Interviews

Your poetic attitude separates you from your contemporaries (especially the younger writers). You maintain a close relationship to the literary tradition without seeking novel or (post)postmodern means of expression. Would you agree to be called a poet-lyricist? Does poetry mean encoding and transmitting personal thoughts, experiences, and observations? Poetry means being myself. The form that

There are two images stuck in my mind when I think about Dominykas and Greta. The first is the two of them standing at one of the tables lined up along the wall of a big room in the Dainava center during the 2019 Poetic Druskininkai Fall, where publishers sold their books to the festival’s attendants.

Kerry Shawn Keys, born in 1946 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, is an American poet and translator who moved to Vilnius after spending many years between the continents of both Americas, Asia, and Europe. He has more than forty books of poetry to his name and some twenty translated titles under his belt. He was a

We met with poet, playwright, and translator Gintaras Grajauskas in the Klaipėda Drama Theater, where Gintaras works as artistic director, and sat down in his office filled with papers and props of all sorts. The fact that Grajauskas had a difficult time making coffee for himself (after successfully brewing a cup for me) is a

My first meeting with writer Valdas Papievis, currently a resident of Paris, occurred during his sojourn in Vilnius in late summer. We met – symbolically – at an outdoor café near the monument to Romain Gary. We discussed many matters over a glass of wine but eventually decided that the questions for this interview best

Artist, writer, and curator Paulina Pukytė is one of the most original Lithuanian artists, navigating the fringes of literature and art. Her works are provocative, ironic, intertextual, and aimed at deconstructing myths and clichés. Pukytė presents a unique vantage point for observing society and guides us to reconsider our notions of literature, the functions we

Since after the release of your latest book you have been frequently interviewed, I’ve been wondering how to begin our conversation. I am interested in your habits, rituals, and daily life as a poet. Is your usual schedule structured and shaped, like a sonnet, or is there room left for improvisation and spontaneity? To be

Upon opening your new book Slippery Red Palace, the reader is first met with a photograph. The picture is taken from a personal archive and shows a girl sitting on the grass and looking straight at the photographer. The plastic bag seen behind her can be read as a symbol. How do you interpret this picture

We’re having this virtual chat during a worldwide lockdown—people are urged to stay inside, wear masks in public places, practice social distancing, and take any other necessary precautions. So I’d like to begin by asking you this: how do you spend your time in the midst of a slower world? Did all of this have

Writer, poet, and translator Vidas Morkūnas could be presented as an author who, on the one hand, is somewhat distant from the Lithuanian literary center (at least in terms of publicity), and on the other, as someone who significantly expands and enlivens the literary field with his uniqueness and individuality. His ability to construct texts,