"Instead of the poet writing poetry, poetry writes the poet", he used to say Branko Miljkovic.
The award-winning poets of the XNUMXth competition of the Nikšić Literary Meetings allowed their poetry to write them, to translate their emotions into verse, to be unique, and to stand out from the other submitted works.
Jury in composition Dr. Gordana Kustudić, Assoc. Dr. Nataša Jovović i Nedžad Ibrahimović, the president of the jury, decided that the first prize should go to the manuscript Milenka Sarca from Pljevlja "Torsten Veblen", second Jovana Simic from Belgrade for "Krajputaša", and the third Goran Radojicic from Nikšić who sent the collection under the code "Abel Brodersen".
Speaking about the submitted manuscripts, the member of the jury, Gordana Kustudić, pointed out that out of 21, three or four still deserve to see the light of day, as well as that they received a manuscript of children's poetry, which was also the case last year, which could not be placed in the evaluation category, so she expressed her belief that the "Njegoš" Library will find the possibility to print such collections.
Speaking about the first-prized manuscript, Kustudić pointed out that the collection contains semantically dense symbolization and emphasized personification, as a form of intimate relationship with creation itself, sometimes with the difficulty of creation.
"Fantasia is present in poetry and the mechanism of its introduction into poetry is not new, but in this collection it is processed in a completely new way, where fantastical elements are skillfully sewn into versed discourse, building a completely exceptional and unique poetics," said Kustudić.
As she explained, the most impressive feature of the second-prized manuscript is a kind of poetic play with the possibilities of language itself, as an increasingly common tendency of modern poetry.
"This collection demonstrates what kind of barriers language is capable of breaking. That language play is often expressed in stylistic figures, many of which are of the phonetic type," said Kustudić.
The collection of Goran Radojičić, she explained to the member of the jury, is full of a feeling of nostalgia that tends to fall into a kind of anti-nostalgia, which contributed to the originality of the poetic expression.
"A kind of need for the past, but for the past in the form of what was not in the past, the emphasis on the individual versus the collectivist, and that motif of solitude that permeates some of the poems in this collection are some of the features of this manuscript," said Kustudić.
"Man is a being that fights against oblivion, but at the same time, man is a being that, at certain moments, cultivates oblivion. On this kind of dichotomy, in this search to make a quality selection between memory and forgetting, the creator, permanently, investigates his being with the intention of removing the ubiquitous negative effects of political, social, historical, national and other burdens", said Šarac and explained why sent the manuscript under the code "Torsten Veblen".
We are talking about an American economist of Nordic origin who is the most famous name in the field of institutional economics and who knew how to title his books beautifully, such as "Theories of the Leisure Class".
"That cult work of his made me decide to hide behind that code," said Šarac, a professor of the economic group of subjects who writes poetry, haiku poetry, aphorisms and satirical poetry, occasionally literary criticism, and also deals with economic and political journalism.
Jovana Simić, the second prize-winning author, addressed the video message as well, who pointed out that the news about the award both pleased and surprised her.
"When we write and send works, we all wish for these kinds of recognitions, but we don't have the courage to expect them, not even to hope for them," admitted Simić.
Third-prize winner Goran Radojičić said that he had never heard "such a deep and systematic review of his songs" from jury member Gordana Kustudić.
Awarded poets were presented with a plaque and books from the publishing activities of the "Njegoš" library, and their manuscripts will be published and promoted next year.
"We are grateful to everyone who made Nikšić a beautiful place in these few days and once again reminded us that Nikšić's literary meetings are not by chance regionally, and perhaps a little wider, famous. Looking at the size of the audience, listening to what our awardees said, listening to Gordana, listening to all the writers, professors, and poets we hosted these days, I wouldn't say that reading is exactly in crisis," said M.Sc. Bojana Obradović, director of the "Njegoš" National Library, organizer of literary meetings.
As she pointed out, Nikšić's literary meetings deserve to continue for a long time, gather the greats of the written word and reward real poets, those who do not give up on the fact that "art will save the world".
"In the previous days, with the artistic sensibility and steadfastness of writers, poets and professors, all employees of the library, the good spirit of Nikšić was awakened, for who knows how many times, and the thesis that this is a city of culture and dialogue was once again confirmed. Nothing different was expected from a city that breathes the personality of great authors at every corner, a city through whose streets famous writers and poets like Desanke Maksimović, Meše Selimović, Ćamilo Sijarić, Mihailo Lalić, Duško Trifunović, Dragan Radulović”, said the moderator of the final evening, Nina Marković.
The slogan of this year's meetings, which were organized with the support of the Municipality of Nikšić and the Ministry of Culture, and as part of the December repertoire of the Nikšić cultural scene, was a quote Umberto Eco: "Therefore, writing, even on the eve of the Apocalypse, would still make sense".
Bonus video:
