Arsen Dedić was born in Šibenik in 1938. In his hometown he graduated from gymnasium and music school. For a while he studied at the Faculty of Law, but his love of music was stronger so he dropped law studies and turned to the Zagreb Music Academy, graduating from it in February of 1964. As a flautist he played in various ensembles and orchestras and founded the Flute Quartet. He was a member of several music groups such as Zagrebački vokalni kvartet, Prima, Melos et al. His primary orientation has always been toward music, but by uniting musical and poetic inclinations he naturally achieved a distinctive singer-songwriter expression, his most remarkable characteristic. His verses have been published in Polet, Prisutnosti, Književne novine, Književnik, and his first award was from the Split magazine Vidik. His first book – Brod u boci – was published in 1971 and sold in more than 60,000 copies. Zabranjena knjiga is his seventeenth book of poetry.
Back home
Back home is only open in July and August.
Back home is as big as I want.
Back home cannot sentence me to several years of affection –
suspended.
The sun of foreign skies has given some excellent results.
Back home is naive.
Almost anybody can sneak his way in.
Back home has poor musical taste.
Back home is ruled by the worst of lyricists.
Back home has the floor space of a second house.
Love for back home is unrequited.
Back home on the road.
Use back home against back home.
Small town cinemas
In small town cinemas
time seems on stand by
Therein yesterday’s heroes
are still rated high
Those wretched theatres
certainly won’t ever play
the works of Bergman, Antonioni
or the films of the New Wave
In small town cinemas
bad features are the latest trend
Only on those patched-up screens
justice still prevails in the end
Intolerance
(prose in poetry)
In the greatest of his films – and perhaps one of the greatest
movies of all times – entitled “Intolerance”, Griffith goes all the way
back to Babylon, only to return to this day.
The whole of history is a history of intolerance –
racial, religious, national, sexual, cultural...
Death to variety! Long live uniformity!
Or as our folk would say: as soon as they met they cut each other down!
Krle`a says that humanity‘s passage to the future
has been lit up by burning faggots.
Prophets, visionaries and astronomers burned.
Women, paintings, houses and books all swallowed up in flames.
Goodness gracious! Think about all that burning light!
Pyromaniacs never seem to give up.
Always finding something new for kindling.
It seems that man could endure without love or goodness,
without tenderness or bread, but without intolerance – oh no!
It keeps him alive. It keeps groups and mobs in place.
But stubborn peace builders continue to be born nevertheless
hoping they will find something to save.
Even in these messy regions one finds them – the sanctified ones.
But if one could only know the origins of this infamous intolerance
of ours?
Final song XIII
It’s all behind us now: the snow and heat
I was Judas and I was Christ
But a man can also be like Candide
and remain after all pure as light
The mystery’s finally been solved
now that Death is pulling at our bell
I should have from the outset tilled
my garden – minded my cattle well.
How many mountains how many seas
it takes to come to a humble opinion:
the real wisdom lies nearby Solin
in growing cabbage and planting onion.
(Candide)
* * *
Two dead children playing
in a nicely manicured park.
They’re sticking fingers
into each others’ crossed out chasms.
Making macabre love.
Two dead children playing
among the beautifully trimmed greenery.
They’re swimming
in my infant fountain
while goldfish nibble
at their remains
to the tune of love’s marching band:
Dichter und Bauer.
Can’t you see
we’ve been ready for such an ending
from the very beginning?
* * *
All the things I have learned while being ill.
First of all:
the illness itself.
What else have I learned while being ill?
It is easier being ill
in one’s own language and on one’s own turf.
Illness makes you lonesome.
Relatives lie.
Friends run out of new sentences.
Illness beats skiing.
Illness deserves credit
for many a glorious death.
I’ve learned to read and write things
I would have never learned in good health.
It is easier to hearten someone
than to lie ill.
Those who have been seriously ill
possess deeper knowledge.
Illness should be left to the young.
Some wounds are beatified, some heal by themselves,
says illness clad in folk costume.
Illness has advanced.
Illness hatches in a weak heart.
My illness has brought cheer
to many.
I have been ill for too short a time.
Death is the anteroom of sickness.
* * *
The Church of St Anthony
sinks deep like a sail.
In a fog choking
on its own breath.
We are disgraced by death.
Here the withered wreaths of the unknown
are drowned.
Anyone who’s ready for a crag
will not come back the same way.
The man fooled himself
minding a drunk
guardian angel.
Please unfasten your kiss
from my neck.
Two shadows roll in dearth –
two paintings by Morandi.
Fog kisses us.
Am I...
We are bathing in a glass
of cold milk.
Have I come all the way to Padua
just to die?
Padua
Amidst winter
and on summer days
these people are like saints.
Padua
In the midst of winter
and in summertime
every door is as if holy.
Padua
Under the shadow of a drenched cathedral.
each one of us is so small.
Padua
I’d like more heat.
I lack light and warmth.
Padua
For all there is but one bet:
the taste of play, the taste of death.
Padua
Let’s end this toil
either in body
or in soul.
Nurses
we have no nursing sisters of our own
our mothers burn on stakes
my sister was dumped
in a common grave pit in [ibenik
nameless
our daughters persecute each other
teaching their kids
who don’t recognise us
how to speak in mysterious tongues
you dear sisters dear nurses
you are handling the worst of our limbs
while false concubines
carve failed love’s pillars
on our bitter foundations
while you cup your warm palms
on battlefields to gather
the unconsecrated blood
of our armies
so never mind the doctors
let me kiss your hands
frost-bitten and bluish
like two frozen mackerels
* * *
Sealess landscapes
with no one really to call their own.
They steer their fate
according to the wind alone.
Sealess landscapes
cannot see
because they are blindfolded
with a black strap.
Their inhabitants
are prisoners.
They eat prison bread.
Their inhabitants
are convicts
but somewhere there is a crack
and the heavenly light
that children are so afraid of
is already seeping in
and everything is unfolding
like a long lost book.
While the sea is beating
against the doors and the windows
so hard it seems
everything is going to
break open
at once.
Translated by Damir Šodan
Nakon šireg izbora slijedi uži izbor sedmog izdanja nagrade ''Sedmica & Kritična masa'' za mlade prozne autorice i autore. Pročitajte tko su finalisti.
NAGRADA "KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Robert Aralica (Šibenik, 1997.) studij hrvatskoga i engleskoga jezika i književnosti završava 2020. godine na Filozofskom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Splitu. U slobodno vrijeme bavi se pisanjem proze i produkcijom elektroničke glazbe. Svoje literarne radove objavljivao je u studentskim časopisima Humanist i The Split Mind. 2022. kriminalističkom pričom Natkrovlje od čempresa osvojio je prvo mjesto na natječaju Kristalna pepeljara. Trenutno je zaposlen u II. i V. splitskoj gimnaziji kao nastavnik hrvatskoga jezika.
NAGRADA "KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Iva Esterajher (Ljubljana, 1988.) živi i radi u Zagrebu. Diplomirala je politologiju na Fakultetu političkih znanosti. Aktivno se bavi likovnom umjetnošću (crtanje, slikarstvo, grafički rad), fotografijom, kreativnim pisanjem te pisanjem filmskih i glazbenih recenzija. Kratke priče i poezija objavljene su joj u književnim časopisima i na portalima (Urbani vračevi, UBIQ, Astronaut, Strane, NEMA, Afirmator) te je sudjelovala na nekoliko književnih natječaja i manifestacija (Večernji list, Arteist, FantaSTikon, Pamela festival i dr.).
NAGRADA "KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Nikola Pavičić (Zagreb, 2004.) živi u Svetoj Nedelji. Pohađa Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Piše, napose poeziju i lirsku prozu, te sa svojim tekstovima nastoji sudjelovati u literarnim natječajima i časopisima. U slobodno vrijeme voli proučavati književnost i povijest te učiti jezike.
NAGRADA "KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Luca Kozina (Split, 1990.) piše prozu, poeziju i književne kritike. Dobitnica je nagrade Prozak u sklopu koje je 2021. objavljena zbirka priča Važno je imati hobi. Zbirka je ušla u uži izbor nagrade Edo Budiša. Dobitnica je nagrada za poeziju Mak Dizdar i Pisanje na Tanane izdavačke kuće Kontrast u kategoriji Priroda. Dobitnica je nagrade Ulaznica za poeziju. Od 2016. piše književne kritike za portal Booksu. Članica je splitske udruge Pisci za pisce. Zajedno s Ružicom Gašperov i Sarom Kopeczky autorica je knjige Priručnica - od ideje do priče (2023).
NAGRADA "KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Ana Predan (Pula, 1996.) odrasla je u Vodnjanu. U šestoj godini počinje svirati violinu, a u šesnaestoj pjevati jazz. Po završetku srednje škole seli u Ljubljanu gdje studira međunarodne odnose, a onda u Trst gdje upisuje jazz pjevanje pri tršćanskom konzervatoriju na kojem je diplomirala ove godine s temom radništva u glazbi Istre. U toku studiranja putuje u Estoniju gdje godinu dana provodi na Erasmus+ studentskoj razmjeni. Tada sudjeluje na mnogo vrijednih i važnih projekata, i radi s umjetnicima i prijateljima, a počinje se i odmicati od jazza, te otkriva eksperimentalnu i improviziranu glazbu, te se počinje zanimati za druge, vizualne medije, osobito film. Trenutno živi u Puli, gdje piše za Radio Rojc i predaje violinu u Glazbenoj školi Ivana Matetića-Ronjgova. Piše oduvijek i često, najčešće sebi.
Pobjednica književne nagrade "Sedmica & Kritična masa" za mlade prozaiste je Eva Simčić (1990.) Nagrađena priča ''Maksimalizam.” neobična je i dinamična priča je o tri stana, dva grada i puno predmeta. I analitično i relaksirano, s dozom humora, na književno svjež način autorica je ispričala pamtljivu priču na temu gomilanja stvari, temu u kojoj se svi možemo barem malo prepoznati, unatoč sve većoj popularnosti minimalizma. U užem izboru nagrade, osim nagrađene Simčić, bile su Ivana Butigan, Paula Ćaćić, Marija Dejanović, Ivana Grbeša, Ljiljana Logar i Lucija Švaljek.
Ovo je bio šesti nagradni natječaj koji raspisuje Kritična masa, a partner nagrade bio je cafe-bar Sedmica (Kačićeva 7, Zagreb). Nagrada se sastoji od plakete i novčanog iznosa (5.000 kuna bruto). U žiriju nagrade bile su članice redakcije Viktorija Božina i Ilijana Marin, te vanjski članovi Branko Maleš i Damir Karakaš.
NAGRADA "SEDMICA & KRITIČNA MASA" - UŽI IZBOR
Eva Simčić (Rijeka, 1990.) do sada je kraću prozu objavljivala na stranicama Gradske knjižnice Rijeka, na blogu i Facebook stranici Čovjek-Časopis, Reviji Razpotja i na stranici Air Beletrina. Trenutno živi i radi u Oslu gdje dovršava doktorat iz postjugoslavenske književnosti i kulture.
Jyrki K. Ihalainen (r. 1957.) finski je pisac, prevoditelj i izdavač. Od 1978. Ihalainen je objavio 34 zbirke poezije na finskom, engleskom i danskom. Njegova prva zbirka poezije, Flesh & Night , objavljena u Christianiji 1978. JK Ihalainen posjeduje izdavačku kuću Palladium Kirjat u sklopu koje sam izrađuje svoje knjige od početka do kraja: piše ih ili prevodi, djeluje kao njihov izdavač, tiska ih u svojoj tiskari u Siuronkoskom i vodi njihovu prodaju. Ihalainenova djela ilustrirali su poznati umjetnici, uključujući Williama S. Burroughsa , Outi Heiskanen i Maritu Liulia. Ihalainen je dobio niz uglednih nagrada u Finskoj: Nuoren Voiman Liito 1995., nagradu za umjetnost Pirkanmaa 1998., nagradu Eino Leino 2010. Od 2003. Ihalainen je umjetnički direktor Anniki Poetry Festivala koji se odvija u Tampereu. Ihalainenova najnovija zbirka pjesama je "Sytykkei", objavljena 2016 . Bavi se i izvođenjem poezije; bio je, između ostalog, gost na albumu Loppuasukas finskog rap izvođača Asa 2008., gdje izvodi tekst pjesme "Alkuasukas".
Predstavljamo uži izbor nagrade ''Sedmica & Kritična masa''
Eva Simčić je u uži izbor ušla s pričom ''Maksimalizam.''. Standardnim setom pitanja predstavljamo jednu od sedam natjecateljica.
Maja Marchig (Rijeka, 1973.) živi u Zagrebu gdje radi kao računovođa. Piše poeziju i kratke priče. Polaznica je više radionica pisanja poezije i proze. Objavljivala je u brojnim časopisima u regiji kao što su Strane, Fantom slobode, Tema i Poezija. Članica literarne organizacije ZLO. Nekoliko puta je bila finalistica hrvatskih i regionalnih književnih natječaja (Natječaja za kratku priču FEKPa 2015., Međunarodnog konkursa za kratku priču “Vranac” 2015., Nagrade Post scriptum za književnost na društvenim mrežama 2019. i 2020. godine). Njena kratka priča “Terapija” osvojila je drugu nagradu na natječaju KROMOmetaFORA2020. 2022. godine objavila je zbirku pjesama Spavajte u čarapama uz potporu za poticanje književnog stvaralaštva Ministarstva kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske u biblioteci Poezija Hrvatskog društva pisaca.
Juha Kulmala (r. 1962.) finski je pjesnik koji živi u Turkuu. Njegova zbirka "Pompeijin iloiset päivät" ("Veseli dani Pompeja") dobila je nacionalnu pjesničku nagradu Dancing Bear 2014. koju dodjeljuje finska javna radiotelevizija Yle. A njegova zbirka "Emme ole dodo" ("Mi nismo Dodo") nagrađena je nacionalnom nagradom Jarkko Laine 2011. Kulmalina poezija ukorijenjena je u beatu, nadrealizmu i ekspresionizmu i često se koristi uvrnutim, lakonskim humorom. Pjesme su mu prevedene na više jezika. Nastupao je na mnogim festivalima i klubovima, npr. u Engleskoj, Njemačkoj, Rusiji, Estoniji i Turskoj, ponekad s glazbenicima ili drugim umjetnicima. Također je predsjednik festivala Tjedan poezije u Turkuu.