Six poets from opposite sides of the globe are meeting for a special once-in-a-lifetime experience next month.
The
Transit of Venus Poetry Exchange brings together three German and three
New Zealand poets to witness the Transit of Venus on June 6, followed
by two public presentations in Wellington, where the poets will talk
about the inspiration derived from their transit experiences.
The
Transit of Venus is a rare astronomical phenomenon where Venus appears
as a small dot gliding across the sun. On June 6, a series of
celebrations will be centred at Tolaga Bay on the East Coast, where
Captain James Cook anchored after witnessing this event in Tahiti in
1769.
The German poets visiting New Zealand are Uwe Kolbe,
Brigitte Oleschinski and Ulrike Almut Sandig and will work alongside New
Zealand poets
Hinemoana Baker,
Glenn Colquhoun and
Chris Price in Tolaga Bay.
After
the Transit, the group will head to Wellington to take part in creative
workshops at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern
Letters.
New Zealand host and International Institute of Modern
Letters chair Professor Bill Manhire says the poets’ visit offers a
unique opportunity for an international exchange of language and
culture.
“Poets have always gazed up at the stars, and it will be
fascinating to watch how these creative minds spark off each other and
to see how an event like the Transit of Venus inspires their work.”
In
October the New Zealand poets complete the exchange by travelling to
Berlin to meet up with their German counterparts and to reinterpret each
other’s work with the help of translators in a unique cultural
exchange.
The poets will then travel to Frankfurt to take part in
a programme showcasing New Zealand’s literary and artistic endeavours
as part of the Frankfurt Book Fair, where New Zealand is this year’s
Guest of Honour.
The exchange is being organised by the Ministry
for Culture and Heritage, the Goethe-Institut New Zealand with funding
support from the German Foreign Office, the Berlin Literaturwerkstatt
and Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters.
Goethe-Institut
director Bettina Senff said she was proud to be involved in such a
creative endeavour that is not only of historical significance but would
also highlight the talents of both countries’ poets.
Media and the public are invited to two public presentations in Wellington:
Passages: Reading around the TransitAdam
Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington Wednesday 13 June 2012 6pm
Free entry A panel discussion with readings: German and New Zealand
poets respond to the Transit of Venus 2012 celebrations at Tolaga Bay,
exploring the process of writing about this extraordinary astronomical
phenomenon
Berlin Poetry NightNew Zealand
Film Archive, Ghuznee St, Wellington Thursday 14 June 2012 5pm Free
entry Listen to the poets from Berlin and to Aurélie Maurin from the
Berlin Literaturwerkstatt introducing the ZEBRA poetry film award and
the online poetry project LYRIKLINE.
For more information contact:
Lucy Orbell, Communications Adviser, Ministry for Culture and Heritage
04 496 6176
027 6222 774
Bill Manhire, International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University
04 463 6808
Bill.manhire[AT]vuw.ac.nz
Bettina Senff
Director
Goethe-Institut New Zealand
04 385 6924
arts[AT]wellington.goethe.org
The poet and writer Uwe Kolbe
was born in East Berlin in 1957. After leaving school he met the German
author Franz Führmann who was to become his mentor, and it was through
Führmann that Kolbe had the opportunity to publish a number of poems.
His first book, “Hineingeboren“ (Born into), was published in Weimar.
Kolbe’s work was highly controversial and publication of his works was
banned in the GDR. As a result of this, Kolbe worked increasingly as a
translator of among others, the Spanish author, García Lorcas. As
co-editor of the magazine Mikado he was able to circumvent his
publication ban and continue to publish his own works. In 1985 Kolbe
travelled in Western Europe and was a visiting lecturer at universities
in Austin, Texas and Vienna. He moved to Hamburg in 1987 and received
many prizes and awards, most recently, the Heinrich Mann Prize from the
Academy of the Arts in Berlin in 2012. Between 1997 and 2002 he was head
of the studio of literature and theatre at the University of Tübingen.
Since then he has returned to live in Berlin and is one of Germany’s
most well-known contemporary authors.
Brigitte Oleschinski
was born in Köln in 1955. She studied Political Science at the Free
University in Berlin and worked as a contemporary historian on issues
concerning political repression in totalitarian systems. She has worked
as a guest lecturer and translator, participated in poetry performances
and collaborated on the internet project www.neuedichte.de. Oleschinski
has published a poetry collection including “Mental Heat Control“ and
“Your Passport is Not Guilty“ and was awarded the Peter Huchel Prize in
1998, the Ernst Meister Prize in 2001 and in 2004 the Erich Fried Prize.
From 2003 and 2005, together with Indonesian artists, she performed the
poetry performance “Laut Lesung” (According to Reading) in Germany,
Indonesia and Mexico. Her poetry collection „Geisterströmung“ was
published in 2004. She currently lives in Berlin as a freelance writer.
Ulrike Almut Sandig was
born in 1979 in Großenhain and grew up near Dresden. Together with
Marlen Pelny, she set up the literature project “augenpost”. After
beginning a degree in journalism, she graduated with a master’s degree
in Religious Studies and modern Indian Studies and made extended
language study trips to India. Her first poetry collection “Zunder” was
published in 2005, followed by “streumen” in 2007, for which Sandig was
supported with a residency in Sydney. In 2006 Sandig was awarded the
Meran Poetry Prize. Sandig has published poems, prose and radio stories
and between 2007 and 2009 she was the editor of the literary magazine
EDIT. The Südwestrundfunk radio station broadcast her first radio play
“Hush little Baby” in 2008, directed by Robert Schoen. Her second radio
play “Unter Wasser”, was broadcast in April 2010 and directed by Judith
Lorentz. In 2009 Sandig was awarded the Leonce and Lena Prize. For her
collection of stories “Flamingos”, which was published in 2010, Sandig
was awarded a scholarship to spend time at the Literarisches Colloquium
in Berlin.
