Slovak poet Ivan Štrpka received the prestigious Golden Wreath award at the 64th Struga Poetry Evenings festival in North Macedonia. The Struga Poetry Festival, one of the largest gatherings of poets in the world, has previously honoured poets such as W.H. Auden, Ted Hughes, and Nobel laureate Tomas Gösta Tranströmer.
Štrpka’s poetry, praised by Macedonian literary critic Katica Kjulavkova for its "unpretentious" and "subtle" nature, will soon be commemorated at the festival with a plaque in Poetry Park, alongside other renowned poets.
Since its founding in 1961, the festival has hosted more than 5,000 poets from 95 countries. Interestingly, the event has often honored foreign poets who were considered dissidents in their own countries, including Russian poet in exile Joseph Brodsky, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, American beatnik Allen Ginsberg, Soviet bard Bulat Okudzhava, and many others.
Source: Struga poetry evenings, RSI
