site.btaBulgarian Poets Join 63rd Struga Poetry Evenings

The 63rd Struga Poetry Evenings festival in Struga, North Macedonia began with the traditional lighting of the poetic fire, the Bulgarian Cultural Information Centre in Skopje said on Friday. This year, the festival is working with the Bulgarian Cultural and Information Centre in Skopje and has the theme "Touching Beauty". This theme pays tribute to Braille, developed 200 years ago, which made reading possible for the blind.

North Macedonia President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova and North Macedonia Culture Minister Zoran Ljutkov attended the opening ceremony.

Poli Mukanova, a Bulgarian poet with many poetry books like "Moments in a Matchbox" (2009) and "Was Sisyphus Happy?" (2022), is representing Bulgaria at the poetry festival in Struga.

Writer Yordanka Beleva has been officially invited to the Struga Poetry Evenings. She also took part in the International Prose Festival in Kumanovo.

French poet and playwright Jean-Pierre Siméon won this year's Golden Wreath at the festival. As usual, a tree was planted in the Park of Poetry to honour him.

The Struga Poetry Evenings included many international readings and tributes to poets from North Macedonia, like Petre M. Andreevski, Gane Todorovski, and Mateja Matevski. They also held a traditional poetry café with poets from the Versopolis platform.

On Sunday, there will be poetry readings and the giving of the Golden Wreath, Bridges of Struga, Miladinov Brothers, and Young Struga awards. An international poetry event will be held in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje on August 26, 2024.

The Struga Poetry Festival started in 1961 and went international in 1966.