Struga, 26 August 2022 (MIA) — Israeli poet Amir Or, winner of the 2020 Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings, was first translated into Macedonian 20 years ago, and he has edited the only anthology of contemporary Israeli poetry in Macedonian, SPE management board chairwoman Elizabeta Sheleva said at a poetry reading dedicated to Or on Friday. The reading dedicated to Or took place at St. Mary Church in the Struga village of Kalishta as part of the 61st SPE festival. Speaking about the poet, Sheleva said his poems had been published online in the literary journal Blesok as well as in print in Nashe pismo. “On this solemn and joyous occasion, it only remains for us to give in to the noble opportunity to sincerely indulge in his poetry, drinking from the sumptuous authorial source of Amir Or, the poet, whose last name, as we now understand, in the Hebrew language means no less but light itself,” Sheleva said. “Light, richly soaked with the noble echoes of different and ancient cultures, which constitute a perfect amalgam with his vibrant sensuality, exceptional sensitivity, sharpened lucidity and spiritual questioning as well as his willingness to go all the way into things, through impressive lyrical rhetoric and life-giving eloquence of his speech, which confirms the universal value of his poetry and its far-reaching messages addressing the person of the future,” Sheleva said. Or read several of his poems in front of the audience and again thanked festival organizers for the 2020 Golden Wreath. Later on Friday, readings will be held at the Miladinov Brothers Cultural Center yard in honor of the 2022 winner of the Bridges of Struga award, Italian poet Gerardo Masuccio, and the 2022 Miladinov Brothers award winner Zoran Anchevski. At the closing ceremony on Aug. 28, organizers will award the festival’s main prize, the Golden Wreath for a poet’s complete oeuvre, to the 2022 laureate Shuntarō Tanikawa’s son who will accept it on his father’s behalf; the UNESCO-sponsored Bridges of Struga award for a first poetry collection to Masuccio for his “Fin qui visse un uomo”; and the Miladinov Brothers award for the best poetry book published in North Macedonia since last year’s SPE to Anchevski for his “Confused Compasses.” Over 20 poets from abroad and 30 from the country are attending the SPE, which this year is taking place under the motto ‘The Rhythm of a Line, the Rhythm of Life.’ mr/