Festival of Hope 1 / 27 April 2020

Waiting (by LK) For (by PP) What There Is Of Poetry (by GK)

A conversation between Lithuanian poets Laima Kreivytė, Paulina Pukytė and Giedrė Kazlauskaitė on "poetry in the time of quarantine and banality": is this an opportunity to develop new ways of thinking?

The curator of the event is award-winning poet, writer and representative of the Lithuanian Writers' Union Aušra Kaziliūnaitė.

This event as part of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union discussion project is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and pre-recorded especially for the Festival of Hope.

Biographies of the participants:

Laima Kreivytė (b. 1972) is a writer, artist and curator based in Vilnius. She has curated over 50 exhibitions including the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 53 Venice Biennale (2009), and M/A\G/M\A. Body and Words in Italian and Lithuanian Women’s Art from 1965 to the Present at the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome (2018). Laima Kreivytė has published two books of poetry: Sappho’s Reading Room (2013) and  Intimate Arithmetic (2019) and edited monographs on artists Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė and Kęstutis Zapkus. She was awarded with the Lithuanian Government Prize for the outstanding achievements in culture and art (2018).

Paulina Pukytė (b. 1966 in Vilnius) is an artist, writer, and cultural commentator. She writes experimental, inter-genre and inter-format literature employing appropriation, citation, recycling and constraint. She has published two fiction books: Jų papročiai (Their Habits2005), and Bedalis ir labdarys (A Loser And A Do-gooder2014); a play Žuvies akys (Fish Eyes2015), as well as poetry in periodicals and online publications. A theatre production of Bedalis ir labdarys premiered at the State Small Theatre of Vilnius in 2015. Extracts from A Loser And A Do-gooder were included in the anthology of Best European Fiction 2016, published by Dalkey Archive Press. She also writes critical and satirical articles on cultural issues and has published a collection of essays Netikras zuikis (Fake Rabbit, 2008). Her new fiction book lubinas ir seradėlė (Lupin and Serradella) is due to come out early next year.

Giedrė Kazlauskaitė was born 1980. In 2004 she finished her studies of Lithuanian language and literature at Vilnius University and in 2007 she got her Master's degree. She worked in a bookstore, and at magazines for youth, also in some newspapers, National Television and Radio (LRT). She has published a lot of reviews and essays in cultural press. Her poems were published in various almanacks and collections. She is and editor at editorial office of “Šiaurės Atėnai” since 2010. A member of Lithuanian Writers' Union since 2011. Latest books: Meninos: poems. – Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2014, Singerstraum: poems. – Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2016, Gintaro kambarys: poems. – Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 2018.

Aušra Kaziliūnaitė (poet, writer; 1987, Vilnius, Lithuania) is an author of four books of poetry. Her selected poems, The Moon is a Pill (Parthian Books, 2018) was published in English. The book was listed among the five best works of Baltic literature recently translated into English by literature expert Jayde Will. Her texts have been translated into sixteen other languages as well. Aušra Kaziliūnaitė has received numerous Lithuanian national awards including the Young Artist Prize from the Ministry of Culture (2016). She was invited to the International Writing Program 2018 (IWP) in the USA and awarded the Honorary Fellow in Writing by University of Iowa.

Author

Lithuanian Writers' Union

The Lithuanian Writers’ Union is an association of professional poets, prose authors, playwrights, translators, literary critics and literary scholars in Lithuania, which unites about 360 members. The LWU is actively engaged in looking after its members and ensuring their rights and representing the interests of Lithuania’s writers in their home country and abroad. The LWU is also responsible for international program of the biggest poetry festival in Lithuania – The Poetry Spring festival.