The European Poet of Freedom is a literary award, poetry festival and publishing series showcasing volumes shortlisted for the given edition of the competition. The finalists of the 2024 European Poet of Freedom Literary Award of the City of Gdańsk are six poets and their translators: Mirela Ivanova (Bulgaria), Darko Cvijetić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Monika Herceg (Croatia), Anja Erämaja (Finland), Arvis Viguls (Latvia), and Miriam Van hee (The Netherlands). Winners of the competition, which presents the most interesting European poetry, will be named in spring 2024 in Gdańsk and receive PLN 100,000 (poet) and PLN 20,000 (translator), respectively. The Festival and Award are organised by the City Culture Institute, which also publishes the shortlisted volumes.
‘Each of the nominees represents a different poetic personality, and – while freedom plays the utmost role in their work – it appears in different meanings and dimensions: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of the human being and the human community, freedom of imagery and style… At times, we are dealing with a subtle, intimate story of pain and loneliness; at other times, with a subdued, lyrical confession of human longings and emotions; at others still, with an amazingly poignant reflection on freedom after tragic historical events and a fundamental question about their meaning. The proposed volumes are filled with sadness and pensiveness but also sensuality, fantasy, humour, and self-irony. The jury will definitely have a tough time choosing the winner but we may already promise six brilliant poetry books to our readers,’ said Andrzej S. Jagodziński, secretary of the Award jury.
The EPF Award finalists are selected by a jury composed of Anna Czekanowicz, Krzysztof Czyżewski (chair), Paweł Huelle, Zbigniew Mikołejko, Stanisław Rosiek, Anda Rottenberg, Beata Stasińska, and Olga Tokarczuk. The jury’s secretary, who does not take part in the vote, is Andrzej Jagodziński. The nominees are poets and their translators.
After the announcement of the European Poet of Freedom Award finalists, work on the translation, editing and graphic layout of the volumes begins. They will be published in Poland for the first time during the European Poet of Freedom Festival in the spring of 2024. The volumes published so far, including by 2022 EPF winners, are available from the CCI online store.
You may get to know the authors shortlisted for the 2024 European Poet of Freedom Literary Award of the City of Gdańsk here (link).
The European Poet of Freedom festival is organised by the City Culture Institute, which also publishes the poetry volumes. The European Poet of Freedom Literary Award is funded by the City of Gdańsk.