cafebabel.com

Scotland: address to haggis and Europe

('Arno van der Zwet',) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0000

25 January 2012 marks the 253rd birthday of Robert Burns, the most famous Scottish bard. Supermarkets all over are going haggis-crazy. Haggis is delicious, but not for the faint hearted. Recipe

Obituary: Vaclav Havel, master of peace

('Annie Rutherford',) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:00:00 -0000

The dissident, thespian and president, who was a symbol of change in the 1989 velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia, died on 18 December at the age of 75 after a serious illness. Homage to a European master of peace, as a three-day mourning period officially begins on 21 December

Montreal international poetry prize 'for poets by poets'

('Kris Anderson',) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:32:49 -0000

Poetry is enduring, if not a deep freeze, at least a hard frost. Austerity measures across Europe and Canada have led to severe cuts in arts funding. Amidst the scrabble to fund prizes whose state subsidies have been slashed, a brand new award has emerged on a different funding model, with the winner to scoop 50, 000 Canadian dollars on 15 December

Spanish poet Martin Lopez-Vega: ‘Choose between culture and commerce’

('terrymcc',) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:01:54 -0000

Looking out over Madrid’s Retiro park, the Spanish poet and translator ponders over his literary concerns and gives us his own brief synopsis of the current poetry scene

Zaher Rezai: dead after eight kilometres of illegal immigration

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:48:04 -0000

In December 2008, the 13-year-old died under the wheels of a lorry after trying to evade Italian immigration officials. A year on, artist Gianluca Constantini's cartoon strip tells the story

'The Constitution in Verse': Brussels 'city poets' slam EU

('Sarah Truesdale',) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:15:00 -0000

'So the European Union doesn’t have a political constitution? Let’s at least give it a poetic one!' 50 authors have spent months putting the finishing touches to new articles in the form of alternative and critical citizens’ verse. Close-up on an initiative from Brussels which began in January 2008

Vjollca Dibra on being a young poetess in pre-war Kosovo

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:38:08 -0000

The thirtysomething works at OSCE logistics in Pristina when I meet her in late 2007, four months before Kosovo declares independence from Serbia. Who you might brand your average blonde, bespectacled working mother-of-two is also one of Kosovo's youngest recognised female poets

Love story across Bucharest, Bolzano, Berlin and Budapest

('Andrew Christie',) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:10:00 -0000

24-year old Nurith's memories as she embarks on a turbulent road trip across Europe, her wanderlust taking her from one love affair to the next. This abridged version of the article won Germany's 2009 Youthreporter award, ‘Verliebt in Europa’ (‘In Love With Europe’)

Sexy EU election candidates from France to Romania via Lithuania

('Darren Thompson',) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:05:21 -0000

It's European election time again. As per usual there are some 'special' candidates hoping to win a seat. In 2004, a French orchestra conductor, a British actor, a Czech cosmonaut and even a Lithuanian hockey player became MEPs. What does the 2009 edition have in store for us? Featuring Elena Basescu, Barbara Matera and Donala Meiželytė-Svilienė

Obituary: alphabets, butterflies and Inger Christensen

('Lass\xc3\xab Jensen',) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:35:47 -0000

Why learn Welsh? They all speak English anyway. Why learn unpronounceable Flemish, impossible Finnish, self-assertive Catalan or miniscule Danish? But when the Danish experimental poet died on 2 January 2009 in Copenhagen, a loser language lost its most beautiful voice

Italian poet Pasolini, rage and Sarajevo

('Helen Swain',) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:57:16 -0000

Sometime between 1 - 2 November 1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini was killed. He became a vehicle for peace messages during the Poetry International Festival held in Sarajevo from 3 - 5 October 2008

Shakespeare in football

('G. Ring',) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Blogging Kosovo, Erasmus and poetry

('Susannah Readett-Bayley',) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Existential crises in Berlin, self-critical French and new nation states - the best of our babelblogs this fortnight