“ТHE WRITER IS SPEAKING” – CEREMONIAL SPEECH BY RUMENA BUŽAROVSKA: “WHERE ARE WE NOW?”
Since 2022, the beginning of the festival has been marked with the powerful thoughts and words of a renowned Macedonian writer. For this purpose, each of them prepares a appropriate text that sheds a different light on their own work, but also sets a vertical to the literary and social context in the (un)time we live in, in line with the festival theme. Because festivals exist to make the voice of writers heard. The author who will address the Skopje audience this year is Rumena Bužarovska, who is known not only with her collection of essays but has always been a spokesperson against social anomalies.
A LITERARY STUDY ABOUT TRAUMA AND STAMINA
Conversation with Paola Peretti (Italy) and Miřenka Čechová (Czech Republic)
In literature, trauma often serves as a critical len through which to examine characters' stamina. The author(s) present trauma as a profound force that challenges (and shakes) the characters' psychological and emotional stability, shaping their narratives. This not only emphasizes the catharsis that follows, but sheds light on their resilience. What is the motivation to continue if the thing that meant the most to you in life suddenly disappoints you?
Miřenka Chekhova's novel “Ballerinas” is just that: based on personal experience, it revolves around a young girl's schooling at a ballet conservatory in Prague in the 1990s. The story is told in an unpretentious way, and its appearance caused serious debates in the ballet world in the Czech Republic and provoked contradictory reactions among the readership – from condemnations for denigrating classical ballet, to an incentive for a serious rethinking of the practice of this art.
Trauma and perseverance are intricately linked, as the former often fuels the latter, while giving the characters a voice to confront and overcome their limitations. Trauma is the most common stalker of a child's playful soul, the effect of which leaves scars in the development of the individual. Stepping into the world of nine-year-old Mafalda, author Paola Peretti presents Stargardt's disease, which causes vision loss and blindness. Mafalda keeps a diary – in it she writes down all the things she won't be able to do. But he learns that there is another way of seeing – he learns to see the world with his heart.
The literature provides a nuanced understanding of how trauma affects resilience, emphasizing the contact between suffering and survival, and readers gain a deeper appreciation of the indomitable spirit faced with adversity.
The event will be moderated by Biljana Crvenkovska and Dragica Stamenkovikj.
