For this year’s title of the TRADUKI programme at the Leipzig Book Fair 2024, we were inspired by the North Macedonian poet Nikola Madjirov. His poetic-philosophical essay (tr. Alexander Sitzmann, published in Sinn und Form) deals with “nonbelonging”, a feeling that often extends far beyond writing and into ‘real’ life. “Nonbelonging” is not something specific to Southeast European authors either; rather, the vast majority of people have a similar experience: it can be painful when you keep your distance from your “own” – whoever they may be and whatever that may exactly mean – or when a distance creeps into a relationship or a closeness never existed in the first place.
But not only pain, but also a creative force can be unleashed by this very “lack of belonging”: “I think this is the silent curse of writers: they betray their belonging at the very moment when they begin to feel they belong,” Madjirov writes in his essay. A curse? Possibly; but for us readers, it is rather a blessing when the North Macedonian poet says of himself: “I feel at home in the cave of nonbelonging” as this proves to be a “literary” productive state of being – the author as cave dweller! It is doubtful whether all the authors in this year’s TRADUKI programme share this self-perception, but we would like to ask about it in conversations and discussions. However, the invited authors are likely to agree with Madjirov on one thing: “The stories of forgotten objects are more important than the letters and orders signed by military leaders”.
Newcomers and some Leipzig regulars will be guests on the stage of our popular TRADUKI Kafana this year. Many of them will be presenting new German translations, some supported by TRADUKI. The authors will include Stefan Çapaliku, who explores the impossibility of love in the occupied Tirana of the 1940s, and Antonela Marušić, who outlines the realities of lesbian life and social inequalities on the Adriatic coast. Rene Karabash describes the lives of ‘traditional’ Albanian sworn virgins and alongside Bojan Savić Ostojić we will stroll through Belgrade’s flea markets and rescue books that have fallen out of time. Tatiana Țîbuleac takes us back to Moldova in the 80s and 90s, Nataša Krambergers poses the question of how we treat the environment and nature, and Aleksandar Hemon follows the trail of love between a Jew and a Muslim in the trenches of the First World War. With Zoltán Danyi and László Végel, we will present two Serbian authors from Vojvodina who write in Hungarian. Poetry is not to be missed: we present the award-winning Bulgarian poet Yordanka Beleva, and Nikola Madjirov will introduce us to Ivana Jovanovska, a young poet from North Macedonia.
At Café Europa, the political stage of the Leipzig Book Fair, we are organising two thematic panels this year: one discusses the Slovenian minority in fascist Italy, the other the situation and significance of the feminist discourse in Southeast Europe. And then, of course, there is the ‘one and only’ Balkan Night in the legendary UT Connewitz cinema on Saturday evening. Here – alongside other authors – Barbi Marković will delight us with her “Minihorror”. The evening shenanigans will be moderated by Vivian Perkovic and Amir Kamber to the music of the charismatic Croatian singer Sara Renar.
Drop by for a coffee at the TRADUKI Kafana (Hall 4 / D 403) and join us on our forays through the multifaceted poetics of nonbelonging. You will see how right the poet-philosopher Nikola Madjirov is when he writes: “Written words are like fish thrown into the well of a new reality – their wriggling keeps the water clean!”
Your TRADUKI team