Kristel Mägedi is a freelance writer, musician, and painter with a background in acting.

fs (Indrek Mesikepp) is a poet and DJ, as well as the editor-in-chief of the magazine Looming. He hosts the post-punk show “Floorhsow” on IDA Radio.

Aime Hansen is an Estonian writer, performance artist and visual artist. She has published several books of prose and poetry, has performed at numerous  events and festivals, has had art exhibitions. Graduated as a linguist from TU, but creative artist in her hearth. Featured at Insomniathon as a theatrical performance poet.

Aime writes/performs  theatrical poetry in a storytelling style, both in English and Estonian. Her poems display little scenes, monologues and dialogues of various characters. During the performance  characters come alive, played by the poet. At Insomniathon A Certain Herr Professor, No-Nonsense Girl Next Door, Shakespearean Actor George, A Well-Behaved Space Alien and many others make an appearance. It’s a showcase of light-hearted comedy poetry.  

Aime feels her current style of poetry is greatly influenced by her encounters with London spoken word scene. One the other hand ancient myths, legends and mysteries of life have been a source of inspiration. More serious side of Aime’s poetry is featured in her book “I was the angel of the sea” (2011). Trademark of Aime’s prose is also love of mystery and suspense; cultural influences from across the globe. Prose in Estonian: “Stories found from travel trunk” (2009, short stories, received a literary price). “An Estonian in London: down the rabbit hole”(2011, travel book). “New Zealand in word and picture” (2011, travel book).

Aime Hansen’s books in English (both available at www.apollo.ee):
“Coffee mornings with angels” (2018, collection of poetry)
“Maagilised peeglid / Magic Mirrors” (2019 collection of artwork, bilingual texts).
Artist contact: globaltraveller678@gmail.com

Aime will appear at Insomniathon on Saturday 11 of May evening with a showcase of humorous theatrical poetry in English.

Alan N. Shapiro is an American expatriate living in Germany. Alan holds a Ph.D. in artistic and media research from the University of Oldenburg. His most recent book Decoding Digital Culture with Science Fiction: Hyper-Modernism, Hyperreality, and Posthumanism will be published by the Transcript Verlag in June 2024. Previously he published the books Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance, The Software of the Future, Transdisciplinary Design, and The Technological Herbarium (on new media art). He teaches media theory at the University of the Arts, Bremen and “future design research” at the University of Applied Arts and Sciences, Lucerne, Switzerland. He was previously Professor of Heterotopia at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen. He is currently writing his auto-socio-biography called Venice in Las Vegas. He considers himself to be primarily a “science fiction theorist.”

Halyna Kruk (born 1974) is an internationally acclaimed poet, translator, and literary scholar. She has served as the vice president of Ukrainian PEN and currently teaches Ukrainian literature at Ivan Franko University in Lviv. Kruk has published six poetry collections, and received various literary awards, and her poetry has been translated into more than 20 languages. In Estonian, her work has been translated by Anna Verschik and Maarja Kangro, the latter receiving the August Sang Translation Award last year for her translation of Kruk’s poem “The History of Humanity”. Kruk also writes for children and young adults, and her children’s books have been translated into many languages.

Kristina Viin (born on November 22, 1985 in Võru) is an artist, illustrator, and poet. Viin studied sculpture at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences, and theology and religious studies at the University of Tartu. She has published poetry collections: “Nõtkel elevandisammul” (“In the Delicate Steps of an Elephant”) (2014) and “Isepüüdleja” (“The Self-Striver”) (2018), and “Unetamisi” (“Dreamlessly”) is her third collection. Kristina Viin is a member of the Estonian Academic Oriental Society and the Estonian Writers’ Union.

During the Crazy Tartu festival, it was written that Kiho is a great poet, whose work has been noticed by several literary scholars, who have highlighted his “wide range of poetry – also in terms of form” (according to Sirje Olesk), as well as by natural scientists, who have spoken of his “wise verses coming from the soul” and his “unique national-political poetry” (according to Kalevi Kull), which, however, nobody in today’s Estonia particularly wants to publish. Therefore, these texts are rarely heard or seen. Now, some texts can be heard again, in addition to his translations, the most recent of which appeared in the April issue of Akadeemia titled “Kant 300”, which will also be available at the poetry evening in Vein ja Vine.

Claudia Baniahmad is a pharmacist and poet. She lives in Marburg, Germany and is the spiritual, healing, and business leader of the Apotheke (Pharmacy) an der Hohen Leuchte. A collection of her poetry will be published by the Noel-Verlag, Germany in 2024. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular endocrinology (biology/pharmacy). She worked for many years as a scientist at the Max Planck Institute Martinsried/Munich and at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA. She is an alternative medical practitioner specializing in holistic healing and the Body Code/Emotion Code. The subject of her poetry is healing in all aspects and in harmony with nature and the posthuman ecology of co-existence with nonhuman life and advanced digital, virtual, and cyborg technologies.

Kadri Toom (1984) is engaged in experimental graphics. Her interests often revolve around themes connected to the living environment. Her recent works stem from landscape experiences on screens, in urban spaces, and in peripheral fields. In her works, collage-like still lifes resonate, reflecting the contemporary human mindset and spatial awareness. She employs alternative and experimental graphic and photographic techniques in her pieces, combining them with areas of colour. Her work is characterised by a tendency to depart from traditional forms in graphics. Kadri Toom graduated from the painting department of the Tartu Higher Art School in 2006 and obtained a master’s degree from the graphic arts department of the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2009. She is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association and the Association of Estonian Printmakers, and she teaches students in graphic arts courses at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Pallas University of Applied Sciences. www.instagram.com/kadritoom

www.instagram.com/kadritoom

Joanna Concejo was born in 1971 in Poland, in Słupsk, and studied graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. In 1998, after receiving a diploma in drawing and illustration, she settled permanently in France. Her talent as an artist was first noticed through art installations in 2002 when she was invited to participate in the Busan Biennale in Korea. Over the following years, several exhibitions of her works took place, including in Berlin and Paris. In 2004, she sent her drawings to the International Children’s Book Fair in Bologna and qualified for the illustrators’ exhibition – marking the beginning of her work in the field of illustration. Joanna Concejo’s books are published in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Poland. Under the auspices of the Format publishing house, a leporello-format book titled “The Prince in the Candy Shop,” with text by Marek Bieńczyk and Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, was published in Poland and France. It has been translated into more than twenty languages and honoured with the Bologna Ragazzi Award, the White Raven from the International Youth Library in Monaco, and the Grand Prix at the Tallinn Illustration Triennial in 2023.

Joanna Concejo in Estonia:

A selection of Joanna’s illustrations and books was first seen in Estonia as part of the exhibition “Look! Polish Picture Book!” organized by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk in 2016 at the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre. Several of her works were also exhibited at the Tallinn Illustration Triennial “The Power of Picture” in 2020 at the National Library of Estonia, where she was awarded Estonian-patterned gloves, which she happily wears in winter. On August 2, 2023, Joanna Concejo’s solo exhibition opened at the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre, which the author herself presented on September 8. The same exhibition has been displayed, with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, at the Central Library of Saare County, the children’s department of the Lääne County Library, and the Central Library of Tapa, and it has now reached the Tartu Public Library, the University of Tartu Library, and the Tartu Toy Museum, where Concejo’s illustrations are exhibited as part of the Prima Vista art program. From May 17 to June 16, a more extensive exhibition will be on display at the Estonian National Museum in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The artist herself will be in Tartu on May 16 and 17, leading tours of her exhibitions, conducting workshops, signing copies of the Estonian edition of Tokarczuk and Concejo’s book “The Lost Soul,” and participating in the opening of the exhibition on May 17 at noon at the Estonian National Museum.

Kalli Kalde (1967) has studied at the Tartu Art School and Tallinn University and currently works as a teacher of painting, drawing, and graphics at the Tartu Art School. She is a member of the Association of Estonian Printmakers and the Tartu Artists’ Union. Kalde has been exhibiting paintings and graphics since 1988, and her works have been selected for international exhibitions in many foreign countries. She has received the following awards: the jury medal in 2020 in Lodz, Poland (17th International Triennial of Small Graphic Forms), Graphic Artist of the Year 2019 (award by the Association of Estonian Printmakers), 1st prize in 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the 14th Lessedra International Print Exhibition, and 2nd prize in 2015 in Tidaholm, Sweden, at the 7th International Lithography Symposium.

“I was born in Tallinn, but I’ve lived most of my life in Tartu and have been involved in cultural management. So far, I have published my texts in Värske Rõhk, Vikerkaar, and Müürileht. My debut short story collection „Kafe” (‘Café’) was nominated for the Betti Alver Literary Award. I am a keen observer and an intuitive approach to writing is important to me. My hobbies include reading, swimming, walking, and journaling. I also enjoy going to the theatre, cinema, and exhibitions, and simply wandering around the city and in nature. At the moment, I am also studying urban planning in my master’s degree and I am interested in urban space topics.”

“I am a doctoral student in the Faculty of Philosophy, and articulation in one way or another is an integral part of my everyday life. What fascinates me in writing poetry is how familiar words can behave completely unpredictably. Sometimes, I only truly understand something when it has become a poem. With poetry, I try to express something I haven’t been able to say otherwise. It seems to me that many writers, whose poetry or books I love, write the same story over and over again, and so do I, until (if I’m lucky) I manage to capture that elusive essence.

Ilmamaa Publishing has released my debut collection ”Valguse teed minna” (Paths of Light to Go)”

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir (b. 1987) is an artist and poet. Among other things, she works with notes, sounds and words in her works, as well as performances. Her work often revolves around the unexpected and ridiculous, erasing the borders between different media. In 2018, she displayed her performance Lunar-10.13 & Gáta Nórensu at the Reykjavík Arts Festival, where poetry, music, installations and performances merged into one. Her works include a cod opera, humming choir piece, sound poetry choir piece and a vowel composition. Her latest book is called Gluggi – draumskrá (Window – Dream Register) and contains a list of dreams. Ásta has performed her compositions, poetry and performances at various festivals and exhibitions in Iceland and abroad. She received the Kópavogur poetry prize in 2017 and was nominated for Bernard Heidsieck literary prize, Pompidou in 2021.

Timo Toots is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Estonia. His artistic research concentrates on the relationships between humans, technology and nature. His work addresses the question of privacy in the surveillance society and the role of nature in the technological era. He has exhibited his works since 2006 in Europe, the US and Asia. His works are found in private collections as well as in Estonian Art Museum and ZKM ( Zentrum für Kunst und Medien). In 2012 Toots won Ars Electronica Golden Nica for interactive arts. In 2013 he founded a farm for art and tech called Maajaam. Together with Mari-Liis Rebane they run a small art center in the wilderness of South Estonia. It has an artist-in-residency program and different workshops for all kinds of art. Around the farm, they organize with a bigger team an outdoor technological art exhibition Wild Bits. On the side, he also invents playful objects in his studio Masinism.

Eve Kask (1958) graduated from the graphic design department of ERKI with a diploma in book design (1984). International success came in the late 1980s with colourful linocuts featuring mythological and feminist allusions (solo exhibitions in 1989 in Helsinki, and 1990 in Hamburg). However, Kask’s art has been in constant evolution over four decades. From the mid-90s, Kask experimented with organic materials (29 ½ at City Gallery in 1998) and became fascinated with artist books. In this century, she has moved towards anthropological documentary (“How to Speak of a Secret Palce Without Betraying It” at Shipyard in 2020) and the borderlands of socio-political art (“2+2=…” at Tartmus in 2018). Long-term art projects culminated in the publication of books such as “People and Houses of Käsmu” I and II (2003, 2019/20), “A Nearly Complete Guide to Estonian Bus Stops” (with Signe Kivi in 2008), “101” (the eyes of members of parliament in 2010), and “EE Estonia Success Story” (2018). Several art projects have been born from collaboration or employing interview methods, as in the ongoing series of twenty-three works from 2023 titled “Solitude and Solidarity”. Over the past couple of decades, Kask’s focus has been on individuals society, or community. She has had a total of 37 solo exhibitions both at home and abroad, in addition to participating in over a hundred group exhibitions and curating about 10 exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad.

Elisabeth Heinsalu (born 2003) is studying French language and literature at the University of Tartu. Her work has been published in Looming, Värske Rõhk, and in Estonian diaspora publications such as Kontakt and Elo. In 2023, Heinsalu’s debut poetry collection “Kui ma olin udu” (When I Was Mist) was published by Tuum Publishers. The book explores themes such as diaspora, justice, temptations, the individual in the city, and the darkness of the soul. The poetry collection is a laureate of the Little Hippy Fund manuscript competition and a nominee for the Betti Alver Literary Prize. Her poetry has been translated into Finnish and French.

Elisabeth enjoys travelling to the outskirts of the world and in her thoughts, discovering new cultures and languages, and watching indie films. She often yearns to return to the creatively inspiring island of São Miguel in the Azores. You can often find her running, playing tennis on the tennis court, or even horseback riding.

Mikk Tšaškin is a freelance writer. He was born in Tartu in 1998. As a child and teenager, he strongly wanted to become an architect. His interest in this field has persisted to this day, which is why his works have a very good sense of the surrounding space and environment. Tšaškin started writing at the age of 16 while attending school in Elva. Sometime later, life took him to Tartu, but now he is back in Elva. Mikk writes both short stories and poems. The recurring themes in his work are mental health and religion. His works are highly imaginative and rich in imagery. Mikk Tšaškin has published poetry and prose in the journals Värske Rõhk and Looming, as well as in the newspaper Müürileht. In the summer of 2023, his debut poetry collection “Paberist linn” (City of Paper) was published as the 33^rd work in the Fresh Book series.

Mirjam Parve was born in Tartu, grew up in Tallinn, came to Tartu to study semiotics and translation studies, and stayed here after graduating from university. She translates, writes, and edits the translation and diary section of Värske Rõhk, darns socks for principle, beauty, and peace of mind, grows crocuses and hyacinths on the window sill, wears moss on her back, and gradually tries to fear life and herring heads less. Her favourite and parasite word is “but”. In 2023, her first poetry collection “Varjukeha” (“Shadow Body”) was published, which won the Betti Alver debut Prize and was also nominated for the Cultural Endowment’s poetry prize. She is the 2022 recipient of the Juhan Liiv Prize and a Siuru scholarship holder.

“Literature is a place where one can dwell in complexity: there’s no need to tally up pluses, minuses, cents, and grams on an accountant’s ledger, or resolve contradictions. And yet, a sentence can also be decisively clear and simple like a flash of lightning. Both are necessary to be human. And within that contradiction, one can also dwell. And not turn away one’s eyes. These possibilities seem ethically and aesthetically vital lately. (But one personal ethical-aesthetic beacon for me is also Toomas Liiv’s thought that Hando Runnel’s children’s poem “Piglife” would ‘serve as an ethical-aesthetic beacon for adults too’.)”

Reijo Roos is an Estonian-Finnish poet who swims like Robert McDonald in his sea of money, but instead of money, there are words. Words in different languages. Often these words converge into poems, which in turn gather together into poetry collections, like “kured kotkad kajakad” or “tere kas tohib / tere kas võisõ”, or those that have not yet been published.

In 1952, John Cage was asked to write a manifesto for music, and he wrote: “Nothing is accomplished by writing a piece of music”. And indeed, similarly, the poet achieves nothing by writing a poem.

Silence, xii. @Noord-Holland”