Celebrating the year of Czesław Miłosz and commemorating the centennial of the birth of the Nobel Prize winner, the Chicago literary festival "After Miłosz: Polish Poetry in the 20th and 21st Centuries" takes off with a series of readings by some of the best known poets in the US and up-and-coming voices from Poland, along with talks by top scholars and translators, and musical performances
The festival is the biggest Polish poetry event in the United States this year and it emphasizes the very lively tradition of Polish poetry that continues after Miłosz, featuring readings by contemporary poets Piotr Sommer, Tomasz Rozycki, Marzanna Bogumila Kielar, and Justyna Bargielska, finalist for the prestigious 2011 NIKE literary prize. Charles Simic and Adam Zagajewski, who like Miłosz have been welcomed from Eastern Europe into the American fold, and America's newest Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, presents a poetic tribute to Milosz.
Leading thinkers in the fields of poetry and Polish literature including Stephen Burt (Harvard); winner of this year's National Book Critics' Circle Award for criticism, Clare Cavanagh (Northwestern); Michal Pawel Markowski (University of Illinois-Chicago); Bozena Shallcross (University of Chicago), and others, consider the achievement and legacy of the Nobel Prize-winning poet and author of "The Captive Mind" who came to represent the conscience of American poetry during his years of exile spent at the University of California, Berkeley.
Going beyond the familiar formula of commenting the work of the poet, the festival offers a broad view of the contemporary Polish poetry scene. Besides the academic conference dedicated to Miłosz's work, and a panel with some of the greatest poets such as Jorie Graham and Charles Simic, commemorating the artist and his influence on American poetry, the programme also includes two concerts, opening with the best Polish rappers FISZ and EMADE, whose songs are inspired by Polish poetry. Another concert presents top jazz singer, Patricia Barber, who performs especially for this occasion.
As part of the concluding ceremonies, the Found in Translation Award is presented to Clare Cavenagh and Stanislaw Baranczak for their translation of Wislawa Szymborska's collection, "Here" (Harcourt 2010).
Before arriving in Chicago, poet, translator and editor of the journal, "Literatura na Swiecie" (World Literature), Piotr Sommer will be reading his work and speaking at the University of Toronto and Harvard University.
Zenon Fajfer and Katarzyna Bazarnik present their avant-garde combination of poetry and book arts known as "Liberature" in an exhibition with a series of talks and performances as part of the Festival.
The main organisers of the festival are the Foundation of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly and the Joseph Conrad International Literary Festival in Kraków, for which the Chicago festival is a portion of the larger international project for promoting Polish literature abroad. The co-organiser of the festival is the Head of the Slavic Department at University of Illinois at Chicago, Professor Michał Paweł Markowski, who also represents the Polish Interdisciplinary Program at UIC supported by the Hejna Fund, and serves as the artistic director to the Conrad Festival. Other organizers includethe Polish Book Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, and the Polish Consulate General in Chicago. Additional events are organised by the Slavic Department of Harvard University and by the Comparative Literature, English, and Slavic Departments at the University of Toronto. The festival is financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The festival "After Miłosz" takes place from the 30th of September through to the 3rd of October 2011, at the Chopin Theater in Chicago.
The event is free, but RSVP is required. Contact Agata Kopacka, akopacka@uic.edu
The programme of the literary festival:
30 September at 17:30 opening ceremony
1 October at 10:00 - 12:45 panels
1 October at 14:00 - 16:45 panels
1 October at 17:00 poetry tribute to Milosz
1 October at 22:00 Patricia Barber
2 October at 12:00 Polish poets read their work
2 October at 16:00 translation awards ceremony
3 October at 17:00 Katarzyna Bazarnik and Zenon Fajfer discuss poetry at the School of the Art Institute
3 October at 18:30 street poetry on South Michigan Avenue
3 October at 19:00 Poet Zenon Fajfer reads his work at Columbia College Chicago
For more information about the festival see: www.aftermilosz.com.
Chopin Theatre
1543 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL
Source: Polish Cultural Institute in New York.