Mila Haugová at Lyriktreffen poetry festival in Münster

The motto of the 23rd edition of the biennial festival is Poetry and Everyday Life. In times of war, violence, pandemics and ecological crises, it is the everyday that becomes something we long for, say Aurélie Maurins and Anja Utler from the festival's artistic management. In addition, the language of poetry can bring new perspectives to our everyday reality. During the debates, the panellists will also address the question of what role poetry can play in everyday life.

Mila Haugová will present her poems at the Münster City Theatre on Friday 10 May at 7:15PM as part of the program block Poesie & Alltag I.: Von Zugewandtheit und Geduld (Poetry and Everyday Life: On Devotion and Patience). Swiss poet Franz Dodel and German author Lütfiye Güzel will join her on stage.

Mila Haugová’s most recently published book in German Zwischen zwei Leeren (Edition Korrespondenzen, 2020) offers selections from her collections A Doe Gazing at Polaris and Archives of Spaces. The author herself and the poet and translator Anja Utler translated the poems.

More than two dozen poets from German-speaking countries as well as from Ukraine, France and Croatia will be present at the festival. The program includes sections on poetry and comics, a project combining poetry and sound art called "everyday sounds", and a workshop on translating the poems of the prominent American writer and activist James Baldwin on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

This year, the Munster Prize for International Poetry will be awarded to the American poet Diane Seuss and her German translator Franz Hofner for their bilingual collection Frank: Sonnette.