Hosting Words at the Lent House of Literature sets up meetings between Slovene and foreign authors who share a common bond. On 26st of September, House of Literature will host Aleš Šteger and Yang Lian.
Aleš Šteger (1973), Slovene poet, writer, translator and literary critic was born in Ptuj and currently resides in Ljubljana. Šteger’s earliest literary work dates back into the early 1990’s. His literary debut Šahovnice ur (Chessboards of Hours), published in 1995, sold out even before the official release press conference and signalled a new generation of authors who, even though born in former Yugoslavia, began their rise in sovereign Slovenia.
Besides a prolific literary career Šteger has often been the driving force behind numerous projects and initiatives, some of which left a significant mark on the Slovene cultural landscape. During 1995 and 1997 Šteger served as editor of the cultural section at the Slovene student newspaper Tribuna. He is currently the programme head of the Student Publishing House, which was envisioned and later founded with his help, as was the Beletrina book collection. During 1995 and 2004 Šteger was the initiator and programme manager of the international poetry festival Days of Poetry and Wine in Medana, Slovenia (www.dnevipoezijeinvina.org). Šteger is currently the head of Terminal 12 programme strand with the European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012 (http://www.maribor2012.eu/). In the past 20 years Šteger was a guest of over 300 literary readings, symposiums and festivals in over forty countries. His work includes translations from German and Spanish.
Aleš Šteger is the author of five poetry collections Šahovnice ur (Chessboards of Hours, 1995), Kašmir (Cashmere, 1997), Protuberance (2002), Knjiga reči (The Book of Things, 2005), Knjiga teles (The Book of Bodies, 2010); a travelogue of a journey through Peru Včasih je januar sredi poletja (Sometimes it’s January in Mid-Summer, 1999); a short-story collection Berlin (2007) and a collection of essays S prsti in peto (With Fingers and a Heel, 2009).
Together with painter Dušan Fišer, Šteger created a series of artistic actions and exhibitions and recorded an album entitled Kamen (2005) with Austrian double bass player Peter N. Gruber. Šteger is also the author of the libretto in Cum grano salis, written in collaboration with composer Uroš Rojko and released on CD in 2005. Šteger’s poems were set to music by popular musicians, including the instrumental band Godalika. October 2010 saw the premiere of Šteger’s children’s musical Kurent, co-produced by Maribor Puppet Theatre and Ptuj Puppet Theatre.
Šteger is the recipient of Slovene and international literary awards and scholarships, including the Best First Book Award (1996) bestowed by the Slovene Book Fair, the Veronika award for best poetry collection (1996), the Rožanc award for best collection of essays (2007), the Literary Sceptre award for European poetry bestowed by the Macedonian Writers’ Association (2006), a scholarship by the Abraham Woursell Foundation (200), a scholarship by DAAD Künstlerprogramm (2005) and the American BTBA award for best book in translation (2011).
Šteger’s work has been translated into numerous languages (Slovak German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Swedish, Macedonian, Italian, etc.) and several of his texts have been included in textbooks used in Slovene schools.
www.alessteger.com
Yang Lian (1955) was born in Switzerland and grew up in Beijing. His earliest attempts at writing date back into the 1970’s when he was one of the founders of the poetry group Misty, which signalled the beginning of a new wave of Chinese poetry. Lian’s poems exude a deep understanding of and innovative intertextuality with classical Chinese poetry. The reviews of his work sp