamber and night readings, the presentation of work by guests from abroad in Vilnius, and the evening in the Užupis Café.

This year we concluded our cycle of four festivals focusing on the elements, dedicating this fourth to Earth. Thus the theme of this year's conference was "Poetry and the Elements: Earth." It was moderated by Karolis Baublys; papers were presented by Elena Baliutyte, Nida Gaidauskienė, Emilis Milkevičius, Audinga Peluritytė, and Donatas Petrošius.

Friday night's readings, "The Night of the Single Poem," took place in Širdelė. They were started by well-known jazzman Vladimir Tarasov, who read his friends' poems in Russian. The mystery "The Argument of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth" directed by Alvydas Šlepikas, was performed successfully in the new Dainava sauna on Saturday morning. There was also a performance of "The Hole" by Ričardas Šileika. The Jotvingiai Prize was awarded to Tomas Venclova for his collection of poems "Sankirta," Lithuanian Writers' Union Publishers, 2005. The Prize for the Best Poetc Debut went to Sonata Paliulytė for her collection of poems "P.S." and for the translated book of poems by Menna Elfyn "Vualiuotas bučinys," Vaga Publishers, 2005.

The following anonymous competitions were held: a single poem; the most material poem; and, the humorous: the most fertilizing poem. Our guests from abroad took part in the competitions, with Lithuanian translations of their work. Results of the competition of one anonymous poem were: 1. Andrej Khadanovich (Belarus) translated by Vladas Braziūnas; 2. Gintaras Grajauskas; 3. Dovilė Zelčiūtė; 4. Artūras Valionis; and 5. Brian Johnstone (Scotland) translated by Kornelijus Platelis. The most material poems were judged to be by: 1. Sonata Paliulytė; 2. Patricia Goodrich (USA) translated by Sonata Paliulytė; and 3. Jolanta Sereikaitė. The competition of most fertilizing poem had only one award, which was given to Vladas Braziūnas.

Kornelijus Platelis
Translated by Jonas Zdanys

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