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.

Leaving For Prizren

I am soon to depart for Kosovo to attend the Drini Poetik International Festival of Poetry in Prizren, Kosovo on June 9th & 10th as a guest of the Lidhja e Shrimtarëve e Kosovës (Writers Union* of Kosova.)

The occasion of my attendance will be the publication of Tingujt e ëres: Lirikë e re amerikane (Sound of Winds: New American Lyrics) an anthology of American poetry collected and translated into Albanian by Lediana Stillo and published by the LShK. Several of my poems were included as were poems by New Orleans poet, Dave Brinks, who will also be attending.

France will be represented by Yvan Tetelbom.

I'm very excited.

* Depending on the circumstances, the Albanian word "lidhja" is translated into English as "League," "Association," or "Union." The program names the LShK as a "Union" though some of my earlier correspondence used the term "League" in English.

I'm going to Kosovo!

It has been quite some time since I have used this blog to discuss my poetry, but the other day I was officially notified that along with New Orleans poet Dave Brinks, I have been invited by the Writers' League of Kosovo (Lidhja e Shkrimtarëve e Kosovës) to represent the United States at Drini Poetik, an international poetry festival in Prizren, Kosovo on June 9th and 10th.

I do not know the full details yet, but I expect to have much to report after I return.

Special thanks to Lediana Stillo, who translated several of my poems into Albanian and without whom none of this would be possible.