
Vlada Urosevic (tr. Zoran Anchevski)
Katica Kjulavkova (tr. Sofija Popovska)
Zoran Anchevski (tr Zoran Anchevski)
Ivan Djeparoski (tr. Graham W. Reid, Zoran Anchevski)
Vladimir Martinovski (tr. Milan Damjanoski)
Natasha Sardzoska (tr. Natasha Sardzoska)
Andrej Al-Asadi (tr. Milan Damjanoski)
Seven Worlds of Macedonian Poetry
Macedonia (aka North Macedonia since 2019) has the oldest poetry festival in the world, the Struga Poetry Evenings, inaugurated in 1961, with a famed international award, the Golden Wreath of Poetry, presented to poets of great achievements such as Mahmoud Darwish, Yehuda Amichai, W. H. Auden, Joseph Brodsky, Seamus Heaney, Allen Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Eugenio Montale, Adonis, Ko Un, Bei Dao, etc. etc., but its own poets are not internationally recognized, at least not enough, even though the festival also awards Macedonian poets through the national Miladinov Brothers Award. Macedonia, a young country with an ancient history, standing at the crossroads of various civilizations and cultures, sharing borders with Greece, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia and Bulgaria, with constant upheavals and change of political powers, is rich in its literary tradition of numerous dimensions and its poetry is interesting in the multitudes of aesthetics.
The following seven poets were selected by Igor Radev (sinologist from N Macedonia) for the occasion of the first edition of Chinese-Macedonian Translation Workshops in Ohrid, ten minutes drive from the Struga festival. The title of the workshop was “Crossing Civilizations”. Indeed, we encountered different civilizations and cultures, not just poetry of another language. Igor’s role as a bridge between China and the Balkan region is another story. I thought I should take the opportunity to present to our Tupelo readers these seven extraordinary poets, across several generations, whose diversified voices constitute seven worlds of Macedonian poetry.
During my first trip to Struga Poetry Evenings in 2010, I met some extraordinary poets including Ilya Kaminsky, Jan Wagner, Sonata Paliulyte, Kerry Shawn Keys, Claudio Pozzani, Rati Saxena, Eleanor Livingstone, Mercedes Roffe, Boel Schenlaer, Tomas Venclova and many many more. The reading over the bridge of River Drim and the boat trip in Lake Ohrid at St. Naum Monastery and the other readings at several historical landmarks around the country were unforgettable. Everything looked familiar and fresh at the same time during my second time at the festival in 2017. The third time, in 2024, primarily for the translation workshop (with the honor of reading at the opening of the festival), extended the horizon further even though I was already impressed by the coexistence of monasteries and mosques back in 2010. I spent more time in the region in 2024, traveling around in the Balkan countries and attending Velestovo Poetry Night on the mountains of Galichica overlooking Lake Ohrid, one of the oldest and deepest lakes in the world.
And it was by the lake of Ohrid that the Chinese-Macedonian Translation Workshop took place, a week later, organized by Igor Radev and the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Vlada Urosevic was not present due to schedule conflicts with Struga Poetry Evenings but Xi Chuan and I translated his first poem into Chinese with the help of sinologist Sara Cvetanovska and I translated his two other poems afterwards. All the other six Macedonian poets were present. The workshop proceeded with group translation and group discussion among the poets from North Macedonia and China, assisted by three Macedonian sinologists, Igor Radev, Sara Cvetanovska and Elena Damjanoska, followed by further translation in pairs through email. Personally I was struck by the high level of distinguished participants and diversity of voices that I missed during my first two trips to the country. I had been more focused on international poetry previously and got to know very few Macedonian poets. Participating in the translation workshop opened windows for me to the depths of the poetry in this part of the world.
Katica Kjulavkova is a well respected poet and public intellectual in North Macedonia, out-spoken on many controversial issues concerning Macedonian identity, language and cultural heritages. I interviewed her while she took me to several unbelievable locations near and around Lake Ohrid, which I will address separately. Prior to the workshop, I translated her poems on Facebook and found two minds in her, one with unusual sensibility through intense lyricism, one with a high rationale and critical eye. She stands with the best writers and thinkers of her generation around the world.
I met Zoran Anchevski a few times previously but didn’t really talk until this time. He was sharp, intelligent and eloquent with a sense of humor. I had always been curious about literary influences, if any, on contemporary Macedonian poetry, whether Western/Eastern European, Serbian or Russian. I found some clues from the conversations with him. As a professor of English literature and translator for Struga Poetry Evenings, Zoran is very knowledgeable about poetry in all corners of the world. His successor Milan Damjanoski also gave insightful opinions on Macedonian poetry and world poetry. Ivan Djeparoski is a philosopher and critic in addition to being a poet, whose presence at the discussion was invaluable. Vladimir Martinovski, a younger poet, versatile in art and music, who travelled frequently, offered interesting poems based on his trips worldwide including China.
I was assigned to translate each other with Natasha Sardzoska after the workshop. She is also a diaspora poet like me but her multilingual talents and fascinating experience in many countries totally amazed me. Her poems hit me on a deep level. Andrej Al-Asadi is the youngest poet among this group but with a completely different background. I was seized by the “black” imagery when I was translating his first poem with Li Suo. His last poem “Refugees” speaks straight to my consciousness of the troubling contemporary world.
Direct translation as faithful as possible between Chinese and Macedonian was made possible with the invaluable help from Igor Radev, Sara Cvetanovska and Elena Damjanoska who are fluent in both languages. All the participating poets had a chance to read his/her poem(s) in the native tongues for the others to catch the tone, the gesture and attitude, etc. I would hate to see such an incredible experience only shared by the participants of the workshop. While still waiting for the Zoom reading, it is my great pleasure and honor to share the texts in English and Macedonian original versions and hopefully some readers would take a moment to explore the complexity and pluralism of Macedonian poetry through these seven windows and beyond.
Ming Di