Jaan Malin (Estonia)
Jaan Malin, also known as Luulur (born in 1960), is an Estonian poet, artist, art curator, essayist, editor/publisher, and more. Since 1990, JM has published 10 poetry books, including the 5 most recent: “Sulle. Juhtumata juhuluulet” (2003), “Veljesto 90 (100)” (2010), selection “Alati vahe” (2010), “Meile. Eesti Kirjanike Liit seisuga 1. jaanuar 2010” (2012), and “SA” (2020), as well as a collection of prose poetry, a non-semantic novel, 2 plays, and a CD of his own voice recordings. In 2009, he won third place at the European Poetry Slam Days in Berlin. He has participated in art exhibitions since 2013.
He has been involved in surrealist art and particularly with Estonian surrealist Ilmar Laaban. JM has compiled books of Laaban’s work, including a bilingual collection of his translations (“Magnetic River” in 2001), “Clusters of Words, Systems of Clusters” (essentially a collected poems in 2004), and the palindromic book „Eludrooge ego-ordule” (“Life Drugs for the Ego-Order”) in 2008. In 2021, he edited Ilmar Laaban’s bibliography. In the same year, the vinyl LP “ETNO-TONTE. Eesti keele kõla” was released, which is the first vinyl record with poetry in decades. In January 2023, another vinyl LP of Estonian poetry, “ETNO-TONTE 2. Metsa mõte,” is set to be released.
From 1982 to 1993, JM was a member of the Tartu Young Authors’ Association. He has been a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union since 1993, the Estonian Literary Society since 1996, the EYS Veljesto since 2008, the international performance group DAstrugistenDA since 2011, and the Estonian Artists’ Union since 2015.
From 2010 to 2018, JM organized the international interdisciplinary festival “Hullunud Tartu,” and from 2013 to 2017, he organized the literature evening series “TarSlämm.” From the spring of 2017 to the summer of 2019, he also hosted poetry/creative home salons. In 1998 and 2008, JM received the Estonian President’s Folklore Collection Award for preserving student heritage. In 2016, he received the Tartu Cultural Award for being the best Tartu cultural organizer of the year. In 2022, he received the Estonian Librarians’ Association award for Ilmar Laaban’s bibliography.
His work has been translated into English, Dutch, Lithuanian, Swedish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Finnish, Udmurt, Russian, and Hungarian. He has mainly performed his sound poetry in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Holland, England, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, France, Romania, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Denmark, Ukraine, Hungary, and Russia. In the coming year, he has been invited to participate in the European Capital of Culture programme in Veszprém and an international project the location of which is yet to be decided (possible locations include Helsinki, Antwerp, La Coruna, and Brussels), with the timeframe from March 2023 to September 2024. Usually, his performances do not include translations.
Sergio Garau (Italy)
Sergio Garau has been performing his poetry in renown festivals and underground clubs across 30 countries in Europe, Africa, South and North America.
Italian slam team champion in 2003 and 2016, he won international slams (Bolzano 2004, Frankfurt 2010, Madrid 2014, ARTE.tv 2015) international videopoetry and performing arts prizes (DOCtorCLIP 2005, CROSSaward 2018) and has been touring with his shows IO GAME OVER, CTRL ZETA and SPACE INVADERS since 2010. Sergio started and coordinated slam scenes in Sardinia, Italy and Europe, as president of L.I.P.S. (Lega Italiana Poetry Slam) and director of the European Slam Championship 2019. He’s been giving slam workshops in 6 languages, translating poetry, curating literary reviews and poetry collections, taking part in artist residencies and in his Turin based writers’ collective sparajurij since 2001.
Eleonora Fisco (Italy)
Eleonora Fisco (1997) is a Sicilian poet and performer. Apart from performing in poetry shows and slams all over Italy, she is a researcher, a teacher and event organizer.
She has been a national finalist in the Italian poetry slam championship twice in 2019 and 2022. As well as performing with Italian and international authors, she has collaborated at many festivals. Her artistic research concentrates on a generational, family and feminist reflection. In particular, she wrote about her Sicilian roots, bodies, female education and the possibility to transform acts of rebellion in spaces of freedom. Leader of poetry workshops both for adults and students for many years, she’s also a member of the LIPS (Italian poetry slam league) board and vice-coordinator for the U20 Italian poetry slam championship.
Eleonora graduated in 2020 in Modern Philology presenting a thesis about the aesthetic response in Italian poetry slams, that was published by Mille Gru in collaboration with LIPS. Now, she’s studying poetry slam, spoken word and spoken music in her PhD program at the University of L’Aquila.
Maja Jantar (Finland)
Maja Jantar is an interdisciplinary, multilingual and polysonic artist living in Isokyrö, Finland, whose work spans the fields of performance, music, poetry, ceramic and visual arts and theatre.
Recently she collaborated with German based artist platform Rotterdam Presenta on E.P.I.C an exploration of inevitable plastic. Premièred U Ki Yo E – a multimedia collaboration with Godfried-Willem Raes’s Logos Robot Orchestra, where voice, movement, robots and video animation create a sensorial journey through a Japanese woodblock print. Acted as ‘la musicienne’ in Michael D’Auzon’s long feature “Depuis que le soleil à brülée”. Performed in “Asfaraswecantell” a dance/sound production by choreographer Ine Claes, Belgian tour. Created a sound and ceramic installation in the shape of a banquet for the Pückler Karavane in Germany and a ceramic sound installation ‘Shoreline’ for Lunalia Festival Mechelen, Belgium. Toured with opera project Enoch Arden, at amongst others Grand Théatre de Genêve in Switzerland and Festival of Flanders Mechelen. She performed at Twisted Shout #2 Text/Sound festival in Stockholm, performing her solo vocal sound work. Collaborated with pianist and curator Guy Vandromme on Silence – an immersive concert based on 3’44 by John Cage and Sleepconcert, for babies, in Wemmel, Belgium, and Malmö, Sweden.
Upcoming projects are Ichigo Ichie, a multi disciplinary sensory installation combining traditional tea ceremony with a ceramics sound installation, march 2023 Galerie19, Gent, Belgium.
A co-founder of the poetic group Krikri, she has been giving individual and collaborative performances throughout Europe and experimenting with poetic sound works since 1996. Long time collaborators are Angela Rawlings with whom she forms the duo Völva and Vincent Tholomé,
As opera director she has directed various productions, including Monteverdi’s classic Incoronazione di Poppea, Sciarrino’s contemporary Infinito Nero as well as Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel and Bernstein’s West Side Story. She created various theatrical music performances, for small and big stage, among others 4 performances for orchestra aimed at a young audience, with the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders.
Her visual poetry has appeared amongst others in the catalogue Zieteratuur (The Netherlands); EOROPOE, an anthology of European poets; The Future of Poetry, GanGan Lit Mag #50; Fractured Ecologies.
Her visual work has been shown in several exhibits: at the Art Book Fair, arts centre Wiels in Brussels; at Été 78 in Brussels and Les Abattoirs de Bomel in Namur; and recently at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, in LA VOIX LIBERÉE a sound poetry exhibition.
Recent sound publications have appeared on the Transsonic label amongst others on CitySonic #14. In march 2022 het first solo LP In/Canti has been released on the ERRATUM label (paris/Barcelona) in the series VOXXX and a duo release in collaboration with ParadiseNow on the Transsonic label (Mons, Belgium)
Giovanni Baudnock (Belgium)
Giovanni Baudnock is a slam poet with partly Belgian and Mauritian roots.
Influenced by the Hip-hop scene, Giovanni wrote his first lyrics at the age of twelve interspersed with various social themes in which he identifies himself. Since 2012, he has been bringing diversity on and off stage by writing poetry in both Dutch and French. He became vice champion of Belgium at the BK Slam in 2018. In addition, he has already participated in numerous theater since and has been a guest lecturer in word and acting at the RITSC (Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound) in Brussels.
Ron Whitehead (USA)
Ron Whitehead is an American poet, activist, and scholar who has published dozens of books and albums. Whitehead was born in 1947 in the state of Kentucky, studied at the University of Louisville, and has been active in both education and cultural management for decades. His work, which has been characterized by Hunter S. Thompson as a “a dazzling mix of folk wisdom and pure mathematics.” has been translated into more than 20 languages, and he has performed at many festivals in both the United States and Europe, including Estonia. In 2012, he performed at the “Zero Tolerance. Diverse Universe. Explosion” performance art festival, and in 2014, he appeared at the HeadRead literary festival. In 2019, Whitehead was a guest of the Tartu City of Literature residency program and organized a 24-hour cultural marathon called Insomniacathon in collaboration with Prima Vista. His poetry, co-written with his partner Jinn Bug, inspired by his residency, was published in 2020 as a bilingual book “Ööd muuseumis / Nights at the Museum,” translated into Estonian by Doris Kareva.
Whitehead’s poetic style can be characterized as a post-Beat generation movement, which has also been influenced by rock music, European avant-garde, and his home state of Kentucky. Whitehead was selected as the American Beat Poet Laureate for 2021-2022, and in 2022, the National Beat Poetry Foundation awarded him the title of lifelong New Generation Beat Poet Laureate. Regarding this year’s festival theme, he says: I have been making my impossible dreams come true for 40 years, and I will continue to do so until the day I die.”
Thursday, May 11th 18.30 at the Tartu Literature House cultural club Salong
Saturday, May 13th 18.40 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Marius Povilas Elijas Martynenko (Lithuania)
Date of birth: 1993-03-02
Current role: actor, writer, entertainer.
Ultimate goal: survival.
Marius Povilas Elijas Martynenko failed to reach adulthood. Published four books, created performances, and acted in cinema, television, and theatre. Fathered two sons. During all these things the artist wasn’t sure what exactly he was doing.
He once ripped such a powerful fart that made his spine crack. To this day it seems like the most impressive achievement. It is unique, whereas everything mentioned before has been done often by many individuals. Also, the man himself succeeded in spitting on fly while it was still in the air. Elijas has been awarded Lithuanian Ministry of Culture award for artistry.
This man believes that everything is a game. Often tries to remind this to himself and others. All the creative work is either an invitation to play or the game itself. He is certain that the ultimate truth is not a statement. It is a question. An absurd one. Though it is yet to be found.
Thursday, May 11th 20.00 at Vilde ja Vine
Saturday, May 13th 22.00 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Andy Willoughby (UK)
Andy Willoughby is a poet, dramatist, publisher and producer from the North East of England. He has a long history of collaborating with writers and musicians from Finland and Estonia since the early 2000s. He was Tartu UNESCO City Of Literature writer in residence in 2019 and had work commissioned by Turku City of Culture in 2011. As a Co-Director he was able to invite Tartu poetry legend Jaan Malin to the T Junction International Poetry Festival in Middlesbrough. His works include Tough (Smokestack Books), Sampo: Heading Further North with Bob Beagrie (Red Squirrel Press – also published in Finnish and Estonian) and his latest book was Between Stations (Smokestack Books) which has been translated into Estonian and Finnish by Kersti Unt and Kalle Niinikangas and will be launched by Enostone Press at Prima Vista. His work is featured in many anthologies including The Land of Three Rivers: The Poetry of North East England (Bloodaxe Books ), From the Ancestors: Poems and Prayers for Future Generations (Trancemission Press) and Summer Anywhere (Dreich Press).
When asked what his impossible dream was, Andy replied: “My Impossible Dream is that the connection to nature we felt during the Covid Pandemic is not completely lost. Like many others, my wife Rebecca and I felt a great healing presence during lockdown from the nature all around us. It was amplified in the great silence with nature returning so quickly to thrive as society suddenly stopped polluting everything, we saw deer in the local parks, otters in the local ponds and heard the birds thriving all around us, most people yearned to connect and it was clear to see if we as humans just stop, look and listen we realise we are not alone and separate but part of this great spirit of being, we need it much more than it needs us. There is no true happiness possible in living while ignoring its magic. When Ron Whitehead asked me for a poem for his From the Ancestors anthology I was drawn to write about this feeling in our Durham locality and realised its universality. My impossible dream is we remember the power of the days the earth stood still, the great silence, work to heal the harm we have done as humans to nature remembering how we are in turn nurtured and healed by it.”
Friday, May 12th 15.00; meeting place by the fountain Kissing Students at the Town Hall Square
Saturday, May 13th 18.00 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Anton Flint (UK)
Anton Flint is an international rock guitarist and Jazz pianist from Middlesbrough. He was in proto-grunge band The Joes in Seattle, USA in the early 1990s, and worked as a jazz pianist in the South of France in the early 2000s. He has a long history of backing and collaborating with poets working with Lemn Sissay with the Giro Poets in Manchester, backing numerous well-known poets from around the world as part of the Electric Kool Aid Cabaret Trio including poets such as Joelle Taylor, Siddhartha Bose, Jacob Samla Rose, Rachel Long and Esa Hirvonen.
He has collaborated closely with Andy Willoughby since they formed punk / Jazz / poetry improvisational duo Barbed Wire Dogs in Manchester and London in the 1990s.
He devised the multi-media soundtrack to Andy’s Between Stations Live with Finnish Rock guitar legend Masi Hukari and co-wrote the songs for various theatre projects including Salamander Songs (funded by Arts Council England, 2017) and scored the soundtrack for the short film The Last Salamander ( Dan Perry Productions 2017).
Saturday, May 13th 18.00 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Penny Boxall (UK)
Penny Boxall is a poet whose published collections are Ship of the Line (Eyewear, 2014); Who Goes There? (Valley Press, 2018); and In Praise of Hands (with Naoko Matsubara’s woodcuts, Ashmolean Museum, 2020). She has won the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award and the Mslexia/PBS International Women’s Poetry Prize. She is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, and has held fellowships/residencies with UNESCO Cities of Literature, Tartu, Estonia (2022); Merton College, University of Oxford (2019); Château de Lavigny, Switzerland (2018); Hawthornden Castle, Scotland (2017, 2023); and Gladstone’s Library, Wales (2017). In 2021 she received funding from Arts Council England to develop her first novel for children, and she is currently working on ‘Replaying the Tape’, a collaboration with palaeontologist Dr Frankie Dunn and percussionist Dr Jane Boxall, which will premiere in New York City in autumn 2023.
Penny Boxall spent a month in Tartu as a writer-in-residence in Tartu in August 2022 as part of the Tartu-Norwich writers exchange program. A selection of her poems, inspired by her experiences here, has been translated into Estonian by Kersti Unt and published in the magazine Akadeemia (May 2023).
We are happy to welcome Penny back to Tartu and when we asked her what she thinks about the theme of this year’s festival, she replied with a poem:
Impossible Tasks
Tell her to find me
a well without wet
a night without darkness
a way to be right
Tell her to find me
a thing without fault
a sea with no current
a way to forget
Tell her to find me
a peppercorn feast
a dawn without morning
a way to be just
Tell her to find me
a home with no door
a closer horizon
a way to be sure
Tell her to find me
an acre of land
a sickle of leather
a way to be found
Saturday, May 13th 17.30 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Jinn Bug (USA)
Jinn Bug is a poet, photographer, gardener, activist, visual artist, fiber artist, and life-long dreamer. Her photography, vignettes, and poems have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, New Southerner, LEO Weekly, Fiolet & Wing—An Anthology of Domestic Fabulism, Aquillrelle, For Sale, Pure Uncut Candy, The Rooted Reader, Gyroscope Review, Necro Magazine and other print and online publications.
Her most recent book of poetry is “Nights at the Museum”. In 2023, her sonnet “Eden without Us” won the Southern Shakespeare Festival worldwide sonnet contest. She is currently working on a book called “Everything Lost Comes to the Intersection.” Visit her at www.JinnBug.com.
When asked about her impossible dream, Jinn says the following: “I’d like to finish my book “Everything Lost Comes to the Intersection” in Estonia in 2024 as a UNESCO writer in residence! But perhaps that’s a possible dream. Like Ron, I have spent my life dreaming and making those dreams come true. One of my current “impossible dreams” is inspiring–by example–my neighbors to return their yards to biodiverse habitats….feeding themselves and the natural world. This dream has been some 20 years in the making. I was deeply encouraged by how many folks in Tartu are committed to growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers in an urban environment.
Thursday, May 11th 18.30 at the Tartu Literature House cultural club Salong
David Hartley (UK)
David Hartley is a writer of strange stories from Manchester, UK, and writer-in-residence with Tartu 2024 project Bring Your Own Utopia. He writes about ghosts, gods and invisible elephants, and his short story collection Fauna was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize.
He holds a PhD in creative Writing from The University of Manchester and is now the co-host of the Autism Through Cinema podcast. His fiction has appeared in Ambit Magazine, Black Static Magazine, and The Ghastling and it explores the boundaries of the real and the unreal. There are ghosts, gods, impossible birds, and invisible elephants. For his residency, he is exploring the edgelands of Tartu and Manchester, trying to write about portals and Memories.
Last night he dreamed of swimming pools, as he often does. The pool stretched into multiple rooms and the water shimmered beneath mood lighting. The depth was unfathomable, and sometimes the pools were full of people, and sometimes empty. When he left the pool in search of a friend, he had to pass through car parks, halls of residence, overgrown wasteland, and the backstage area of an old theatre. He could not find his friend. He was told the friend had gone to the pool. He could not find a way back to the pool. When he wakes, he dreams of a world with no frustration. He dreams of a time when the irritations of life can be set aside so that greater puzzles can be attended to. He dreams, perhaps impossibly, of a drowning of conventions so that we might swim more confidently among the wonderfully weird.
Wednesday, May 10th 12.00 in the hall of Tartu Literature House
Saturday, May 13th 19.10 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong
Edgars Rubenis (Latvia)
Edgars Rubenis is a guitarist and composer with a background in experimental rock and new music composition. Pains And Boogies, his current three-album project, explores the vitality of fingerpicked steel-string guitar traditions. Working particularly with the forms of early blues and ragtime, he writes seemingly old yet entirely new music – material that pays homage to these styles’ great originators and dares to diverge at its own will.
Edgars Rubenis first emerged on the underground music scene in mid-2000s as the member of Riga’s experimental rock band Mona de Bo. Often considered one of the most vital forces on the Baltic scene of the recent decade, this ensemble released 5 albums spanning psychotic indie garage, collisions of free-improv and noisy drone rock.
Tuesday, May 9th 21.00 at cultural club Salong
Anna Belkovska (Latvia)
Anna Belkovska (born in 1992) is a poet and playwright. Her first poetry collection, “Veranda,” received the Latvian Literary Award for the best debut in 2022. Currently, Anna is working on her next books; one of them will be a story about teenagers in Latvian rural towns in the beginning of the 2000s. Additionally, she is working on a theatre performance, which will premiere during this festival, about her father and their life with his addiction. In this case, Anna will also debut as a performer.
When asked about her impossible dream, she said: “As a person and a writer, my impossible dream is to have more time. Juggling work in two different fields, poetry and theatre, while also taking care of friends and family, travelling, battling depression and anxiety, and pursuing other interests leaves me lacking sufficient time. I have to accept that there will never be enough time to do everything I want. I am constantly compromising and changing my priorities. Still, it remains impossible to accomplish everything at once, especially during the Baltic winter, when even simple tasks can be a significant challenge.”
Tuesday, May 9th 19.30 at the Tartu Literature House cultural club Salong
Gina Viliūnė (Lithuania)
All of Gina Viliūnė’s (1974) books are a tribute to the city of Vilnius, its history, people, and its fascinating atmosphere. Reading her books, it quickly becomes clear that Gina loves her city very much, feels its special spirit, and tries to convey it in her books.
Her historical detective novel “Murder in the Shoemaker’s Workshop” (“Žmogžudystė batsiuvio dirbtuvėje”, 2020), which has also reached Estonian readers, began with unexpected coincidences. On a bitterly cold winter day, the Vilnius Guides Association organised a tour of an exhibition of footwear found during international archaeological excavations. The tour was led by the exhibition curator, archaeologist, and enthusiast Arūnas Puškorius. Gina recalls that as she listened to his stories, she thought how nice it would be to put it all in a book. Soon after, the director of the Tyto alba publishing house, Lolita, suggested that she write about a mysterious person – the Vilnius executioner.
The second part of the trilogy, “Trap for the Merchant’s Killer” (“Spąstai pirklio žudikui”, 2021), has also been published and will reach Estonian readers this summer, as well as the third part, “Deadly Arquebus Shot” (“Mirtinas arkebuzos šūvis”, 2022).
Viliūnė’s books are certainly suitable reading material for anyone who already knows and loves Vilnius, as well as for those who plan to visit this wonderful city or who simply have an interest in history. Her books are very geographically accurate, and by solving some historical mysteries with her characters, it is possible to explore present-day Vilnius.
Regarding impossible dreams, Viliune says, ” To dream about something that seems impossible is to move forward. The dream always comes first. And if you believe in it, a miracle can happen. A prime example would be the Baltic states three decades ago. We dreamt about freedom and now we have it. That is why we shouldn‘t stop dreaming!”
Thursday, May 11th 18.00 at Tartu Literature House
Esbjörn Nyström (Sweden)
Esbjörn Nyström earned his PhD in German Literature from the University of Gothenburg in 2004.
As of 2022, he is employed as a Research Advisor at Luleå University of Technology.
He has previously been a lecturer and researcher in German at the universities in Gothenburg and Stockholm.
At the University of Tartu, he taught Swedish philology from 2008–2011 and from 2014–2017.
Since 2017, Nyström has been engaged with the Prima Vista literary festival. His main research interests are editorial theory as well as dramas, opera librettos and screenplays from the 20th century in German, Dutch and Scandinavian languages.
Friday, May 12th 16.00 at the hall of Tartu Public Library
Hanne Ørstavik (Norway)
Hanne Ørstavik is a Norwegian author born in 1969. She has published 16 novels, two of which have been translated into Estonian: “Love” (1997, translated in 2021) and “The Pastor” (2004, translated in 2010), both translated by Sigrid Tooming. Ørstavik is one of Norway’s most distinctive authors, and her works have received several awards, including the Brage Prize. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages. She studied psychology, French, and sociology at the University of Oslo and later participated in creative writing courses.
The action of the novels published in Estonian takes place in remote and harsh northern Norway, and their themes are serious. “Love” is a small but very impactful work that tells the story of nine-year-old Jon and his mother Vibeke. Both mother and son are searching for love but from very different places. It is a masterfully written and structured narrative where the stories of mother and son unexpectedly alternate, building suspense and tension to the very end. “Love” was ranked 6th among the best Norwegian books of the last 25 years in 2006.
While “Love” takes place over a single evening, “The Pastor” takes place over the course of a week. The main character is a young female pastor named Liv, whose thoughts are fixated on the past. The story alternates between the present, Liv’s own past, and Norway’s past, as Liv writes her doctoral thesis on the bloody religious conflict between the Sami and Norwegians in 1852. A significant portion of the novel is devoted to reflecting on religion and faith.
Loneliness and the inability to connect with others, which often end tragically, are common themes in both books. The novels exude a Nordic chill with precise language. Quoting translator Sigrid Tooming, the author can be called “a cultivator of deep and sensitive psychological novels who does not play to the gallery but presses on the pain points of human life in search of truth.”
If Hanne Ørstavik could wish for the impossible, she would wish for a healed earth where each of us is healed and held and where going to bed at night is safe.
Thursday, May 11th 16.00 at the hall of Tartu Public Library
Anni Kytömäki (Finland)
Anni Kytömäki (b. 1980) is a writer from Southern Finland, whose works portray humans as a part of nature, rather than above it. In her novels “Kultarinta” (Goldenbreast), “Kivitasku” (Stone Weaver), and “Margarita,” she tells stories of non-conformists, people who have been defending forests, swamps, and cliffs long before the present time. Kytömäki is fascinated by the deep roots of nature conservation and pacifism, often considered phenomena of modern times.
In her novels, Kytömäki reminds us that humanity has long aspired towards something better than what we seem to be achieving at the moment. Her second important message is that we are not alone on our planet. In the novel “Kultarinta” (2014), alongside humans, the bear takes on a protagonist role, and in the novel “Margarita” (2020, translated into Estonian in 2021), the narrator is at times a freshwater pearl mussel. The freshwater pearl mussel, which has lived on Earth since the time of dinosaurs, is now an endangered species, as it does not survive water pollution and river damming. In Estonia, freshwater pearl mussels only live in one river in Lahemaa National Park.
Kytömäki’s novels have received several awards, and “Margarita” won the most prestigious literary award in Finland, the Finlandia Prize, in 2020. The book was translated into Estonian in 2021 (translated by Toomas Tallo, and published by Vesta Raamatud). This is the first translation of Kytömäki’s works.
The events in “Margarita” mainly take place in the 1950s, when Finland was recovering from war and rebuilding society. Due to economic demand, forests were extensively logged, and efforts were made to derive as much benefit as possible from the human population. It was recommended that every woman give birth to at least six children to ensure a sufficient number of soldiers in case of a new war. The life of the protagonist, young masseuse Senni, is endangered due to this goal. At the same time, the freshwater pearl mussel living in the depths of the river loses its home as the sheltering trees are logged from the shores and the riverbed is dredged straight. Both humans and river mussels are victims of “well-being,” but their shells prove to be resilient.
Reflecting on the theme of this year’s festival, Anni Kytömäki says: “It is said that history teaches. At the present time, it seems again that nothing has been learned. New generations are being drawn into war – a war that threatens not only humans but also all other inhabitants of the Earth and entire ecosystems. Once again, soldiers, pacifists, fathers, mothers, children, leaders, workers, entrepreneurs, artists, people from different parts of the world see and experience horrors that make us say, ‘I didn’t know it was like this.’ My impossible dream is that from birth, it would be clear to all human beings that war is exactly like this – more terrible than anyone can imagine. Then wars would become part of history.”
Wednesday, May 10th 18.30 at the hall of Tartu Literature House
Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany)
Writer and director Jenny Erpenbeck was born in 1967 into an intellectual family in East Berlin, Germany. Her journey to literature took time, although her grandparents and scientist father were also writers. After studying bookbinding, Jenny Erpenbeck worked in theatre as a props master and costume designer, and discovered her passion for theatre. After studying theatre studies and music theatre direction, she worked in opera houses in Austria and Germany and has been a freelance director since 1998.
Her debut work, the novella “The Old Child” (Die Geschichte vom alten Kind), was published in 1999 and drew parallels with Kafka’s distorted worlds. The book immediately gained great attention in the German literary scene and has been translated into Estonian (Pegasus, 2009, translated by Sigrid Reili). In her debut novel “Visitation” (Heimsuchung, 2008), Erpenbeck tells the story of a summer house and its inhabitants throughout the 20th century, but above all, it is a book about home, place, and everything that binds people to a certain location, landscape, and culture. Her novel “Go, Went, Gone” (Gehen, Ging, Gegangen, 2015) explores the refugee crisis in Europe and has been widely acclaimed.
Her novel “The End of Days” (Aller Tage Abend, 2012), which was published in Estonian at the end of 2021 as “Viimsepäeva õhtu” (translated by Terje Loogus), has been described as a literary experiment. Erpenbeck uses the power given to the writer to let impossible things happen in depicting the protagonist’s life – she gives a child born in Galicia in the early 20th century five different lives and lets her die five times. In her latest novel “Kairos” (2021), Erpenbeck is considered to have created one of the most sincere and best novels about the decline of East Germany. In the novel, which is set in East Berlin in the late 1980s, she tells a love story of a couple with a significant age difference against the backdrop of events that lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Erpenbeck’s work, recognized with numerous literary awards, has been translated into 30 languages. According to critics, she is one of the most exceptional literary voices of contemporary German literature, whose works harmoniously blend the voice of reason and the heart. Her prose, with its evocative language, meticulous composition, and wide range of interpretations, exhibits traits characteristic of poetry. When asked about her impossible dream based on the theme of the festival “The Impossible Dream,” the writer responds: “My unfortunately likely unfulfillable dream is that all nations on earth would resolve their disagreements without bloodshed.”
Wednesday, May 10th 17.00 at the hall of Tartu Public Library
Thursday, May 11th 17.30 National Library of Estonia (Narva mnt 11)
Convertible (USA/Austria)
Covertible is a musical project formed by American lyricist Hannah Mac Kenna and Austrian musician Hans Platzgumer in 2004. They have released dozens of songs together.
The successor to the groundbreaking New York grunge band HP Zinker from the 1990s, Convertible continues to oscillate between electronic pop music and purely acoustic minimalist singer-songwriter style. The melancholic tone, lyrical depth, as well as affinity for unconventional and constantly surprising composition and arrangement techniques, have remained distinctly unique.
In April, Convertible released their latest single “Lift The Needle”. Following their album “Holst Gate II” which was released in 2021 and features several songs performed in Tartu, Hans Platzgumer’s band surprises with an epic, timeless, densely orchestrated song about the end of times.
The most important songs of Convertible, along with their performance list, are compiled in a bilingual poetry collection called “Convertible Song Book” (Text/Rahmen Verlag, Vienna 2022), with German translations done by Hans Platzgumer himself. For the concert “Writers in Music”, the poems are translated into Estonian by Piret Pääsuke and will be read by actress Maarja Jakobson. In Tartu, the songs will be performed by a small lineup in semi-acoustic versions.
Line-up:
Hans Platzgumer – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Chris Laine – bass, vocals
Michael Schneider – percussion
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Saturday, May 13th 20.00 at the Tartu Literary House Culture Club Salong