4 × 4 is a literary performance with four Bulgarian poets (Jasen Vasilev, Rado Chichev, Ivan Dimitrov and Miro Hristov). They will present poems from their debut books, published 2009-2011, which have already attracted the attention of both critics and readers. Each author will read not only his own texts, but in the course of the performance will exchange places with his colleagues and assume a different personality. In Ruse the four authors will be accompanied by two musicians (Angel Dodov and Lubomir Brashnenkov), who have composed their own pieces exclusively for these poems.

Kathrin Röggla was born in 1971 in Salzburg (Austria). There in 1989 she began her studies in German Language and Journalism, which she continued in Berlin in 1992 until 1999 when she successfully broke her studies. After moving to Berlin in 1992, she wrote her first books and short stories. From 1998 onwards she has been writing and producing radio works – radio plays, sound installations and internet radio broadcasts. Since 2002 she has also been writing theater plays. Kathrin Röggla has been awarded many prizes for her works. On Sunday, 30th of September, she will be our guest in Ruse and will read excerpts from her latest prose work (expected to be published in the spring of 2014). Christine Huber, Halma scholarschip holder in Ruse, read two texts by Kathrin Röggla from her latest prose work (expected to be published in the spring of 2014).

Petr Kolečko was born in 1984 in Broumov (Czech Republic). He studied Dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Kolečko’s plays are among the few highly intelligent theatre texts, in which one may find a real flair for paradox and a strong will to expose the foolishness of the present. With a great deal of imagination and irony he depicts the fetish of our age and challenges people’s conservative views and soulless worshiping of ready-made primitive social idols. In Ruse, together with actors from the city theater, Kolečko will present his work Vejce (Egg) on a staged reading. Vejce has already been translated and published in Bulgarian as part of the trilogy Tři hry (Three games).

Paolo Piccirillo was born in 1987 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Italy). He lives and works in Rome. His name appeared in the list of “the best Italian writers under 40”, published by the Italian newspaper Il sole 24 ore. Apart from writing screenplays and pursuing his studies, he also published his first novel Zoo col semaforo (Zoo with traffic lights). Inspired by Canetti and his work The Tongue Set Free and by the topics of roots and social affiliation, he will read excerpts from his first novel Zoo col semaforo and from his new work, which will be published in 2013.

On October, 3rd we invite you in Dom Canetti to the presentation of the biography of the artist Milosh Gavazov. As a special event, Dimitar Shopov, co-author of the biography, and the art historian Vera Mlechevska, will introduce the most avid collector of Gavazov’s art from New York. After long years of anonymity and obscurity, it was Svobodan Palich, Gavazov’s scholar and biographer, who discovered the artist for the world and for the Bulgarian art scene. Founder of the Post-Graduate School of the Illiterate Reason and author of the legendary work Molotov Cocktail, Gavazov has left lasting traces in the European avant-garde and the art of post-modern Africa. His life has been fraught with adventure, disillusionment, hunger and poverty and myriad problems to which the author of the book, many distinguished art scholars and the artist’s personal diary bear witness. They all relate events of fundamental significance to the world of art which still await their hermetic interpretation. The biography pictures in detail moments of the artist’s life and descriptions of his works, which might be burned or lost but in any case unforgettable to the human soul.

Philipp Weiss, was born in 1982 in Austria. He works as a writer and director, writes prose and theater plays. Philipp Weiss studied German Studies and Philosophy in Vienna and Barcelona, taught at the University of Baku (Azerbaijan), and received numerous awards and scholarships. In Ruse he will present his play Allerwelt. Allerwelt is a a refugee settlement in the outskirts of Vienna, which lies isolated from the city on the grounds of former barracks built during World War I. In Allerwelt live stranded people who for half a century sought to escape the crisis and wars in their countries. They have nothing in common, except the fact that they arrived at the same place and couldn’t go on. Together they build an incoherent community. With this text Philipp Weiss won the stück/für/stück competition of the Theater in Vienna (in 2011) and the associated Hanz-Gratzer scholarship. The event is part of the 10. International MitOst Festival.

The international literature project Journey Across Europe, with writers and translators from Germany, the Czech Republic, Macedonia and Bulgaria, finished this summer with the publication of the book Journey Across Europe, which will be presented on the literature festival by Prof. Dr. Penka Angelova and one of the authors – Kristin Dimitrova. Inspired by the topics travel, freedom, and Europe, the book presentation will be held at an unusual place – the currently unused former River Station of Ruse (Rechna Gara). There you may also hear audio versions of the texts in their original language.

Kristin Dimitrova, born in 1963, is a famous Bulgarian writer and poet. One of her prose works is the novel Sabazius for which she received the national literature prize Hristo G. Danov in 2008. The collected short stories Love and Death under the Crooked Pear Trees was nominated for the Helicon Prize, as was also her book The Secret Way of the Ink. Her poems and short stories have been released in 24 countries throughout the world and translated in 20 different languages.

Gábor Schein was born in 1969 in Budapest (Hungary). He is a poet, writer, literary critic and translator of German poetry. He graduated in Hungarian Language and German Language and currently works as an associate professor in Hungarian Literature in the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. In Ruse he will present some of his latest poems and read excerpts from his novel Lazarus, which has been published in Bulgarian by the Elias Canetti Publishing House.

Noemi Kiss was born in 1974 in Gödöllő (Hungary). She graduated in Hungarian Studies, Comparative Literature, and Sociology. Noemi Kiss has published numerous essays, short stories, and literary critique in German and Hungarian. She is a member of the Association of Young Hungarian Writers. Since 2000 she has been working as a scientific assistant for Comparative Literature Studies at the Miskolc University. Her works are to be published also in Germany by the Matthes und Seitz publishing house.

In a time when no one is sure who the person next to you really is, the main character of Jan Koneffke’s novel is not sure who he himself is: Felix Kannmacher or Johann Gottwald. The Seven Lives of Felix Kannmacher is at the same time a historical work, a hymn to love and a touching epos of art. Jan Koneffke, was born in 1960 in Darmstadt (Germany), studied Philosophy and German Studies in Berlin and works as a writer, journalist and translator from Italian and Romanian in Vienna and Bucharest. He received numerous literary awards and published 15 books, among which poetry collections, novels, short stories and books for children. The event is sponsored by the Border Crossers program of the Robert Bosch Foundation and is part of the 10. International MitOst Festival.

Christine Huber was born in 1963 in Austria. Her first book with collected poems was published in 1990 under the title Deadline by the well-known Austrian publishing house Herbstpresse. Numerous publications of poetry prose and text graphics followed. Huber wrote lyrics for Beat Furrer, Elisabeth Flunger, Alexander Stankovski and I-Tsen Lu and realized text projects with Ilse Kilic and Helmut Schranz. Together with Alexander Stankovski she created works for the radio (www.kunstradio.at) and text installations. In 1990 she established the Edition ch publishing house. From January 2006 to November 2010 together with Gerhard Jaschke Huber was Managing Director of GAV (Graz Writers’ Society). Since 2005 she is responsible for the series DICHTFEST of the Alte Schmiede. From September, 10th to October, 10th 2012 Christine Huber will be our guest in Ruse as a scholarship holder of the literary network HALMA. The scholarship is awarded with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.

34 key moments and beginnings of novels by 35 authors from 16 countries. Marc Degens has read them all. He has written all of them too. Unsere Popmoderne (Our Pop-Modern Age) is one of the most original examples of fictitious and meta-literature. For two years in a row the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a column in which Marc Degens reviewed excerpts from contemporary literary works and short biographies of their authors. All of the books and respectively their authors were fictional. This fact led to numerous calls in the editorial office made by perplexed booksellers. The collected columns were published as a book in 2005 and are to be translated in Bulgarian language. Marc Degens was born in 1971 in Essen (Germany). He writes novels, newspaper columns and short stories. In Ruse Degens will read excerpts from his book Unsere Popmoderne and also from his latest novel Das kaputte Knie Gottes (The Broken Knee of God).

Micul Dejun, born in 1981, has not only studied in Dresden, Halle, Prague and Sibiu, but also worked as waste paper merchant, bell ringer, candle lighter, prop builder, in a museum, in the archives, as German language teacher and journalist, as university lecturer and off-space curator. Currently he studies at the Institute of German Literature in Leipzig, lives in Leipzig and in Sibiu and in addition to delivering postal parcels he writes mainly poetry, short stories and his first novel.

The group ruestungsschmiede is dominated by architectural thinking, inspired by an addiction to media and driven by an intense desire to create. In their examinations of space, light and color, Kristian Andresen, Michal Banisch and Philip Modest Schambelan explore the currents of their time and the associated space. By blurring the boundaries between analog and digital they manipulate perceptions of familiar symbols, text and graphics.

In Ruse, in Canetti House, ruestungsschmiede and Micul Dejun will try to bring together written, projected and spoken words.

The workshop will offer the children (Age: 4-6) an opportunity to discover and experience the Wonderland of Alice. Under the guidance of Vaya, Elisa and Hristiana the group will enter the fantastic world of fairy tales and have the opportunity to become part of it. Drinking tea, playing cards with imaginary cats and rabbits, we will set free our creativity and indulge in role-plays with masks for everybody!

Places for participants are limited (10 children)
Please register on: elisa.calosi@eliascanetti.org

On Sunday we would like to invite the whole city to a book bazar in a pleasant festive mood in the loggia of the old river station in Ruse (Rechna gara). You may bring your old books and exchange both them and your reading experience with other people.