On January 5, the International Literary Ice Rink opened on the Cathedral Square of Ulyanovsk. On the main square of the city, poems from Ulyanovsk and UNESCO literary cities were broadcasted in the original languages, recorded by the authors. From January 6 to 10, it was possible to hear the voices of poets from different countries at four other ice rinks in the Zavolzhsky and Zheleznodorozhny districts of the city.
This is another event that brings literature to the urban space and recalls the unifying role of literature in the difficult period of the pandemic. The project involves poets from Ulyanovsk, Heidelberg, Baghdad, Dublin, Nanjing, Cambridge, Quebec, Cobourg, Manchester, Milan, Kharkiv, Reykjavik, Dublin, Wonju. The poets showed great interest in the project, which brings literature out of closed spaces, – said the curator of the project, “Ulyanovsk UNESCO City of Literature” program coordinator Gala Uzryutova.
On the main square, one could not only listen to the audio recordings of the authors but also learn more about them: the video with information about the poets was broadcast on the big screen.Ulyanovsk residents heard the poems both in the native languages of the authors and in Russian, read by the poet Sergei Gogin, who translated the texts.
The project brought together a wide range of diverse authors.
Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an Irish poet and essayist. Her most recent book is the bestseller ‘A Ghost in the Throat,’ which finds the eighteenth-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill haunting the life of a contemporary young mother, prompting her to turn detective. Doireann is also the author of six critically-acclaimed books of poetry, each a deepening exploration of birth, death, desire, and domesticity. Awards for her writing include a Lannan Literary Fellowship (USA), the Ostana Prize (Italy), a Seamus Heaney Fellowship (Queen’s University), the Hartnett Poetry Award, and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, among others.
