Eastern Express
A series of meetings, discussions, Q & As with Eastern European writers, artists and intellectuals. One of the most prominent obstacles to the development of cultural cooperation, overcoming cultural barriers and disarming stereotypes regarding the culture of Eastern Europe is the language barrier. Although it does not constitute any major threat to other domains of cultural praxis (music, the visual arts), it does indeed dwarf the reception of literature as well as the broadly defined exchange of ideas. This year we would like to draw our (and the audience’s) attention to the Czech Republic and Armenia.
Additionally, as part of the series, Q & As with artists will be organised, offering audience members a chance to hear about their experience, reflections and inspirations.
• „The code of the contemporary Armenian literature"
Participants: Karen Antashyan, Anna Davtyan, Gemafin Gasparyan, Sargis Hovsepyan
Moderator: Andrij Saweneć
A discussion about the challenges faced by the young generation of Armenian writers, the role of tradition in Armenian literature, about taboo, the creative role of new media in culture and about the presence of Armenian literature in the world.
When: 11 July 2015
Karen Antashyan – a poet and author of three collections of poetry. Founder of the literary club "Granish" (granish.org) and the literary magazine focusing on the promotion of the Armenian language and literature, as well as of the portal granish.com which presents the contemporary Armenian literature translated into English and writers of Armenian descent who write in English.
Anna Davtyan – a poet, short story writer and translator of contemporary English literature. She studied English at the Yerevan State University, she is also a graduate of photography. The author of the Armenian-English book of poetry "Book of Gratitude" (2012).
Gemafin Gasparyan – a poet, social activist, founder of the intellectual Internet TV station Boon.am.
Sargis Hovsepyan – a novelist and a screenwriter, he graduated from the State Institute of Theatre and Cinema in Yerevan. He has published short stories, plays, film scripts and non-fiction works in various literary journals. The author of the book "Domino" (2012). He is currently working on several film scenarios.
Andrij Saweneć ¬– born in 1977 in Kornyn, Ukraine. A translator and scholar. A graduate of the Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University (Ukrainian and English philology) and the European College of Polish and Ukrainian Universities. He holds a PhD in humanities and is a lecturer at the English Department of the University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz and at the Ukrainian Department of the Catholic University in Lublin. During his studies he published two volumes of poetry: "Introspecto" (1996) and "Symwoł Sygmy" (1998). The author of the monograph „Poezja w przekładzie: „ukraińska” Szymborska” ["Poetry in Translation: "Ukrainian" Szymborska" (2006). Co-editor of a report on the state of culture and NGOs in Ukraine (2013). He has published his translations of two tomes of poetry by Wislawa Szymborska, as well as "Poem about the city of Lublin" by Józef Czechowicz (2005). He has also translated the poetry of Stanisław Barańczak, the letters of Jerzy Giedroyc and essays by Józef Łobodowski. He translated the poems of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Jim Morrison from English. He lives in Lublin.