The festival evening started an hour earlier than announced in the program. At 17.00 Ziemowit Fincek showed the result of his month-long work in Ruse. He is from Poland and won this year’s  scholarship of the International Elias Canetti Society and the Danube Rectors Conference in competition with nearly 40 candidates. The exhibition “Written-Unwritten” is part of his big project “Negentropy” with which Ziemowit won the votes of the jury. “The paintings on display are inspired by the Danube River, the aesthetics of the Bulgarian people, archaeological finds, the function of literature and various forms of recording events and human thought, and the mystery of passing time.” Thus the young Polish artist described latest addition to his larger project.

The meeting with Alexandra Ivoylova started at 6 pm. She is a musician, artist and writer who skillfully interweaves all her talents in her works. With her we entered the world of haiga, an art that has its origins in ancient Japan. “The unique ancient Eastern art of haiga, linking image and haiku tristichi, is today becoming a worldwide phenomenon; expanding its pictorial techniques to the maximum. An art, strictly canonical, which gives the artist rich possibilities of expression” – says Alexandra in a special interview for the festival. The audience could experience it as a poetry recital and exhibition.

ANEMOIA means nostalgia for a time you didn’t live in. This is the title of the latest book by Robert Levy, who comes to Ruse from Frankfurt to present it at the festival. “Once upon a time, the great Bulgarian writer and playwright Georgi Danailov said that “society looks at writers as quiet madmen who talk to themselves in writing”. If this was largely true for the period of totalitarianism, today the task of the writer and the poet is to answer questions that modernity asks. And what better way than through live communication with potential readers. There it becomes clear to what extent an artist is relevant and valuable.“, Robert Levy answers a question about the artist’s need for a live audience. Especially from the meeting in Ruse he expected ” More questions, more conversation than a recital”. It started at 19.00.

All interviews with the festival participants, news and the whole programme can be found on this website