Ko UN has long been known as “a living legend”, “a phenomenon”, and “a national treasure” in Korea, both as a poet and as a person. Allen Ginsberg once wrote, “Ko Un is a magnificent poet, a combination of Buddhist cognoscente, passionate political libertarian, and naturalist historian”. Ko Un is widely acknowledged to be Korea’s foremost contemporary poet with an immense literary achievement of 155 books, out of which about 70 are poetry books. He was born in 1933 in South Korea. He began to write poems at the age of twelve. During the Korean War in 1950 he went through a mental breakdown and made his first attempt at suicide. Before the end of the war, he joined a Buddhist monastery and became a Buddhist monk. In 1957 he founded the first Buddhist Newspaper, where he published poems, essays, and novels until 1962, when he left the Buddhist community. In 1970 he was awakened to the social reality of his country by the selfimmolation of a labourer and became vigorously engaged in political and social activities, opposing the military regime and joining the struggle for human rights and the labour movement. During 1974–1982, he was many times and for long periods persecuted by the KCIA with arrests, house arrests, detentions, tortures. In 1980 he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but thanks to the international movement for his rescue he was set free with a general pardon. In 1983, at the age of 50, he married Lee Sang-Wha, a professor of English literature, and settled in Anseong. While living in Anseong for 30 years, he published 110 books including the seven-volume epic Mount Paekdu, and a huge thirty-volume poetry project Maninbo (Ten Thousand Lives), containing 4,001 poems. He has received more than 30 prestigious literary awards and honours at home and abroad, and his work was translated in over 25 countries. For several years he has been the number one Korean candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Marilar ALEIXANDRE was born in 1947. She claims that writing is a form of stealing. If so, then writing in a foreign language is a double theft. Born in Madrid, Marilar Aleixandre arrives later in Galicia, where she learns Galician and starts writing literature, claiming afterwards in a poem that she is an identity thief. This double identity means, on one side, her activity as a biologist teaching at University of Santiago de Compostela, on the other side, her activity as a writer, poet and translator. Throughout her career, Marilar Aleixandre received several awards for her poetry, including the Award Esquío for her collection of poems Catálogo de velenos (1998), and the PEN-Caixanova Prize for Shiftings (2008), a rewriting of Ovid’s Metamorphosis from women’s point of view. Other poetry books: Belying Spring (2002), An Alphabet of Trees (2006), and Stray Sheep (2014). Unwriting, a new volume of poems, is due to be published this year. The Galician writer published fiction, as well as children’s and youth literature: Lobos nas Illas (1996), Teoría do caos (2001), A expedición do Pacífico (1995). Marilar Aleixandre’s writings have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and English, as part of several volumes of both prose and poetry.

Vladimir ĐURIŠIĆ was born in Podgorica (Titograd), in 1982. He graduated from Music Academy in Cetinje. Currently he is working on his Ph.D. in Theory of Art. Đurišić writes poetry, essays, theoretical texts. He is a literary translator from English, and a composer. His poems were published by several literary magazines. His poetry book, Nothing Will Soon Explode, published in 2007, received the Risto Ratković Award for poetry. Vladimir Đurišić had the role of curator for Njegoshiations project, and that of spotter for Espressivo Music Festival. He is the founder and chief editor of www.proletter.or literary site. Currently, he is teaching Music History, and Stylistics at Music Academy in Cetinje.

Menna ELFYN, born in Wales, is known as the author of numerous poetry books, youth literature books, plays, and libretti. She teaches Creative Writing and Poetry at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. She is the first Welsh woman to receive the title of ‘professor’. Menna Elfyn published over 13 poetry books, including: Aderyn Bach Mewn Llaw (Bird in Hand, 1990), winner of the Wales Book of the Year Award, supported by the Arts Council of Wales. She published several bilingual editions of her works: Cell Angel (1996), Blind Man’s Kiss (2001), Perfect Blemish (2007). Murmur (2012) was selected by Poetry Book Society for Recommended Translations. Menna Elfyn is also the author of three youth novels and of several academic writings on Welsh literature. Likewise known as libretto writer, she co-wrote Garden of Light, a choral symphony for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra which was performed at the Lincoln Centre in New York in 1999, and more recently, in 2015, an oratorio for Welsh National Opera: Gair ar Gnawd (Word on Flesh). The awards received by the Welsh writer include: Foreign Poetry Prize (Sardinia), Honorary Fellow of Literature Wales, and Royal Literary Fellow at Aberystwyth University. She is the most traveled of all Welsh language poets and her work has been translated into eighteen languages. She is among the eight participants in the literary correspondence project integrated to the San Sebastian European City of Culture 2016 agenda. The project will take shape in a multilingual anthology, due to be published this year, in November.

Catharina GRIPENBERG was born in Jakobstad, a town on the west coast of Finland, in 1977. She is part of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland and she writes in Swedish. She graduated from University of Helsinki, Literature Faculty, and she studied creative writing in Norway and film studies in Denmark. Catharina Gripenberg is the author of three poetry books: Pa diabilden är huvudet proppfullt av lycka (1999), Ödemjuka belles lettres fran en till en (2002), and Ta min hand, det vore underligt(2007). A new collection Handbok att bära till en dräkt, was published this spring. Catharina Gripenberg was awarded several important titles, such as Finnish National Radio’s Poetry Prize Tanssiva Karhu (2008), and an award from The Swedish Academy (2012). Currently, the poet works as copy editor for a small publishing house, Ellips, in Copenhagen.

Literary critic Bror Rönnholm wrote about Catharina Gripenberg’s poetry:

“The wind blows a great deal in Catharina Gripenberg’s poems. In one poem we meet three siblings who, on their way across a bridge, are scattered and thrown about by the wind. In another poem a house blows away as a family sit around the dinner table (…). Perhaps the wind can be seen as an image of Gripenberg’s poetic strategy, a poetry in which nothing is really held in place and where anything may happen.”

Enes HALILOVIĆ a storyteller, novelist, poet, playwright and journalist was born on March 5th 1977 in Novi Pazar. Published collections of poetry: Srednje slovo (Middle Name, 1995), Bludni parip (Voluptuous Horse, 2000), Listovi na vodi (Leaves on Water, 2007), Pesme iz bolesti i zdravlja (Poems from Sickness and Health, 2011), and Zidovi (The Wall, 2014); short story collections: collections Potomci odbijenih prosaca (Descendants of the Rejected Suitors, 2004), and Kapilarne pojave (Capillary Actions, 2006); plays In vivo (Within the Living, 2004), and Kemet (2010), as well as the novel Ep o vodi (The Epic of Water, 2012). He founded the literary magazine Sent. Enes Halilović’s stories, poetry and plays were published in England, Poland, France and Turkey. His poetry was translated into English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, French, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Latvian, Albanian, Macedonian, Greek, Bulgarian, and Catalan. Halilovic’s play Komad o noveoredjencadima koja govore (A Play about the Newborns That Speak) had its premiere at the Theatre Schaubühne in Berlin on March 10th 2011. He was awarded the Golden Badge of the Serbian Culture and Education Society, so as „Mesa Selimovic“, „Branko Miljković”, „Ahmed Vali”, and „.ura Jakšić” awards for literature, and for his editorial work in Sent he has received „Sergije Lajković” award.

Nikola MADZIROV was born in 1973 in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The poet is considered one of Europe’s strongest voices. He published poetry books: Locked in the city (1999),Somewhere nowhere (1999), Relocated stone (2007), which brought him numerous awards. The volume Remnants of Another Age was published by BOA Editions, Ltd., (New York, 2011), as well as by Bloodaxe Books (UK, 2013). Madzirov’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages, volumes being published on every continent. For his book of poetry Locked in the city he received the “Studentski Zbor” award for the best debut, while for his Somewhere nowhere he received the “Aco Karamanov” award. His poetry book, Relocated stone, won both the Hubert Burda European Poetry Award, and the “Brothers Miladinov”prize. The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel compared the quality of Madzirov’s poetry to Tomas Tranströmer’s. Considering his work, Polish poet Adam Zagajewski wrote: “Madzirov’s poems are like Expressionist paintings: filled with thick, energetic streaks they seem to emerge from the imagination and to return to it right away, like night animals caught in the headlights of a car”. Mark Strand wrote that Madzirov’s poetry “is like discovering a new planet in the solar system of the imagination”. Nikola Madzirov was granted several fellowships: International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa, DAAD in Berlin, Marguerite Yourcenar in France etc. He is one of the coordinators at the international poetry network Lyrikline, and edithor of Diversity magazine.

Tomasz MIELCAREK was born in Szczecinek, Poland, in 1974. He moved to Great Britain in 2008. He is a poet, a translator, and a freelance journalist. He published the following books in Poland: Arterie, DziennikŁódzki, Fraza, Odra, Poezja Dzisiaj, Salon Literacki, Topos, 2miesięcznik. His poems were translated by publishing houses in Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovakia, U.S.A. (Białe Kroniki, Dziennik Polski, ESztuka, GazetaPolonijna), and Great Britain (The Polish Observer). Extensively anthologized, his poems have been translated into English, Bulgarian, Belarusian, German, Russian, and Slovakian. In 2013 he won the prestigious Jacek Bierezin Prize for poetry, which is awarded to outstanding debut poets. The next year he received the Artur Frycz Award for the best poetry book. In 2015, his book Obecność (Presence) won the Złoty Środek Award for the best title in poetry. Tomasz Mielcarek lives and works in London. He is active in the artistic group KaMPe.

Amir OR was born in Tel Aviv, in 1956. He studied Philosophy and Comparative religion at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he later held classes on Religion in Ancient Greece. Amir Or is the author of 11 poetry books and of two novels. His poems have been translated into over 40 languages by numerous publishing houses in Europe and America. His writings include: Prophecy of the Madman (2012), Loot (Selected poems, 1977-2013), Wings (2015), Poem, Day (Dedalus, 2004, 2006), The Museum of Time (ArtAark, 2009; Azul Press, 2012), Miracle/Milagro (Urpi Editores, 2011), Loot (Arhipelag Press, 2012; Şiirden, 2014), Le Musée du Temps (Editons de l’Amandier, 2013). The volume Să te vorbim pe tine was published in Romanian, at Vinea Publishing House, in 2006, and in 2014 selected poems were edited in Romanian, in Hebrew and English by Contemporary Literature Press, Publishing House of the University of Bucharest, in collaboration with British Council. Amir Or is also known for his creative writing classes, held at Helicon Poetry School, as well as at other important universities in Israel, Europe, United States, and Japan. He also published books of essays on poetry, classical literature studies and contemporary religion. In 1990 he founded Helicon Poetry Society, where he initiated and managed numerous projects, among which a poetry magazine and a series of poetry books, as well as Sha’ar International Poetry Festival and Helicon Hebrew-Arabic Poetry School. He is a founding member of EACWP (European Association of Creative Writing Programs) and WPM (World Poetry Movement).

Alvin PANG was born in Singapore, in 1972. He is a renowned poet, prose writer, editor, and translator. His poems have been translated in over 15 countries and his name is mentioned in the 2013 edition of the famous Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry. His writings include:City of Rain (2003), What Gives Us Our Names (2011), Other Things and Other Poems, and When the Barbarians Arrive. Alvin Pang has been travelling the world being invited to various festivals, book fairs and international conferences. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa in 2012, and he is a member of the International Poetry Studies Institute board, at University of Canberra. Also, he is a founding member of Literary Centre – a non-profit organization dedicated to interdisciplinarity and positive social change. As a well-known orator and literature professor, Alvin Pang represented Singapore at London’s Poetry Parnassus, in 2012, an event incorporated to the celebration of the Olympic Games, held that year in London. That same year he attended the Worlds Literature Festival in Norwich, along other famous writers, such as: J. M. Coetzee, Teju Cole, and Tim Parks. For his national and international contributions, he was awarded the title “Young Artist of the Year for Literature” in Singapore, in 2005, while in 2007 he recived the Singapore Youth Award (Arts and Culture) and, in 2008, the JCCI Foundation Education Award.

Kateřina RUDČENKOVÁ, poet, prose writer and playwright, was born in Prague, in 1976. She published four poetry books: Ludwig (1999), Není nutné, abyste mě navštěvoval (No Need For You to Visit Me, 2001), Popel a slast (Ashes and Bliss, 2004), and Chůze po dunách (Walk on Dunes, 2013), which brought her the most prestigious award in Czech Republic, Magnesia Litera, in 2014. Noci, noci (Nights, Nights), a book of short stories, is published in 2004, and the drama Niekur in 2007. The latter received the award for best original drama at Alfred Radok Awards, in 2006. In 2008, the play was staged at Ungelt Theater in Prague. That same year, a scenic reading of another play, Čas třešňového dýmu (The Time of the Cherry Smoke), was organized in New York. In 2003, Kateřinei Rudčenková received the Hubert Burda Prize for young Eastern European poets. In 2007, the Czech author won the residency for playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre in London. A few years later she attended a poetry translation workshop, Visegrad Poetesse, in Hungary, and the third edition of Obradoiro International de Tradución Poética workshop, in Spain. Kateřina Rudčenková attended several literary festivals. Her poems were translated in 20 languages. Two of her poetry books were published in Austria and Spain.

Kārlis VĒRDIŅŠ was born in Riga, in 1979. In 2009 he graduated from University of Latvia, Faculty of Philology, and he is currently a scholar at the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the same University. He published 4 poetry books: Ledlauži (Icebreakers, 2001), Biezpiens ar krējumu (Cottage Cheese with Sour Cream, 2004), Es(I, 2008), and Pieaugušie (Adults, 2015). Kārlis Vērdiņš is also a children’s book author: Burtiņu zupa (Alphabet Soup, 2007), and Tētis (Daddy, scheduled to be published this year). Also, he translated heavily the work of European and American poets such as: T.S. Eliot, Konstantin Biebl, Georg Trakl, Joseph Brodsky, Walt Whitman, Charles Simic, and W.B. Yeats. Likewise, Vērdiņš is a librettist and a songwriter. His poems were translated by publishing houses in Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, as well as being translated in English. Among the awards received by the Latvian poet, we mention: The Annual Latvian Literature Award (2007), Poetry Days Prize (2008), and Diena magazine’s Award.

Anastassis VISTONITIS was born in Komotini, Northern Greece, in 1952. He studied Political Sciences and Economics in Athens. From 1983 to 1988 he lived in the U.S.A. (New York and Chicago) and traveled extensively in Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia. From 1996 to 2001 he was a member of the board of the E.W.C. (The Federation of European Writers), and from 2003 to 2008 he was its Vicepresident. In addition to his contribution with poems, essays, book reviews to many leading quarterlies and newspapers in Greece and abroad, Anastassis Vistonitis has published eleven books of poetry, four volumes of essays, four travelogues, a book of short stories and a book of translations of the Chinese poet Li Ho. Anastassis Vistonitis’ writings have been translated into 20 languages. He writes for the leading Greek newspaper To Vima and lives in Athens.

YANG Lian was born in Switzerland, in 1955. He grew up in Beijing. He began to write poetry in the 1970s and shortly after, he was exiled for being one of the Misty Poets, a group who reacted against the restrictions on art during the Cultural Revolution. In the eighties, his poems gained fame across borders, particularly those from Norilang. During a visit in Australia and New Zeeland he chooses exile and starts travelling around the world. In time, due to his writings, as well as to his firm statements, he became one of the most respected voices in international literature, culture, and politics. His bibliography consists of 13 volumes of poetry, one volume of prose, and a book of essays. His work has been translated into over 20 languages, among which: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and several East European languages. Some of the most popular books published in English are: Yi, Where the Sea Stands Still, and Concentric Circles. He received several international awards, amongst which: Capri Prize in 2014, Nonino International Literature Prize in Italy. Yang Lian has been invited to become a member of The Norwegian Academy for Literature and Freedom of Expression in 2013.

Tomomi ADACHI, born in Japan, in 1972, is a performer, composer, sound poet, installation artist, and occasional theatre director. He studied philosophy and aesthetics at Waseda University in Tokyo. He has composed works for his own group “Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus”, a punk-style choir, but has also stood out as a contemporary vocal and instrumental music performer playing works by John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff, Tom Johnson, Dieter Schnebel, Takahashi Yuji, Yuasa Joji, and Fluxus artists. He premiered Cage’s Variations VII, Europera 5 and Waterwalk, both in Japan and world-wide. Tomomi Adachi is the only performer of sound poetry in Japan and has performed Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate for the first time in his home country. He has organized diverse concerts of experimental music, sound art and performance in Japan and Germany, featuring Chris Mann, Trevor Wishart, Nicolas Collins and STEIM among others. In 2011, he founded “Ensemble for Experimental Music and Theatre”, a group performing music by Fluxus and modern conceptual composers. The artist is currently living in Berlin and Tokyo. He is focusing on solo performances (voice, sensors, computer, self-made instruments), sound poetry (especially to the unknown great Japanese sound poetry tradition), and video installations. Website: http://www.adachitomomi.com.

Jaap BLONK, composer, performer and poet, was born in the Netherlands, in 1953. He studied mathematics and musicology and, towards the end of the ‘70s, he started composing and playing the saxophone. Not long after, he discovered his potential as vocal performer, starting with poetry readings, and continuing with improvisations and personal compositions. For almost 20 years, his own voice was for Blonk the main instrument in discovering and developing new sounds. Around 2000, Blonk began using electronic elements. He started by recording his own voice, then began using synthetic sounds exclusively. His interest in mathematics was rekindled and he began studying the means of algorithmic composition in order to create music, animation and visual poetry. His vocal performances are unique due to his strong stage presence and to the fact that he is improvising with ease, while at the same time displaying a piercing sense of structure. Jaap Blonk held performances around the world, both solo and in collaboration with musicians well-known in the field of contemporary music, such as: Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, Netherlands Wind Ensemble and Ebony Band. He interpreted for the first time some of German composer Carola Bauckholt’s works and collaborated with artist Golan Levin several times. Website: http://www.jaapblonk.com.

Joël HUBAUT was born in Amiens, France, in 1947. Presently, he lives and works part of the time in Paris, part in Normandy. Since 1970 his creative process unraveled under the marks of “epidemic drift” and “mix”. Hubaut’s fiction and poetry take surprising and diverse shapes that appeal to an aesthetics of depression which, in the meantime, has become life’s manifesto. In the center of his reflection on art and society, Hubaut places contagion, taking thus a critical stand on the moral order based on the leveling and manipulation of attitudes and on the control of the individual. His poems, drawings and performances, parodic installations, noise concerts or hybrid sculptures are so free, so quizzical, and provocative that they induce extremely diverse reactions every time. The artist has had many appearances around the world: New York, Johannesburg, Nanjing, Mexico, Berlin, Tokyo, Cuba, San Francisco, Budapest, London, Rome, Coppenhague, Valencia, Quebec, Naples, Bruxelles, Chicago, Milano etc.

Angelika MEYER was born in Ulm, Germany and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. She is a vocal performer. Her main interests include: experimental literature, sound poetry, impromptu and contemporary vocal music (e.g. John Cage, Georges Aperghis, Dieter Schnebel). She is currently teaching voice and rhetoric communication at the University of Education Schwäbisch-Gmünd. She made her debut with Tom Johnson’s works and organized numerous new music concerts and festivals. Since 2008 she has been a member of the famous international group Exvoco from Stuttgart. Found in 1972, the group was among the first ensembles to create performances after Dada poetic texts. Their vocal, musical and theatrical repertoire is extremely varied, incorporating visual texts signed by Dada poets, avant-garde poetry from Russia, Italy and France (the beginning of the twentieth century), as well as concrete poetry and contemporary vocal music. Website: https://exvoco.de.

Enzo MINARELLI was born in 1951. He studied at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and holds a psychology and linguistics degree. Since the early ‘70s he became interested in the connections between poetry, sound, and image. During the ‘80s he produced video poetry and video sound poetry installations at Centro Video Arte di Ferrara. In 1987, Minarelli wrote Manifesto of Polypoetry, an attempt at theorizing live-shows and sound poetry. He held polypoetry shows himself, in Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Israel, Columbia, and Brazil. During this period, the artist published various poetry books, also making his debut as a prose writer in 2005 with the novel Polipoesia Mon Amour, followed by Amo, in 2012. In 2001, Enzo Minarelli edited a special number for the American magazine Visible Language, VoiceImage, dedicated to the close connections between voice, performance and polypoetry. Many of Minarelli’s performances are memorable, both to the critics and the audience; amongst them, the 1986 one-man show at Modern Art Museum in Zaragoza and Fonografias at Alphacentauri Gallery Parma (1998) are frequently mentioned. Book objects and the series of paintings on canvas, Phonographies, are elements present in his shows in recent years. Minarelli’s audio and video creations can be found in several international archives around the world. Website: http://www.3vitre.it.

Hannah SILVA is a poet and a performer, known for her groundbreaking explorations of vocal expression and language. In her works she approaches a wide range of themes, from political rhetoric (Opposition), paranormal (Total Man), the sexual identity of the adolescent (Orchid), to long-distance running (Marathon Tales). Schlock!, one of Hannah Silva’s recent performances, is a meditation on suffering, on the relationship body-self, consensus, complicity, possessiveness. It premiered at Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. The artist made her poetry debut in 2013, with Forms of Protest (Penned in the Margins), a book which gained her laudatory comments from critics. Her verse drama Marathon Tales received the Tinniswood Award for the best radio scenario, and she was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award nomination. Hannah Silva held performances that combined dance, music and acting on various prestigious stages in England and around the world: Tokyo Design Centre, Krikri International Festival of Polyphony in Belgium, Latitude Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead, and Lowry. She is currently an assistant professor at the Poetry and Drama Department of Birkbeck, London University, as well as associated artist of Penned in the Margins publishing and production house. Website: http://hannahsilva.co.uk.

Peg BOYERS was born in Venezuela but lived her childhood and adolescent years in Italy, Spain, Cuba, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Libya before settling in the United States. She is an American citizen, but also an adept of moving through different cultures and languages with ease, adding to her cultural bounty with each move. At a time when identity is something Americans are more and more thinking about in a singular way, she is eager to remain plural in her many identities. Presently, she lives in the United States with her husband in the little city of Saratoga Springs, NY. Peg Boyers is a lecturer in the English Department at Skidmore College, and the executive editor of Salmagundi. Her previous books include Hard Bread and Honey with Tobacco, both published by the University of Chicago Press.