POETRY// IN TRANSIT '95 -'99


Poetry/In Transit started its bilingual poetry readings in 1995, the same year that DCA (The Danish Contemporary Art Gallery) opened at 420 West Broadway in SoHo. In that year Kirsten Hammann. Janus Kodal and susanne Jorn read their poems in Danish at the Wootton Bookstore in Amherst Massachusetts, the translations read by local poets. Then the Danish writers traveled to New York to read their poems at the DCA, where the Danish artist Michael Kvium had a one-man show. The translations were read by three established New York poets.

The plan for Poetry/In Transit has been to promote Danish poetry in the U.S. by inviting three Danish poets annually for a period of five years, and to publish an anthology of the English translations of all fifteen readings after the final events in 1999. Selected translations have appeared in various publications, including The Prairie Schooner in the spring of 2000.

There are six professional translators involved in Poetry/In Transit. Three of them have received The Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prize, and all have published their translations in books or prominent literary magazines.

The visual artist Thorsten Dennerline has made original woodcuts and posters for the readings each year. These woodcuts will also appear in the anthology.

Although DCA has moved to 22nd Street in Chelsea, the poetry readings continue to be held there, underscoring the strong link between contemporary Danish poetry and the visual; arts. The Danish poets have been selected not only for their international caliber, but also because their texts are pregnant with visual imagery in various ways. The Danish artists exhibited at DCA have a visual world in common with the poets who are invited.

Since 1995, the poets have continued to read at other venues in addition to DCA: University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Columbia University in New York, McGill University in Montreal in Canada and other places in New York City as well.

In '98 the video artist Magaly Ponce made an art video of the readings, and she'll make another one this year, too. This year a Spanish/English version of the art video will be made as well.

ORGANIZERS:
Susanne Jorn Writer and translator. Started Poetry/In Transit in '95 and also read her poems. Translator of six of Poetry/In Transit's readings.

Marie-Louise Rosenstand Assistant director with experience at The Royal Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark, The Nationalscenen in Oslo, Norway, and with film director and composer Meredith Monk in New York USA

Magaly Ponce Video Artist. Creator of the video version of Poetry/In Transit'98. Her videos are shown at galleries and on TV in the U.S. The art video from '98 will be shown at a soud exhibition in The Round Tower in Copenhagen in September '99.

Thorsten Dennerline Printmaker and painter who has made each years woodcut for Poetry/In Transit. He has had shows in Copenhagen, Odense and Silkeborg, Denmark, as well as in New York, Syracuse, NY and Kansas City, MO USA.


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