Six poets from abroad and more than 60 local poets performed in front of an audience of about five hundred attendees at the third edition of the Skopje Poetry Festival, which took place on September 27 and 28 at several locations in Skopje.

An international poetry reading featuring poets Maram al-Masri (France/Syria), Immanuel Mifsud (Malta), Lana Derkac (Croatia), Martin Glaz Serup (Denmark), Dragoslav Dedovic (Serbia), Alen Brlek (Croatia) and Nikolina Andova Shopova (Macedonia) took place on the last night of the third edition of the Skopje Poetry Festival, which closed on September 28 with a solo guitar concert by Aleksandar Boshkov and guest Adi Imeri.

The events of the festival program took place in several locations in Skopje, namely in the Youth Cultural Center ‒ Skopje (cinema "Frosina"), in the city library "Brača Miladinovci" ‒ Skopje and in the cafe-bookstore "Bukva", and six poets from abroad and more than 60 domestic poets in front of an audience of about five hundred attendees.

The program of the festival included several poetry readings, book promotions, a photo exhibition, several poetry films were shown, a masterclass was held, i.e. a workshop for creative poetry writing with Immanuel Mifsud (Malta), a panel discussion on increasing the visibility of the Macedonian literature abroad and yoga in nature with poetic meditation.

The third edition of the Skopje Poetry Festival was opened on September 27 with the poetry reading entitled "Air. Wind. Breathing." Sande Stojcevski, Lulzim Haziri, Monika Stojanovska, Perica Sardzoski, Igor Trpceski, Nikolina Andova Shopova, Daria Jovanovska, Dragoslav Dedovic (Serbia), Lana Derkac (Croatia), Alain Brlek (Croatia), Maram al-Masri (France/ Syria), Immanuel Mifsud (Malta) and Martin Glaz Serup (Denmark). The reading was accompanied by Perica Sardjoski, Vladimir Martynovski and Vladimir Lukash with musical improvisation on wind instruments.

At the event "Out & About", a panel discussion on increasing the visibility of Macedonian literature abroad through translations and participation in literary festivals, which took place in the city library "Brača Miladinovci", the experiences were shared by Todorce Tasevski (director of "Strushke večeri" of poetry"), Vladimir Jankovski (editor of the publishing house "Goten"), Dejan Trajkoski (director of the festival "Pro-za Balkan"), Biljana Crvenkovska (translated author and editor of the publishing house "Cudna Šuma") and Petar Andonovski ( translated author).

At the festival, the poetry anthologies "New Birth of the Word: Anthology of Young Macedonian Poetry", edited by Vesna Mojsova-Chepishevska and Ivan Antonovski, published by "PNV Publications", were promoted, at which three dozen of the represented forty-two young poets and poetesses performed. and "Izbor iz savremene Macedonian poeziye", which poetess Valentina Bakti arranged and sang in Serbian. Morning yoga classes with poetic meditation were led by Marija Georgieva in the Francophonie Park.

As a pre-event to the Skopje Poetry Festival, intended for young poets and poets aged 16 to 25, on September 24, "Stepping Board #2" was held in the "Bukva" cafe-bookstore, where fifteen young poets and poetesses participated: Angela Boshkoska , Satja Aleksandar Davitkov, Sofia Dobrevska, Damjan Zlatanovski, Hristian Ilievski, Daria Jovanovska, Makrina Jordanova, Marko Ivan Kocishki, Iva Petresca, Teodora Prokopovska, Milena Siljanoska, Stefan Spasovski, Pepi Stamkov, Sara Stojanovska and Metodija Tasevski. The participants themselves, by voting, chose Daria Jovanovska, a young poet from Skopje, as their representative at the official opening of the festival.

On the same evening, the poetic and musical performance "Inexhaustible - a tribute to Bosko Bozadzievski" was held at the VIS "Round Table", dedicated to the poet and actor Bosko Bozadzievski (1981 - 2008).

This year's edition of the festival was made possible by the Ministry of Culture and "Traduki", and its supporters were the Youth Cultural Center ‒ Skopje, the city library "Brača Miladinovci" ‒ Skopje, the cafe-bookstore "Bukva", the Croatian Society of Writers (HDP), the Danish Foundation for art, "PNV Publications" and "Best Western Hotel Tourist".

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" number 198, in the printed edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 30.09-01.10.2023)