The opening evening of the fourth edition of the Izrekanja festival will be dedicated to the festival's main guest, the American-Mexican poet Jennifer Clement, and the giant of Slovenian poetry Tomaž Šalamun.
ABOUT JENNIFER CLEMENT
Jennifer Clement was born in Connecticut, USA, but her family moved to Mexico City the following year. She returned to America to finish high school there, then studied English literature and anthropology in New York. With her sister Barbara Sibley, she founded the San Miguel Poetry Week festival. She lives and works in Mexico City.
She was the president of the Mexican PEN Center from 2009 to 2012. In 2015, she was elected the first woman in history as president of PEN International, and she will complete her second term in 2021. She is committed to gender equality and freedom of speech. During her presidency, PEN International also adopted the Women's Manifesto.
Her works have been translated into many languages. In Slovenian, we can read Widow Basquiat (LUD Šerpa, 2014, translated by Ana Pepelnik) and Prayers for the Stolen (KUD Sodobnost International, 2017; translated by Dušanka Zabukovec). Translations of her poems have been published in numerous magazines and presented on radio shows.
POETRY COLLECTION BY JENNIFER CLEMENT
The Izrekanja Festival will also release the first translation of Jennifer Clement's poetry during her visit. Poems in the collection The Iceman – new and selected songs was translated by Neža Vilhelm, and the foreword was contributed by poet Barbara Korun.
A collection of poems in Slovenian is of exceptional importance to the author. She was friends with Tomaž Šalamun, who admired her poetic work and wanted to introduce it to the Slovenian audience. They negotiated the publication of her collection, but were overtaken by the poet's untimely death. We are pleased that with this publication we were able to fulfill the author's long-standing wish and erect a monument to friendship and poetry.
POETRY PERFORMANCE BY JENNIFER CLEMENT “THINKING ABOUT NESTS”
will be performed by former students of the Celje-Center Gymnasium, gathered in the Središče theater group, with guests, and will be directed by Aljaž Primožič.
POETRY PERFORMANCE BY TOMAŽ SĽALAMUN “A MAN SHOULD BE JUDGED BY HIS DREAMS”
The music and stage project is an engaged manifesto of humanity and freedom, where the poetry of Tomaž Šalamun is presented through a subtle interpretation, with sound, semantic and sensual nuances that open up the opulence of the landscapes of the poet's word, especially its reflective, engaged, but also cheerful and playful tones, with which the poet relativizes the narrowed Slovenian view of self-importance and opens a window to cosmopolitan freedom of spirit. Šalmun's poetry revives and reminds us that true art addresses every time and place, independent of the current ideology, and is therefore worthy of touching many poetry lovers, and even more so, all of us.
Original music, synthesizers, guitar: Andrej Marinčič
Vocals, flute, sound effects: Jasna Žitnik
Interpretation of poetry: Maja Gal Štromar
Dramaturgy: Maja Gal Štromar
Conceptual design and direction: Maja Gal Štromar, Jasna Žitnik and Andrej Marinčič
Production: Amanart, Institute for Cultural Activities
*Hosted by Jennifer Clement US Embassy in Ljubljana.
IMPORTANT
In accordance with the currently valid regulation of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia (Official Gazette 120/2021, 22. 7. 2021), it is mandatory for all visitors to cultural events to meet the PCT (recovered, vaccinated, tested) condition. We will check compliance with the condition before entering the venue. Thank you for your understanding.