DAY THREE of the Festival was full of events, both contemporary and experimental.

People who didn’t catch the meeting with Manja Ristic could search for this name on the Internet. Certainly, the next “landing” of Manja in Ruse will definitely come. When Tzveta Sofronieva met Manja Ristic years ago, it was the start of an long artistic friendship. Their latest collaboration was titled 9.11 “All these Europes” – an anthology of cities separated by walls. This well-known date usually sends us across the ocean, but in this case, emblematic European events are the center of the plot.

Manja’s life is strongly influenced by borders. With a Croatian mother and a Serbian father, she is a child who grew up in a divided Yugoslavia. She lives between Belgrade and the Croatian town of Korcula – traveling continuously. She never stops experimenting with poetry that sounds like music and music that sounds like poetry. That’s the atmosphere she brought with her in Ruse and although brief, it was filled to the brim with emotion.

Next, was a reading with Darina Schneider who was debuting with her first poem, published for the first time with the kind cooperation of Elias Canetti Publishing House. Darina is born in Bonn with a Bulgarian mother and a German father, she writes in both languages. But she only dreams in Bulgarian. She feels that Bulgarian is the language that gives her more freedom when comes to expressing of emotions. In German, it is difficult to do for her, even though she has a better command of it. After graduating in pharmacy, Darina worked in this field for 6 years, then turned to journalism and media until finally the moment came when she found her muse in poetry. Her – reading poetry sounds like darts shooting – hitting the mark witch each shot. Amazing indeed for a debut.

After a short brake, another young female author from Germany took the floor, Anja Kampmann. She is born in Hamburg but lives in Leipzig. She possesses equal skill in poetry and prose. Canetti House was filled with the melody of her poems and parts of the novel “High as the Waters Rise.” Once again, the texts that were presented to us by German authors this year at the festival were all exciting.

Bulgarian author Georgi Tenev took the stage next. He is a well-known writer and a holder of many awards, one amongst which he himself highlights is the Canetti Award, which he shares with film director Ivan Dobchev. In his books he explores the time – ours and that of other nations. Past and present. Tenev mixes genres, time and different realities. He deals in depth with the issue of freedom. “Balkan Ritual” was presented with a short excerpt because Georgi Tenev does not like to read for long, since he prefers to hold the audience hungry for more.

The final event for the night a video screening, presented by Nicolas Panettier – one of the authors. A Frenchman who works and lives in Berlin. He deals with the ever shifting borders, and his work has him developing a film for almost 19 years, one which will surely continue to change, in line with the actions of those who manage European politics.

The next day of the Festival will be opened by Prof. Svetlozar Igov, who will introduce his work “The genre of Elias Canetti”.After that we continue with Jose Oliver – another cosmopolitan who teaches creative writing to students and works to develop their language skills and facilitate the acquisition of literature in the classroom. Next, Alzek Kuber will read excerpts from his yet unpublished “Peripetia”. The evening will end with “Reflections in a well. Multiverse 2”.

All this on October 14, Ruse, Canetti House, Slavyanska 12 Str.