Maryja Martysievič

Maryja Martysevich (c) Violetta Savtchits

Maryja Martysievič (in Belarusian Марыя Мартысевіч) was born in Minsk in 1982. In her poetry she makes skillful use of large forms and epic elements. She has developed a poetic language that is an explosive mix of stilted formal language, contemporary slang, archaisms, bonmots from foreign languages and wittily deployed references to popular quotes and idioms. Her poetics builds on contrast and anachronism, allowing her to be polystylistic, extremely serious or entertaining at will, and ironic, even sarcastic. Martysievičs literary and publishing interests are equally varied. She is a connoisseur of Baroque literature, a translator and editor of American cult novels, a seasoned cultural journalist and provocative blogger. Since 2013 she has been a member of the presiding committee of the Belarusian PEN.

Publications:
Jak pazbycca Mamatuta (Cutting the Cord from Mama). Koska, 2020.
Sarmatyja (Sarmatien). Januškievič, 2018.
Ambasada: vieršysvaje i čužyja (The Embassy: Owned and Borrowed Poems). Knihazbor, 2011.
Cmokilatuć na nierast: ese ŭ vieršach i prozie (Dragons fly to spawn: Essays in Verse and Prose). Lohvinaŭ, 2008.

Festival Content

VERSSCHMUGGEL BELARUS – GERMANY

The focus of this year’s VERSschmuggel/reVERSible translation project is on poetry from Belarus. In view of the current political situation it seems more apposite than ever to let the country’s poets be as loud as possible and to intensify bilateral relationships, especially on levels other than the political one.

Julia Cimafiejeva • Özlem Özgül Dündar • Jonis Hartmann • Andrei Khadanovich • Uladzimir Liankievič • Maryja Martysievič • Andre Rudolph • Daniela Seel • Tania Skarynkina • Ulf Stolterfoht • Dmitri Strozev • Uljana Wolf