Swiss Poetry: Poethreesome
Sparks Leaping over the Röstigraben and into Tessin

Initiated by the Babel Festival, “Poethreesome” is a joint initiative of the Babel Festival, Poetic Switzerland und the Leukerbad International Literary Festival.

Around the world, poets translate the works of other poets, sometimes without knowing the other language. This form of poetic translation is the starting point of the “Poethreesome” project. This initiative combines word for word translation and a rigorous exchange about form, style, references, etc. When necessary, a common third language is used for assistance.
In Switzerland, poetry from one linguistic region is rarely known to readers in the other linguistic regions. Therefore, the idea behind “Poethreesome” is that three Swiss poets – a German speaker, a French speaker and an Italian speaker – will translate one another’s poems into their respective national languages. This will send sparks leaping – from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva and to Lake Maggiore.
At the Leukerbad Literary Festival the first trio will offer a glimpse into their process of translation. The three poets are: Laura Accerboni, Odile Cornuz and Ulrike Ulrich. The results will be presented at the Babel Festival in September and then published.

LAURA ACCERBONI (1985) was born in Geneva and lives in Lugano. She graduated with a degree in Modern Literature from the University of Genoa. Her poems have been published in several literary reviews, including: Italian Poetry Review, Poesia, Steve, Nuova Corrente and Loch Raven Review. Other poems will appear in the Dutch literary magazine “Kluger Hans”. For the Ed. del Leone she released the poetry book ATTORNO A CIÒ CHE NON È STATO (Marazza Prize, Opera Prima 2012). Her latest book is LA PARTE DELL’ANNEGATO (Nottetempo, 2015). She is one of the poets selected for the Versopolis project (supported by EU). Her photographic works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibition.

ODILE CORNUZ writes fiction, drama, radio plays and poetry. Her published works include TERMINUS (2005), BISEAUX (2009) and POURQUOI VEUX-TU QUE ÇA RIME ? (2014). She has also written a thesis entitled D’UNE PRATIQUE MÉDIATIQUE À UN GENRE LITTÉRAIRE: LE LIVRE D’ENTRETIEN AU XXE SIÈCLE, published by Droz (2016). Her plays have been directed by Robert Sandoz, Anne Bisang, Anne-Cécile Moser and Georges Guerreiro. Since the 2015-2016 season, she has been the featured artist at the Theater Kléber-Méleau in Renens. Her poem “Tirez!” appeared in the anthology POETIC SWITZERLAND No. 2. (2015).

ULRIKE ULRICH was born in Düsseldorf in 1968. In 1999, she moved to Vienna, where she worked in the poetry writing program, “schule für dichtung”. She has lived in Switzerland since 2002 and has had voting rights since 2015. After her debut novel, FERN BLEIBEN (2010), and HINTER DEN AUGEN (2013), she published a collection of stories DRAUSSEN UM DIESE ZEIT in 2015. Ulrike Ulrich is currently spending six months in London, working on a new novel. She recently appeared in the “European Poetry Night” and participated in a translation project “Encounters der University of London”.

Time and venue
Saturday, 7.2.2016, 14:00
Alter Bahnhof