Struga, 24 August 2022 (MIA) — The 61st Struga Poetry Evenings will open Thursday evening at the Drim Hotel patio instead of the Miladinov Brothers Cultural Center yard because heavy rain in the forecast had prevented festival organizers from setting up their sound system, organizers said. This year’s SPE will run from August 25 to 29. As is tradition, the festival will begin with a reading of Macedonian poet Konstantin Miladinov’s poem “Longing for the South.” “This year’s motto, ‘The Rhythm of a Line, the Rhythm of Life,’ highlights the primordial connection between the rhythmic patterns in poetry and the rhythmic patterns in nature and overall reality as well as the connection between poetry and music,” organizers said. In addition to local poets, 24 foreign poets have confirmed their attendance at the festival. A special guest will be Israeli poet Amir Or, the 2020 SPE Golden Wreath winner, who will attend an event dedicated to his poetry. The festival will also offer an In Memoriam tribute to Macedonian poet Radovan Pavlovski, who died in February. Other SPE events include an evening dedicated to female Croatian poets; readings by the winners of the Bridges of Struga and Miladinov Brothers prizes; as well as informal poetry readings by local and foreign poets. Some of the festival’s readings are organized as part of the Versopolis Platform, a Europe-wide poetry project supported by the EU. The festival officially closes on Sunday, Aug. 28. Organizers hope the traditional “Bridges” poetry reading can be held at the Bridge of Poetry in Struga, weather permitting. At the closing ceremony, organizers will award the festival’s main prize, the Golden Wreath, for a poet’s complete oeuvre; the UNESCO-sponsored Bridges of Struga award for a first poetry collection; and the Miladinov Brothers award for the best poetry book published in North Macedonia since last year’s SPE. Shuntarō Tanikawa (b. 1931 in Tokyo City, Japan) is the poetry festival's 2022 Golden Wreath laureate. Organizers said Tanikawa would not attend the festival for health reasons. His son, Japanese pianist and composer Kensaku Tanikawa, will accept the prize on his father’s behalf – and during the Poetry Portrait reading in honor of the SPE laureate at Ohrid’s St. Sophia church, the pianist will perform pieces inspired by his father’s poetry. The winner of the 2022 Bridges of Struga award, given to a best poetry debut published in the previous year, is Gerardo Masuccio's "Fin qui visse un uomo." The winner of the 2022 Miladinov Brothers award, given to the best poetry book by a Macedonian poet published since August 2021, is Zoran Anchevski's "Confused Compasses." The festival events will be streamed live on the SPE YouTube channel. mr/