DEN POEZIE – POETRY DAY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

(český překlad >>)

• Den poezie is an annual international and multicultural poetry festival  held for two weeks every November around the birth anniversary (16.11.1810) of the great Czech Romantic poet, K.H. Mácha. It is the most widespread poetry event in the country with events now taking place in around 50 Czech cities, towns and villages. All the events are free. This year’s Den poezie runs from 7th – 20th November and its theme is Je včera, bude dnes a byla zítra /It is yesterday, it will be today and it was tomorrow – which comes from a poem by the popular Czech poet Jan Skácel (1922- 1989) whose 100th anniversary occurs this year.

• In the 2022 programme there are two events involving English – on Wednesday, 7th November at 7 pm in the library of Anglo-American University, Letenská 1, Prague 1 there will be a reading and discussion in English of the poetry and translations of Jan Zábrana titled Translating Jan Zábrana´s Women, with the participation of poet and translator Justin Quinn and scholar Zuzana Šťastná.  On Tuesday 15th November at the Václav Havel Library there will be a reading and a discussion about translation with three Scottish poets and three Czech poets (Jitka Bret-Srbová, Ondřej Lipár, Rob Mackenzie, Niall O’Gallagher, Alycia Pirmohamed and Olina Stehlíková) organised within the Czech Scottish Connections project by Literature Across Frontiers and Culture Reset with the support of Czech Literature Centres, Creative Scotland and the Edwin Morgan Trust.

• Or if you would like to read some of your own poems in English, you can join the gathering at the statue of K.H. Mácha on Petřín Hill on Wednesday 16th November at 19.00 where everyone is welcome and free to read their work.

• Den poezie first took place on just one day in 1999 and marked the launch of a Poezie pro cestujíci (Poetry on the Metro) project initiated by the festival founder, the Literary and Cultural Club 8 (Renata Bulvová and Bernie Higgins). The festival is now coordinated by the Poetry Society (Společnost poezie), a small group of people involved in literature/teaching who work as volunteers to organise events and promote interest in poetry. Year by year, the length of the festival extended, as more and more organisations and towns participated until it reached its current two-week duration.

• As well as readings by well-known Czech poets, such as Sylva Fischerová, Petr Borkovec, Petr Hruška etc, thanks to the support of various foreign cultural institutes, the festival also features leading poets from abroad. This year the festival will have poets from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine, the US and others. The festival also celebrates poetry from the Czech Republic in languages other than Czech, e.g. in Lusatian and Romani. Readings are all in Czech or in another language with Czech translation.

• Events are organised by schools, libraries, universities, literary groups, clubs, theatres, museums and individuals as well as by the main coordinators of the festival, Společnost poezie, who organise a central programme and coordinate publicity for all the national events. The regional reach of Den poezie is important and the festival aims to inspire the widest possible involvement, encouraging the celebration of poetry in many forms – not only through readings, but also through music, theatre, art, film and ‘happenings’. We consider one of the festival’s strengths to be its range of participation, from well-known, published Czech and foreign poets to schoolchildren learning to enjoy and create poetry for the first time.

• In 2016, the festival saw the launch of a new project, Poezie pro čekajíci (Poetry for People Waiting). It involves providing poetry brochures to places where people wait (hospitals, official offices etc.). In 2018 we launched, along with the Prague City of Literature, a new ‘City Poet’ project, which appoints a poet annually to serve as an ambassador for poetry in the city. The first Poet of the City of Prague for 2019 was the poet Sylva Fischerová, the second Vít Janota. The poet who will begin their time as Poet of the City of Prague in 2023 is Petr Borkovec.

• The Poetry Day festival is mainly supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture, the Prague Town Hall and the Czech Literature Foundation. Foreign cultural institutes in the Czech Republic give support by sponsoring the participation of poets from their countries. A number of smaller organisations support us mainly through providing publicity. The festival also receives good press coverage, in local and national newspapers, radio and television.

• Our deadline for submitting information about events is in September of each year.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email: denpoezie@gmail.com

Tel: 27481 3800

Facebook: www.facebook.com/denpoezie
Twitter: @denpoezie
Instagram: www.instagram.com/denpoezie

Email: denpoezie@gmail.com