November 7, 2007 -- What began as a modest homage to the great Czech Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha nine years ago has mushroomed into a festival of international poetry. From Cheb to Třeboň, theaters, schools and libraries will be celebrating verse throughout November with a wealth of workshops, readings and nights of music.

Prague will naturally be the center of the celebration, and though some of the events here will be inaccessible to monoglot English speakers, there are a number that are primarily geared for speakers of the Queen’s tongue. The launch of a new anthology of contemporary Czech poetry in English, Six Czech Poets, will be held at The Globe bookshop at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 14. Published by the British Arc Publications, the anthology boasts work from some of the finest Czech poets writing today. Joining translator and Prague-based poet Justin Quinn will be Petr Borkovec and Kateřina Rudčenková as well as Viola Fisherová, Petr Halmay, Zbyněk Hejda and Pavel Kolmačka. Borkovec and Quinn have worked very closely together, and a collection of the Czech’s selected poems, translated by Quinn, is forthcoming from the Welsh Seren Press.

Another book launch follows the next day at the same time and same venue, when the Globe throws open its dining room to Basque poets. Arc Publication’s Six Basque Poets is another new anthology of poetry in English, this time from the Basque region. Along with the readings in both the poets’ native tongue and in English, Basque music will be performed by Ruper Ordorika.

The Czech Center on Rytířská will hold an international poetry reading at 7 p.m. Sunday, November 18, with Israel’s Sabina Messeg, Portugal’s Francisco José Viegas and Romania’s Ioan Es. Pop. The evening might feel more like an eisteddfod with a reading by Welsh poet Christine Evans, accompanied with music on the Celtic harp by Alexandra L.

For more intrepid poetry audiences, there will be an evening devoted to modern Hungarian poetry at the Hungarian Cultural Center beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, November 12. A reading from some contemporary Romanian poets takes place at the Romanian Cultural Institute at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 15. Both will feature work in new Czech translations.

Moving away from Europe, there will be two events Saturday, November 17, dedicated to poetry in the Arab world. At 2 p.m. at Nová síň on Voršilská, there will be a discussion about the current state of poetry and publishing in predominately Muslim countries. At the same venue at 7:30 p.m. there will be an evening of Arab poetry and music featuring poets from Jordan, Algeria and Iraq.

Samira Negrouche, 9th Annual Prague International Poetry Days, 17th & 19th November


17. 11. sobota 19:30 hodin

Večer poezie a hudby z arabského světa

Vystoupí básníci Amjad Nasser (Jordánsko), Samira Negrouche (Alžírsko), Samuel Shimon (irák)

Nová síň, Voršilská 3, Praha 1

19. 11. pondělí 19:30 hodin

Samira Negrouche: Cabinet secret

Autorské čtení frankofonní alžírské básnířky a překladatelky. Uvádí Alexandra Buchler a Petr Borkovec.

Café a knihkupectví FRA, Šafaříkova 15, Praha 2