Skopje, 22 August 2024 (MIA) — The 63rd Struga Poetry Evenings (SPE) festival kicked off with French poet and playwright Jean-Pierre Siméon, the winner of this year’s Golden Wreath, planting a tree sapling at the Poetry Park and reading his poems ahead of the festival’s official opening.
The opening ceremony took place at the Miladinov Brothers Culture Center, featuring a reading of Konstantin Miladinov’s “Longing for the South” and the lighting of the festival fire. This was followed by the international poetry reading titled “Meridians.”
In addition to Siméon, German poet Katrin Pitz, recipient of the UNESCO-sponsored 2024 Struga Bridges award for her debut poetry collection, will also read her work.
Other poets featured include Bengt Berg from Sweden, Anna Hoffman from Germany, Gökçenur Çelebioğlu from Turkey, and Galsansukh Dejidmaa from Mongolia.
Katica Kjulavkova, who won this year’s Miladinov Brothers award for the best Macedonian poetry book of the past year, will also perform her poetry.
The festival will include various poetry readings dedicated to the award winners and the traditional reading of the laureate’s poetry at Ohrid’s St. Sofia Church.
Under the theme “The Touch of Beauty,” celebrating the Braille system, the festival will run through August 25.