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Photo of Aleš Šteger by Jože Suhadolnik

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Photo by Peter Semolič by Timhomir Pinter

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Fall/Winter: Slovenian Poetry in Translation





Co-edited by J.C. Todd and Lucija Stupica





Lucija Stupica Lucija Stupica , born in 1971, lives in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, writes poetry, articles about architecture and design, and works as interior designer. She has published her poems in all major Slovenian literary magazines (Literatura, Nova revija, Sodobnost). Her first book of poetry Celo na soncu (Cello in the Sun) was published by the Beletrina, Student publishing house, in 2001. It won the award of the 17th Slovenian Book Fair for the best first book and the Zlata ptica (Golden Bird) award for the best artistic achievement. Stupica’s new book of poetry Vetrolov was published in May 2004. A collection of the poems from both books was published at Meandar Publishing house, Zagreb, Croatia in 2005. Her poetry is included in the anthology Ten Slovenian Poets of the Nineties. She is a member of PEN and Slovene Writers’ Association. Stupica participated in the festival Days of Poetry and Wine in Medana, the International Festival of Poetry in Cartagena de Indias (2001), the International Literary Gathering Vilenica (2002) and Goranovo prolječe in Croatia (2003 and 2004). She participated in the International Poetry Festival in Gotland, Sweden and was a scholar at the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in 2004. She was a member of City of Poets, which was organized for Dublin Writers Festival, June 2004. Her poetry is included in this feature, as well as in an earlier issue of The Drunken Boat.



J.C.Todd J.C. Todd is author of Nightshade and Entering Pisces. Her most recent book of poems, What Space This Body, will be published in fall 2007 by Wind Publications. She is a Visiting Lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr College in the United States.








Introduction: The Poetic Word as Home and the World



Robert Titan Felix Robert Titan Felix, 1972. Poet, writer, and essayist. So far he has published five poetry collections (Carpe diem!, Magnifikat, Benedictus, Knjiga o razbitem času, and Pekel spomladi). He is also the co-author of the novel Sekstant and the author of three novels (Portal, Kri na dlaneh, and Sanja in samostan). In the previous year he was twice nominated for the Kresnik award for best novel. He is also the editor for literature at Dialogi magazine, and a translator. Currently he is finishing his studies of Slovene language with literature at the University of Maribor (Faculty of Philosophy).





Poets



Stanka Hrastelj Stanka Hrastelj, born in 1975. She studied Theology at University of Ljubljana. Her work has been published in magazines and radio shows and numerous anthologies. In 2001, she won The Best Young Poet prize at The Young Writers Festival “Urška”. Her collection of poems Nizki toni (Low Tones, 2005) won The Best Literary Debut Award in 2005.








Barbara Korun was born in 1963 in Ljubljana, where she graduated in the Slovenian language and comparative literature. She lives and teaches in Ljubljana. She publishes poems, and occasionally writes about literature. In 1999 her collection of poetry The Edge of Grace was published and recognized as the best “maiden” book of the year. Her poems have been published in various anthologies in thirteen different languages. In 2003 she published a book of poetical prose Fragments from under the Table and a chapbook Chasms at Poetry Miscellany Publications, UT- Chattanooga/ USA. In 2004 her new collection of poetry Fissures was published in Ljuubljana. She was selected to present Slovenian poetry at the festival of Cork, the European Capital of Culture for the year 2005, so her poems were translated and published under the title Songs of Earth and Light.




Josip Osti Josip Osti, poet, prose writer, essayist, literary critic and anthologist was born in 1945 in Sarajevo. He has published 19 books of poetry, 5 prose works and 13 books of essays. He has been editor of several anthologies of prose and poetry. His books have been translated into Slovenian, Italian, English, Polish, Turkish, Bulgarian and Macedonian. He has received various awards including Vilenica (1994) and Jenko’s Poetry Prize (2006). He lives and works in Slovenia.








Gregor Podlogar Gregor Podlogar , born in Ljubljana in 1974, graduated with a degree in Philosophy from the University of Ljubljana. He has published his poems in various literary magazines in Slovenia and abroad. Aleph Press published his first two collections of poetry, States (1997) and Joy in Vertigo (2002). In co-authorship with the poet Primož Čučnik and Žiga Kariž, a painter, an experimental book on New York entitled Ode on Manhattan Ave (2003) came out with Sherpa Press. In 2006 A Million Seconds Closer was published by Literatura Press. He lives, works and drinks tea in Ljubljana.




Peter Semolič Peter Semolič, born in Ljubljana in 1967, studied general linguistics and cultural studies at the University of Ljubljana. He is the author of eight books of poetry: Tamarisk (1991), The Roses of Byzantium (1994), House Made of Words (1996), Circles Upon the Water (2000), Questions About the Path (2001), Border (2002), Bog’ Fires (2004) and A Space for You (2006). He received many prizes for his work, including the two most eminent awards in Slovenia, Jenko’s Poetry Prize and the Prešeren Prize — the National Award for Literature and Arts. In 1998 he also won the Vilenica Crystal Award. Peter Semolič also writes radio plays, children’s literature and translates from English, French, Serbian and Croatian. His poetry has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, English, German, Finnish, Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbian.


Ales Steger Aleš Šteger , poet and translator, has published six book of poetry in Slovenia, and his poetry has been translated widely. The collection Protuberance has been translated into English, Slovakian, Croatian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Spanish and Czech. His many awards include the Award of the National book fair in Ljubljana for the best first book of the last two years, the Veronika prize for the best Slovenian poetry volume of the year, the “Petrarch” Prize for young European authors and an International award for poetry given by the Writers Association of Macedonia. He has published five collections of his translations of the selected poems of Gottfried Benn, Michael Donhauser, Peter Huchel, Pablo Neruda, and Ingeborg Bachmann. He is co-founder and and former program director of the international poetry festival Days of Poetry and Wine in Medana, Slovenia (med).






Translators



Theo Dorgan Theo Dorgan was born in Cork in 1953. His poetry collections are The Ordinary House of Love (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1991); Rosa Mundi (Salmon Poetry, 1995); and Sappho’s Daughter (Dublin, wave Train Press 1998). He has also published a selected poems in Italian, La Case ai Margini del Mundo, (Faenza, Moby Dick, 1999), and a Spanish translation of Sappho’s Daughter, La Hija de Safo, (Madrid, Poesía Hiperión, 2001). He has edited The Great Book of Ireland (with Gene Lambert, 1991); Revising the Rising (with Máirín Ní Dhonnachadha, 1991); Irish Poetry Since Kavanagh (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1996); Watching the River Flow (with Noel Duffy, Dublin, Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann, 1999); and The Great Book of Gaelic (wiith Malcolm Maclean, Edinburgh, Canongate, 2002). He has been series Editor of European Poetry Translation Network publications and Director of the collective translation seminars from which the books arose. The authors from this series include Claude Esteban & Bernard Noel (France) Joao Miguel Fernandes Jorge & Joaquim Manuel Magalhaes (Portugal) Nikos Phokas & Demosthenes Agrafiotis (Greece) Mircea Cartarescu & Romulus Bucur (Romania) Amir Or (Israel), Agi Mishol (Israel), Alex Susana (Catalonia), Marta Pessarrodona (Catalonia), Umberto Fiori (Italy), Biancamaria Frabotta (Italy), Hulki Aktunc (Turkey), Lale Muldur (Turkey). A former Director of Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann, he has worked extensively as a broadcaster of literary programmes on both radio and television. He was presenter of Poetry Now on RTÉ Radio 1, and later presented RTÉ’s books programme, Imprint. Among his awards are the Listowel Prize for Poetry, 1992. A member of Aosdána, he was appointed to The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon in 2003. He also serves on the Board of Cork European Capital of Culture 2005. He lives in Dublin.


Evald Flisar Evald Flisar is a novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist and editor of the oldest Slovenian literary journal Sodobnost, published since 1933. He read comparative literature at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and English in London, where he spent 17 years of his life, editing (among other things) an encyclopeadia of science and writing stories and radio plays for the BBC. From 1995 to 2002 he was president of the Slovene Writers’ Association. His work has been translated into 23 languages. He has held public readings in many parts of the world (he has travelled in over eighty countries). His best known novel is Going Away with the Wild Tiger, now in its sixth edition. He is the author of three travel books regarded as the best travelogues in the Slovene language: A Thousand and One Journey, South of North and Travels in Shadowlands (Prešeren Fund Award). He has written fourteen plays; the two best known are What about Leonardo (Best Play of the Year Award, produced in many countries, also in London’s West End) and Tomorrow (Prešeren Fund Award), which has been produced in as many as eighteen countries. Two of his books, Tales of Wandering and My Father’s Dreams, have recently been published in the United States. My Father’s Dreams was published in Greek translation by J & J Hellas Company in 2004 as Ta oneira tu patera mou. His latest play, Nora Nora, for which he received the Best Play of the Year Award 2004, has been translated into English, Arabic, Czech, Slovak and German and has been produced in Slovenia, England, Austria and Egypt, where it caused a scandal. He is currently engaged in transforming the journal Sodobnost into a multilingual international literary magazine that would appeal to a global readership. His Collected Plays, Vol. 1, have just been published by Texture Press in New York.


Ana Jelnikar Ana Jelnikar was born in Slovenia in 1975, and shared her education between London and Ljubljana. She is currently doing a PhD at the University of London (SOAS), exploring the links between Rabindranath Tagore and Srecko Kosovel. She translates into both Slovenian and English. Her translation of Iztok Osojnik’s Mister Today came out in 2003 from Jacaranda Press (San Jose), and Brane Mozetic’s Butterflies was published by Spuyten Duyvil in the United States in 2004. Her most recent poetry translations are Iztok Geister’s Hymn to the Bush Tree and Taja Kramberger’s Mobilizations. Her translations have appeared in such literary magazines as Verse, Southern Humanities Review, Third Coast, and The American Poetry Review, and in various anthologies. She is the translator of the first Slovenian edition of C. G. Jung’s Man and His Symbols, and has been involved in a number of international poetry translation workshops.


Marthan Kosir-Widenbauer Martha Kosir-Widenbauer was born in the US and grew up in Slovenia. After graduating from high school, she moved back to the US and completed university studies, earning a B.A. in Spanish and German from Duquesne University, an M.A. in Spanish and Comparative literature from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from Vanderbilt University, with the area of specialization in 18th and 19th century Spanish Peninsular literature. She works as a professor of Spanish at Kentucky Wesleyan College. Her translations of the German poet Ulrike Draesner, the Slovenian poet Lucija Stupica and the British poet Giles Goodland were published in the poetry journal Sirena produced at Dickinson College.


Kelly Lenox Kelly Lenox has poems and translations in MARGIN, poemeleon, Big Bridge, RHINO, nidus, Gobshite Quarterly, Switched-On Gutenberg, Poet Lore, Ellipsis, and forthcoming in Hubbub. Her chapbook Chasms (PM Books), translations of the Slovene poet Barbara Korun, was published in 2003; other translations appear in Voice in the Body (Ljubljana: Litterae Slovenicae) and Six Slovenian Poets (Lancaster, England: Arc Publications), both 2006. Kelly is a contributing editor for Hunger Mountain.





Janko M. Lozar , born 1973 in Novo mesto, Slovenia. In 2000, he received a B.A. in English translation and philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts. In 2005, he received a PhD in philosophy. His current occupation is assistant at the Ljubljana Faculty of Fine Arts, the Department of Philosophy. The scope of his translations ranges from philosophy (Richard Rorty), literary science, prose, two volumes of poetry (Brian Henry’s Astronaut and a selection of poems by Joshua Beckmann, Leaving New York)) as well as poems by various authors from Great Britain and USA who took part in the Slovenian poetry festival Medana (Andrew Zawacki, Matthew Zapruder). He also translates into English (Lucija Stupica, Dane Zajc, Aleš Šteger).


Tom Ložar Tom Ložar was once a columnist for The [legendary, now defunct] Canadian Forum and is nowadays a columnist for the daily, Vecer, in Maribor, Slovenia, where, with the help of kind editors, he is finally learning to write Slovenian. He has written for magazines—among them, Prostor in Cas, Mladina, Razgledi,Matrix, and Maisonneuve—and newspapers, such as Delo, The Montreal Gazette and The Toronto Globe and Mail. His review of Jan Morris’s “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” appeared in Slovene Studies and is available on-line. He has published a volume of the poetry of Edvard Kocbek, and he was the first English translator of Gregor Strnisa’s poem “There was a tiger here.”


Peter Richards Peter Richards is the author of two books of poetry, Nude Siren and Oubliette. He is the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on English and American Language and Literature at Harvard University and a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant in Poetry, an Iowa Arts Fellowship, an Academy of American Poets Prize, and the John Logan Award.





Ana Rostohar Ana Rostohar ( born 1949). After graduating from the Philosophic Faculty of Ljubljana University in English and Slovenian, she worked and lived in Bosnia (formerly Yugoslavia) and England. She now lives in Slovenia as a free-lance Court interpreter. Two books of her poems have been published in Slovenia, and her work has also been set to music and included in an Italian anthology of contemporary Slovenian poetry.







Laura Solomon Laura Solomon was born in 1976 in Birmingham, Alabama. She studied at the University of Georgia and University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Slope Editions released her first book, Bivouac, in 2002. Other publications include a chapbook Letters by which Sisters Will Know Brothers (Katalanche Press 2005), Haiku des Pierres / Haiku of Stones, by Pierre Converset, a translation from the French with Sika Fakambi (Apogee Press, 2006), and a second book of poetry Blue and Red Things (forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse, 2007). Solomon’s poems have been translated into French, German, Italian, Slovenian and Spanish, and have appeared in journals throughout North America and Europe. Currently she lives in Philadelphia.