Days of Poetry and Wine Festival
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30 Oct 2013
6 Nov 2013
Part two of the Japanese-Slovenian translation workshop (part one was organised during Days of Poetry and Wine Festival 2012) including literary readings by Gašper Bivšek, Milan Dekleva, Katja Perat, and Aleš Šteger, organised by Študentska založba Publishing House,
The festival was initiated in 1998 by the Študentska založba Publishing House, Ljubljana. In the recent years it has been expanded to offer more than just poetry and wine: it features numerous concerts, a selection of recent Slovene films, choreographic shows, street theatre, visual and spatial interventions, a programme for children ... One of its goals is examining crossing points between poetry and other art forms and providing an opportunity for discussions between authors and local and international publishers on different topics.
The festival has seen some notable guests in the recent years: in 2009 it was attended by Rumen Leonidov from Bulgaria and Durs Grünbein from Germany. In 2008 other poets were joined by Lars Gustafsson from Sweden and Paul Muldoon from Ireland (all of which are regarded as modern poetry classics). Študentska založba also took this opportunity to publish collections of their poetry.
Before the official start of the festival in Medana, the poets take part in an event named Medana before Medana and present their work in other towns all over the country. In 2009 they had poetry readings in Ljubljana, Ptuj, Padna, Vrba, Volče and Krško.
A comprehensive multilingual volume of participants' poetry and a special festival bottling of vintage wines accompanies each festival. The poems are presented on the festival website.
The event has had many sponsors in recent years, including Študentska založba Publishing House, the Brda Community, the Ministry of Culture and winegrowers from Medana. A genuine contact has been established between the locals and their guests as full board and private lodging is provided for all guests, along with the expenses relating to the programme (only travel expenses to Ljubljana should be covered by participants).