Due to Covid restrictions this event has been postponed. It will now be held on the afternoon of January 23.
September 2021
Janneke Spoelstra was the Poet of the Month in September 2021. A translation of one of her poems for that month – ‘Change of pace’ – is published below. You can read the original Frisian poem – ‘It ferrin’ – here.
Change of pace I’m walking with my mum, she matches my stride. … My mum is walking with me, I match her stride. © Janneke Spoelstra Translation: Trevor Scarse
August 2021
Ina Schroders-Zeeders was the RIXT poet of the month August 2021. You can read her original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Brass hats’ – is published here.
Autumn 2021 A rain falls, summer will soon end Whoever’s fearful can feel the darkness That will prevail in those months draw near. The clammy news which frames the time Spills from our screens into our lives. We go to bed with blinkers on. The compassion we’re so proud of during the day Is engulfed by a black dreamless sleep. Verbally exhausted, ignorant of the Taliban, Covid and climate, until the rain Betrays something of reality. Summer will soon end but it was all for nothing. © Ina Schroders-Zeeders Translation: Trevor Scarse
Cornelis van der Wal to read at Transpoesie festival on 14 October
Cornelis van der Wal will perform at one of the events of the Transpoesie poetry festival in Brussels. He will share the stage of the Muntpunt library with five poets from all across Europe: Being Bergsson from the Faroe Islands, Kārlis Vērdiņš from Latvia, Rita Kogan from Israel, Ondřej Macl from the Czech Republic and Radu Bata from Romania. They will read form their own work and discuss the topic of Freedom and Identity in poetry. The event will be recorded and made available to view at a later date.
The Transpoesie festival is held from 23 September to 21 October and consists of a variety of events. The festival celebrates multilingualism by bringing poetry in dozens of languages to Brussels. It marks the annual European Day of Languages and Linguistic Diversity on 26 September. This year’s theme To be in the (k)now – poetry as a means of social expression explores poetry in the contemporary and post-pandemic present, sharing words from around the world in the heart of Europe. The TRANSPOESIE online and offline events will contribute to raising awareness of the diversity of languages by providing a visible platform for their poetic expression.
More information is available at www.skriuwersboun.nl and www.transpoesie.eu as well as their respective Facebook pages.
First edition of It Literêr Sirkwy poetry evenings on October 9 in cafe Marktzicht in Drachten
Frisian Poet Collective RIXT is bringing It Literêr Sirkwy (The Literary Circuit) back with a new series of literary evenings in 2021-2022. Poetry and music are the fixed ingredients, as is an open mike after the break. Saturday evening 9 October is the kick-off with the first Literary Circuit in café Marktzicht in Drachten.
The first evening will open with the various RIXT poets who participated in RIXT on the Ark at the end of July. Thus, the title of the evening: Ark in sight. In the Writers’ Ark on the Veenhoop, RIXT poets collaborated with poets Sigrid Kingma and Arjan Hut and musician Bruno Rummler. The poetry and music that they produced will be presented in café Marktzicht.
Before the break, there will be performances by the poets Arjan Hut, Sigrid Kingma, Edwin de Groot, Syds Wiersma, Carla van der Zwaag and Janna van der Meer. The last two poets will be accompanied by Bruno Rummler.
The evening will also pay tribute to the poetry of Tsjisse Hettema, who wanted to participate in RIXT on the Ark but passed away suddenly in the week before the project would take place. Hettema’s fourth collection of poems Hewwy dát will soon be published posthumously by the publisher Frysk en Frij. Poems from that volume will be read at Marktzicht.
After the break, there will be an open stage and Bruno Rummler will perform solo material. Anyone who wants to perform poetry (their own or by someone else) during the open mike stage is very welcome. Please register beforehand at: ynfo@rixt.frl. The evening in Drachten will be hosted by Edwin de Groot.
The Literary Circuit was first organised in 2005 and has been a steady stage for writers, poets and musicians for ten years. In those years it was an initiative of It Skriuwersboun. The baton has now been passed on to the poet collective RIXT and it will organise a number of literary evenings in various places in Fryslân. This new series is made possible by the Province of Fryslân.
Date: October 9, 2021 Place: Drachten, café Marktzicht, Aldewei 14 Time: 20.00 - 22.00 hours Admission: free Welcome to the afterparty too! Please take into account the applicable corona measures
Poet of the Month October
The Poet of the Month October is Cornelis van der Wal.
You can read the Frisian poems over on our Frisian site and an English translation of one poem will be published here.
Line of Rixt
Today is the 134st birthday of the poet Rixt (Grou, 27 septimber 1887). To mark that occasion, we have asked our participating poets to write a poem based on the following line by Rixt:
de hiele wrâld draach ik op ien fingers-ein
This line comes from the poem ‘Yn ’t lêstoan’ from her collection De Gouden Rider (s. 51).
You can find the poems sent in to us, on our Frisian website.