European Poetry Prize Goes to Tomaz Salamun
Slovenian poet Tomaz Salamun and the translator of his poetry into German, Fabjan Hafner, are the recipients of this year's European Poetry Prize of the city of Muenster (Preis der Stadt Muenster fuer Europaeische Poesie). They will receive the award on 6 May, says the official homepage of the poetry festival "Lyrikertreffen Muenster".
Salamun, whose poetry has long been among the most translated Slovenian literary works, convinced the jury with his sovereignty in various language variants and tones.
According to the jury, Salamun is one of the most important Slovenian poets of his generation and Hafner succeeded in transmitting all of the nuances of his poetry into German.
Salamun, who was born in Zagreb in 1941, is considered as one of the foremost figures of the Eastern European poetical avant-garde. In 1964, as editor of a literary magazine "Perspektive", he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, but spent only 5 days in jail.
For several years he was the Slovenian cultural attache in New York. He now lives in Ljubljana.
The international poetry festival "Lyrikertreffen" was launched in 1979 and takes place every two years. Since 1993, the award ceremony is also a part of the festival, to run between 3 and 6 May 2007.
The EUR 15,000 prize will be presented for the eighth time by the Muenster City Council. The council awards the best foreign lyric poet and his German translator.
This prize is only one among many Salamun has received for his work, among them the Preseren Prize in 1999, the most important national award in the arts.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|