October 13: Albanian Writers Day in Worcester, MA

Satuday, October 13th: My friend Chad Parenteau and I will be reading from Tingujt e erës: Lirikë e re Amerikane or Sounds of Wind: New American Lyrics as part of Albanian Writer's Day at the Worcester Public Library.

Tingujt e erës is a bilingual anthology of American poets both in English and translated into Albanian by Lediana Stillo and edited by Abdyl Kadolli, and published by the Writers Union of Kosova (Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve e Kosovës.)

It was due to the publication of this book that I travelled to Kosovo this past June as a guest of the Writers Union. Some of my adventures were recounted here.

I should also note that outside of a few open mic appearances, this will be the first time I will have given a poetry reading in North America in several years.

Albanian Writers Day is presented by the Bleta Association and will run from 11am to 3pm. The event  is free and open to the public.

The Worcester Public Library is located at 3 Salem Square, Worcester MA 01608

Somerville Scout: An American Poet in Kosovo

Dave Brinks, Lediana Stillo, and yours truly at the League of Prizren Museum, in Prizren, Kosovo. Photograph by Abdyl Kadolli.

Sometimes, when not engaged in provocative reporting from the Theatre Communications Group, or analyzing efforts to disrupt a Shakespeare festival for political purposes and otherwise writing the story, I'm the subject of the story.

Eli Jace of the Somerville Scout interviews me regarding my recent trip to Kosovo as a guest of the Writers Union of Kosova at their Drini Poetik International Festival of Poetry to commemorate the publication of Tingujt e erës: Lirikë e re Amerikane (Sounds of Wind: New American Lyrics.

Ian Thal: An American Poet in Kosovo

Tingujt e erës/Sounds of Wind

I recently travelled to Prizren in the Republic of Kosova as a guest of the Writers Union of Kosova (Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve e Kosovës) at their Drini Poetik international poetry festival to celebrate the publication of
Tingujt e erës:Lirikë e re Amerikane or Sounds of Wind: New American Lyrics, a bilingual anthology of contemporary American poetry collected and translated into Albanian by Lediana Stillo an Albanian poet and playwright who lives in the United States, edited by Abdyl Kadolli, with cover art by Shpend Bengu, and layout by Tafil Duraku.

Featured poets include Craig Arnold, Dave Brinks, Megan Burns, Maggie Cleveland, Timothy Donnelly, Stuart Greenhouse, Anatoly Molotkov, Chad Parenteau, John Sibley Williams and myself.

I travelled to Prizren with Dave Brinks and Lediana Stillo, enjoyed the festival and spent the week learning about Kosova. I hope to be sharing with you stories of my adventures abroad in the near future.

My understanding is that the collection will be used as a textbook in teaching the translation of literary English into Albanian.