On June 19, the Directorate of the program "Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature" and the Night Mayor's Office invite you to take part in the traditional night literary tour on the tram, which will take place for the sixth time. Passengers of the special flight will find texts by famous authors from 10 UNESCO cities of literature, as well as poems by Ulyanovsk poets.

"LiteraTour by tram" is an opportunity to make a night journey into the world of modern literature and get acquainted with 18 texts by famous authors from 10 UNESCO literary cities (Manchester, Odessa, Granada, Nanjing, Wonju, Iowa, Milan, Dunedin, Norwich, Kuhmo).

So, the texts for the tour were provided by one of the leading modern Chinese poets Khan Dong (Nanjing); poet Timmy Straw, who translated the poetry of Grigory Dashevsky (Iowa); prestigious literary award-winning poet Kim Sung-deok (Wonju); winner of the prize of poetic criticism of Andalusia, poet Nieves Chiyon (Granada); poet and writer Julia Melnik (Odessa); winner of several literary awards, poet, guest of the writer's residence in Ulyanovsk in 2019 David Howard (Dunedin); laureate of the Norfolk Young Poets Competition Matilda Armiger; poet Afshan D-Souza Lodhi (Manchester) and others. Also, passengers of the Literary Tram will hear an excerpt from the famous Karelian-Finnish epic "Kalevala" by Elias Lönnrot, provided by the city of Kuhmo, and a text by the famous Italian poetess Antonia Pozzi, who was born in Milan in 1912 and passed away at 26 years old. (See the full list of participants below)

The participating authors sent texts specially selected or written for Ulyanovsk, dedicated to this year's theme - "New". The new is the hope that the whole world, faced with a pandemic, needs now. Some of the texts will be heard by Ulyanovsk residents on June 19, and the second - in August on the Literary trolleybus in the Volga region.

Texts in Russian will be read in the translation of the Ulyanovsk poet Sergei Gogin.

Fragments of the works will be read by special guests of the tour: Ivan Shpedt (International Master of Sports in Kudo, Champion of Russia, World Championship medalist, World Championship winner, MMA fighter); Lera Volkova (host of Radio 2x2), Alexandra Dydychkina (actress of the Youth Theater), etc.

Ulyanovsk poets and prose writers-laureates of the First Dew competition will also take part in the Literary Tram: Ekaterina Bogdanova, Anisiya Matlina, Sergei Nikolaev, Maxim Naidin, Natalia Tibushkina, Vlada Mitrofanova, Alexander Bukharin, Daria Efremova. In addition, everyone will be able to read their favorite works in an open microphone format.

LiteraTour starts on June 19 at 21-00. Participation is free. Seats are limited, registration is required. All registered participants will receive information about the meeting point.

Organizers of the event: Directorate of the program "Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature", Night Mayor's Office of Ulyanovsk, Centralized Library System of Ulyanovsk, Department of Culture and Leisure of the Population of the Administration of the City of Ulyanovsk, Municipal Unitary Enterprise "Ulyanovskelectrotrans", Youth Initiative Center with the support of the Government of the Ulyanovsk Region.

ATTENTION: the event will be held taking into account the requirements of Rospotrebnadzor.

Authors whose texts will be heard in Ulyanovsk at the Literary Tram and Literary Trolleybus events in 2021 (cities are presented in alphabetical order)

Dunedin (New Zealand)

Iona Winter is a poet based in Dunedin. Her works are diverse, often published, included in literary collections and almanacs, including foreign ones. Ayona creates texts designed for public performance and enjoys the synthesis of the arts. She has a master's degree in creative writing. She has published three poetry collections: Gaps in the Light (2021), Te Hau Kāika (2019), and Then the wind came (2018). With a gift for giving sound to different themes, she often draws inspiration from her deep connection with the land, city, country.

Carolyn McCurdy is a Dunedin-based poet who writes poetry and fiction. In 1998, she received the Lillian Ida Smith Prize for her short stories, and in 2013 she won first place in an international poetry competition held by the Poet Society of New Zealand. She has published several books: the children's fantasy novel Restless (2006), the digital collection of short stories Albatross (2014) and the poetry collection The Man from Octagon Square (2015). She is an active member of The Octagon Group, a regular organizer of live poetry performances in Dunedin.

David Howard is a poet, author of nine books, participant in international writers' residences, exhibitions and performances, editor, winner of several prestigious literary awards, guest of the writers' residence in Ulyanovsk in 2019. His works have been translated into European languages, and The Ones Who Keep Quiet was included in the list of the best books of the year according to the well-known New Zealand magazine The New Zealand Listener. Howard's literary awards include the Mid-Career Writers' Award (2009), the University of South Pacific Poetry Prize (2011) and the Robert Burns Fellowship (2013).

Granada (Spain)

Nieves Chiyon is a poet, born in the city of Orsay (Granada, Spain) in 1981. Her collection of poems Arborescente, released in 2020 by Pre-Textos, won the Andalusian Poetry Criticism Prize. From 2004 to 2017, she published six more poetry collections in various publishing houses.

Iowa (USA)

Margaret Yepp is a poet from Iowa City, Iowa. Her poetry has appeared in the New Delta Review, Peach Mag, The Minnesota Review, and other journals. Margaret is pursuing her Master of Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Timmy Straw is a poet, translator, and pianist from Oregon, currently studying at the Iowa Writers' Workshop on a Poet Scholarship. Recently, he lived and worked in Moscow under the Fulbright program, where he translated the poetry of Grigory Dashevsky. Poems have been published in Jacket2, Tin House, Spork, Volta and many others.

Sarah Gilmour is a poet. Lives with his son Samuel in Mairena Del Aljarafe, Spain, occasionally in Rochester, Minnesota and Chicago, Illinois. She received her Master of Arts in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa, graduating in the spring of 2010. Since then, he has been translating, copywriting, proofreading and editing. Proficient in a variety of editing styles (Chicago, Harvard, Science Editing Council, American Press Association, and Associated Press).

Kuhmo (Finland)

Elias Lönnrot is a Finnish linguist, folklorist, collector and compiler of the Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala. The linguist and physician Elias Lönnrot worked in Kuhmo from 1833 to 1853. During this time he made several trips to Karelia on the White Sea to collect old poems. To this day, Elias Lönnrot remains one of the most respected and famous authors in the history of Finnish literature.

During the literary tram, an excerpt from the Kalevala will be heard in Russian translation (Eino Kiuru (January 18, 1929-January 25, 2015) and Armas Mishin (February 15, 1935-October 9, 2018) translated the Kalevala epic into Russian in 1998. This the translated version is included in the revised edition (published in 2007, Juminkeko Center for Kalevala and Karelian culture)).

Manchester (UK)

Poet Afshan D-Souza Lodhi

Milan (Italy)

Amos Mattio is a poet, born in 1974. He teaches Italian literature in Milan, and also coordinates the work of the "Milan House of Poetry". He has published four books of poetry and three novels. His poems have been included in six anthologies and have been translated into English, Spanish, Romanian and Serbian.

Elisa Biagini is a poet and lives in Florence. She studied and taught in the USA for several years. Her poems have been published in several collections in Italy and the United States. She has published eight collections of poetry, some of them in two languages. Translated into English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Croatian, Japanese, Slovak, Russian, Serbian, Arabic, Turkish and Chinese. He teaches art history and writing at NYU Florence and abroad.

Antonia Pozzi is an Italian poetess, born in Milan in 1912. During her life she wrote 300 poems, which were published only after her death due to suicide at the age of 26. Although Pozzi did not receive literary recognition during her lifetime, she is considered one of the most unusual voices in modern Italian literature. Her poems have been repeatedly published in Italy and translated into several languages.

Rosa Teruzzi is an Italian journalist, writer, TV presenter. Lives and works in Milan, specializes in crime, editor-in-chief of the television program "The Fourth Degree". She has published five novels and several short fantasy stories. When he writes novels, he moves for the summer to the old building of the railway outpost on Lake Como.

Nanjing (China)

Han Dong is a poet born in Nanjing in 1961. One of the leading contemporary Chinese authors. As a representative of the "third generation" he made a huge contribution to the development of modern Chinese poetry. In recent years, he has received many prestigious literary awards in China, including the Chinese Media Literature Award, a literary award given by the Chinese media community. Han Dong's writings were translated into foreign languages ​​and published outside of China.

"Miracle" is a collection of Han Dong's poems, where he touches on the immediate details of life, which he writes about in simple and clear language. He writes about "everyday life", including in poems addressed to his artist friends. The title of the book reflects a new stage in his work, in which he continues to explore the themes of poetry and truth, with an emphasis on deep feelings.

About English Translator

Jan Sisling is a fiction writer, poet and art historian. His books and articles have been published in English, Dutch, French, Greek, Chinese and Italian. Born in 1951 in the Netherlands, lived in France, moved to the USA. He studied art history at the Free University of Amsterdam and lectured at numerous universities and museums. From 2007 to 2011, he served as director of the Art Museum at the University of Southern Mississippi. In between writing, he travels extensively in Europe and North America, and currently in China.

Norwich (UK)

Mathilde Armiger - poet, 18 years old. Lives in Norwich and Paris. Winner of the Foyle Foundation Young Poetry Competition (2018), 2019 University of Hertfordshire Poetry Competition Winner, National Writers Center Norfolk Young Poetry Competition Winner.

Odessa (Ukraine)

Yulia Melnik is a poet and writer. Member of the Literary Studios "Potok", "Green Lamp", "Revelation". Diploma winner of the festivals: "Scarlet Sails", "Province by the Sea", International Odessa Literary and Musical Festival "Music of the Word". Author of poetry collections "Sounding watercolors", "Angel with a saxophone", "Spring equinox". Member of the "Collective of Poets of Odessa - UNESCO City of Literature".

Wonju (South Korea)

Kim Sung Dok is a poet. He debuted as a poet in Poetry and Review in 2002 and as a sijo (traditional Korean poem) poet in Sijo Literatur in 2010. The author has published four collections of poetry and won four awards, including the Dongbaek Art Award. The author is also a member of the Korean Writers Association.

Translation from Korean into Russian will be performed during the literary tram - translator Eva Lee.

Translation of texts—poet Sergei Gogin (Ulyanovsk)

Sergei Gogin was born in 1964 in Uralsk. In 1981 he graduated from secondary school No. 1 in Ulyanovsk, in 1986 - from the Ulyanovsk Polytechnic Institute. He worked at the regional radio and television, in the city newspaper "Simbirsky Courier", hosted the author's program at the TRC "Europroject", worked in the journal "Journalism and Media Market" (Union of Journalists of Russia, Moscow). In 1996 he graduated from American University in Washington DC with a degree in journalism and mass communications.

From 2014 to 2017 on the stage of the Ulyanovsk Regional Drama Theater there was a one-act play "A Little Man with a Big Heart" based on Sergei Gogin's free verse cycle "About a Little Man", today this performance is in the repertoire of the Ulyanovsk Youth Theater. Since September 2014, he has been the head of the Eight literary studio, and since February 2016, he has been leading the Crossroads English conversation club.

The author's publications in literary magazines can be read in the "Journal Hall", new poems and texts - in the author's group in VK. Also on the portal "Ulyanovsk - UNESCO City of Literature" you can find an interview with Sergei Gogin.