Gruntmane, Madara

Gruntmane, Madara (c) Una Laura Siliņa

Madara Gruntmane, born 1981 in Liepāja in western Latvia, lives in Riga. She is a Latvian poet, festival organiser, pianist and artist. In her direct, almost scenic poems, she deals with experiences of violence and their aftermath. The focus is always on the female body and the speaking about trauma. She has published three volumes of poetry, most recently “Aizmīlestība” (Afterlove) (Neputns 2022) and “Dzērājmeitiņa” (Drunk Daddy’s Girl) (Neputns 2018). In 2019, she was awarded the Latvian Radio Culture Prize.

Festival Content

POETRY TALK: Yevgeniy Breyger & Madara Gruntmane

Es tut weh, das heißt: Du bist am Leben (It Hurts, Thus: You’re Alive)

Clubraum 7/5€ | Tickets

Yevgeniy Breyger (born in Kharkiv in 1989) and Madara Gruntmane (born in Liepāja in 1981) are united in their search for an empathetic language and their search for what it means to write poetry in the face of violence.

Breyger, Yevgeniy • Gruntmane, Madara

WRITING VIOLENCE

Kleines Parkett 8/6 € | Tickets

 

With Kemi Alabi, Yevgeniy Breyger, Kholoud Charaf, Athena Farrokhzad, Madara Gruntmane, Ramin Mazhar and Ganna Gryniva (music), moderated by Bohdan Tokarskyi

Violence can be silent – but it can also develop its own language. How might we counter violence with another language, one that does not further stigmatize its victims or – in the worst case – re-traumatize them? This evening’s poets will contend with different forms of violence: authoritarian regimes, censorship, war and civil war, forced migration, flight, and expulsion – but also everyday violence, racist police profiling, violence against LGTBQIA* people, femicides, or sexualized violence within the family or community. Poetry can both document and remember violence, but can also initiate therapeutic processes, extending the opportunity for solidarity and healing.

 

Alabi, Kemi • Breyger, Yevgeniy • Charaf, Kholoud • Farrokhzad, Athena • Gruntmane, Madara • Mazhar, Ramin • Gryniva, Ganna