In this week of literary updates, our news range from recent award winners to support for incarcerated writers by PEN centres around the globe. Read further to catch up on the Guadalajara International Book fair, PEN Philippines’ statement on ‘The Day of the Imprisoned Writer,’ and a new contribution to Macedonian cultural studies!
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, reporting from the Philippines
On ‘The Day of the Imprisoned Writer,’ commemorated annually November 15, PEN Philippines joined PEN centres across the globe in issuing a statement calling for the release of Filipino poets Amanda Socorro Lacaba Echanis, Adora Faye de Vera, and Benito C. Quilloy, children’s book author Eduardo Sarmiento, and journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio—incarcerated writers who have been arrested on trumped-up charges and detained for years. “We continue to raise our voices to call for their release, and for the Philippine government to serve these detainees the justice that is due them under our system of laws—as is but right,” the statement declared.
PEN centres globally have also demanded the release of Iryna Danylovych (Occupied Crimea), María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez (Cuba), Soulaimane Raissouni (Morocco), and Go Sherab Gyatso (Occupied Tibet). “PEN Philippines has been championing this cause for the past 65 years, and we continue to uphold that advocacy,” PEN Philippines furthers.
PEN Philippines’ statement is available in English, Filipino, and Ilocano versions.
José García Escobar, Editor-at-Large, reporting on Central America
Guatemala’s most beloved bookstore, SOPHOS, has just celebrated its 25th anniversary with many activities. Spanish sci-fi writer Jorge Carrión (Los muertos, Los huérfanos, Los turistas), Argentine writer Dolores Reyes (Cometierra, Miseria), and Spanish author Nuria Barrios (El alfabeto de los pájaros, Nostalgia de Odiseo) are some of the authors that joined SOPHOS’ anniversary. Another great Guatemalan bookstore, Catafixia Centro, is about to celebrate its first anniversary. In just a year, Catafixia Centro has quickly established itself as a carefully curated and innovative bookstore, and has housed unique activities with artists such as the legendary Guatemalan poet Simón Pedroza and the novelist, screenwriter, and director Guillermo Arriaga (Amores perros, 21 Grams).
Moving north, many Central American authors joined this year’s edition of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), including Sergio Ramírez (Nicaragua), Carol Zardetto (Guatemala), Michelle Recinos (El Salvador), Mauricio Orellana Suárez (El Salvador), and Shirley Campbell Barr (Costa Rica).
Finally, Nicaraguan novelist and poet Gioconda Belli won this year’s Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana. Poets like Raúl Zurita, José Emilio Pacheco, Nicanor Parra, and Gioconda’s compatriots Claribel Alegría and Ernesto Cardenal received the award previously.
Sofija Popovska, Editor-at-Large, reporting from North Macedonia
On November 29, the Cultural-Information Center in Skopje served as a site for the promotion of a valuable new contribution to Macedonian cultural studies: Mishel Pavlovski’s new work, “Trauma and Theatre: Goran Stefanovski”. In his thorough, wide-ranging exploration of cultural trauma, Macedonian identity, and Stefanovski’s plays, Pavlovski not only explores the work of one of the central authors in Macedonian history, but also throws into relief issues that still haunt Macedonian minds.
Stefanovski is undeniably one of the most multifaceted and recognizable figures in Macedonian culture. His work spans universal human concerns as well as localized challenges engendered by the uncertain, shifting post-communist socio-political landscape. Perhaps his best-known work, the seminal play Divo Meso (Wild Flesh), is a vibrant example of the intermingling of these concerns, rich as it is with clashing voices and textures.
Set in the interwar period, the drama recounts the downfall of the Skopjan Andreevikj family. This downfall is a mosaic of dead ends, where human striving for happiness becomes resigned and bestial when refracted through the lens of a politically and economically disempowered existence; Dimitrija, the patriarch, carves a whistle that will fail to make a sound when he attempts to play it in the final act, while Stefan, the middle son, will fire a bullet meant for a German business executive (who expropriates the Andreevikj family home through deceit) into the air. Andreja, the youngest son, will be imprisoned after a failed revolution and Simon, the oldest, will die of a heart attack, blaming all but himself for his terrible choices. By skillfully interweaving character arcs without losing track of the (rather dark and troubling) local color of their environment, Stefanovski manages to illuminate the many wounds of Macedonian society, both externally- and self-inflicted.
Now, Pavlovski, a professor of cultural studies at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, provides the public with a structured and lucid overview of Stefanovski’s work, foregrounding the themes of cultural and identity trauma underpinning his dramaturgical output, which, as noted by the Cultural-Information Center, “have become especially relevant in these past few years”, both globally and in North Macedonia.
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