In May 2024 I was invited to take part in the VIIIth edition of the Festival Internacional de Poesia Los Confines in Gracias and Copรกn Ruinas in the state of Lempira, Honduras. I would like to thank the leading Cuban and US poet and academic Vรญctor Rodrรญguez Nรบรฑez for recommending me to the festival director, Salvador Madrid, and his team.
It was indeed a great honour and pleasure for me to read my poetry in Maltese in Honduras, with translations in Spanish, and to meet so many inspiring poets and human beings. I’ve made many new friends in Honduras.
My book of poetry Klin u Kapriฤฤi Oฤงra (Klabb Kotba Maltin 2015) was translated into Spanish as Romero y otros caprichos (Editorial Efรญmera, 2024, ISBN 979-83-21015-40-7) by Antoine Cassar, a London-born Maltese poet, translator, and editor, who received his PhD in Medieval Literature in 2017 from the Universidad de Alcalรก de Henares with a thesis in Spanish on the Italian sonnet introduced in Spain, “El soneto italiano y su introducciรณn en la Espaรฑa del siglo XV: Desarrollo mรฉtrico y conceptual.”
Antoine’s poetic translations from Maltese were then edited by Victor Rodrรญguez Nรบรฑez who recently retired from his post as Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College in Ohio, USA.
At Los Confines I read my poetry on three occasions, twice at the Universidad Pedagรณgica Nacional Francisco Morazรกn (UPNFM) in the city of Gracias, in the state of Lempira, and once on the magnificent historical site of Copรกn Ruinas of the ancient civilization of the Mayas. The Copรกn Archaeological Park in western Honduras is about 160 kms southwest from the city of San Pedro Sula, where I landed, and about 21kms from the border with Guatemala.
Readings from Canada, Malta and Nicaragua
My first reading at UPNFM Gracias Lempira was with Louis-Philippe Hรฉbert (Quebec, Canada) and Martha Leonor Gonzรกlez (Nicaragua). The session was moderated by the Honduran poet Francesca Randazzo who read the translations of my poems in Spanish after I read the originals in Maltese. The poems I read were “Jaqgฤงu s-Swaba’ f’Id Xulxin” (“Dedos Entrelazados”), “Sebgฤงin Sena Tbenฤกil” (“Setenta aรฑos de contusiรณn”), and “X’se Tagฤงmel Meta l-Lejl Jintemm?” (“ยฟQuรฉ harรกs cuando la noche termine?”).
Lectura de poetas europeos
My second reading, right after the first one, was part of the session, “Lectura de poetas europeos,” with Zoรซ Skoulding (Wales), Christos Koukis (Greece), and James Byrne (England). In this session
I first got to know Zoรซ at the festival Bookworld in Prague in May 2007, through Alexandra Bรผchler and Literature Across Frontiers, but Zoรซ was also in Malta for the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival in 2017.
I met Christos at the Mumbai Poetry Festival in January 2024 organised by Poetrywala, the publisher of my book of poems in English, Last-ditch Ecstasy (2017)., also published in Malta by Midsea Books, and the publisher of Christos’s collection, Modern Guilt.
The reading was moderated by Frances Simรกn and my poems in Spanish were read by the literary editor of my collection, Vรญctor Rodrรญguez Nรบรฑez. The poems were first read in Spanish by Victor and then in Maltese by myself: “Roazemarynblรชd,” “El legado del padre” (“Il-Patrimonju tal-Missier”), and “Si es que mirรฉ” (“Jekk ฤฆarist”).
In her article about this session, “Una lectura a la vida con poetas europeos en el Festival de Los Confines” in the newspaper El Heraldo, Samaรญ Torres wrote about my reading:
La poesรญa de Malta se acercรณ a Honduras desde la obra de Adrian Grima. El autor ha publicado su obra en Argelia, Egipto, Alemania, India, Irlanda e Italia… y ahora en Honduras.
El poeta cubano Vรญctor Rodrรญguez Nรบรฑez celebrรณ el hecho de tener a Grima en Honduras y ser leรญdo en espaรฑol. โSin traducciรณn no hay cultura, no estarรญamos en este evento sin traducciรณnโ, dijo Rodrรญguez.
Grima retomรณ lo que habรญan mencionado sus colegas, las relaciones entre paรญses, y lo recordรณ con su poema Roazemarynbled, donde hizo referencia a la relaciรณn entre Malta e Irlanda en la producciรณn de papas. โLa papa sin romero/ es como las horas sin compaรฑรญa./ Asรญ le dijo,/ horas sin compaรฑรญa./ Se sonrojรณ, sin saber por quรฉ,/ quiso asar las horas,/ dejarlas crujientes,/ o ponerlas a fuego lento,/ saltearlasโ.
Con su poema โEl legado del padreโ, Grima deja registro del ataque que sufriรณ su casa, el poeta habรญa publicado un libro de poemas sobre la migraciรณn, y a causa de eso su residencia sufriรณ la violencia de la intolerancia… โeso tambiรฉn es Europaโ, dijo.
This is a note Zoรซ Skoulding posted on her social media platform: “Wonderful to read with Adrian Grima, Christos Koukis and James Byrne as well as Katherine Hedeen and Victor Rodriguez Nunez, whose tremendous work of translation and community building brought us all together at Festival Internacional de Poesรญa Los Confines, Gracias, Honduras, to think about Europe from the outside. Gracias to you all!”
Lectura en el Parque Arqueolรณgico de Copรกn Ruinas
My third and last reading at the Festival Internacional de Poesรญa Los Confines was in the Parque Arqueolรณgico de Copรกn Ruinas with students and staff from CEMG Dr. Jesus Nuรฑez Chinchilla. The reading followed a fascinating guided tour of the Mayan ruins. Each poet read one poem: I chose to read “L-Imฤงabba l-Kapriฤฤ.” Antoine Cassar’s version in Spanish, “El amor es capricho,” was read by my good friend Katherine M. Hedeen, a prize-winning translator of poetry and essayist, a specialist in Latin American poetry, and Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College in Ohio.
Leonel Alvarado: โLa poesรญa me demuestra que yo nunca me fuiโ
In her interview with Leonel Alvarado, the amazing Honduran poet from Copรกn who is full professor of literature at Massey University in New Zealand, Samaรญ Torres quotes the poet saying that his poetry shows him that he has “never left.” In the article published in El Heraldo on 28th May 2024, Torres writes about how six years have passed since the last time the Honduran poet Leonel Alvarado was in Honduras, about how “his return has been endearing, and his poetry has felt closer than ever.”
In her article, the journalist refers to my comment on Alvarado’s reading at Casa Galeano:
El poeta maltรฉs Adrian Grima ya dejaba registro, tras su paso por el festival, sobre la poesรญa poderosa de Alvarado, su relato conmovedor de la vida, su orgullo de hijo de Honduras y el amor que le dispensa a esta tierra a la que ahora vuelve poco, pero que no ama menos. โ(…) es un hijo tan orgulloso y amoroso de esta tierra. Su lectura durante la presentaciรณn de sus poemas fue, para mรญ, uno de los aspectos mรกs destacados del Festivalโ, reseรฑรณ Grima.
Leonel Alvarado is an amazing Honduran poet who lives in New Zealand and teaches at Massey University in Wellington but who is such a proud and loving son of this land. His reading during the presentation of his collected poems at the Festival Internacional de Poesรญa Los Confines was, for me, one of the highlights of the Festival.
His lyric is so powerful that many people in the audience were in tears. And the poet was in tears too. Hopefully his complete work will be available in English sooner rather than later.
In this video he reads his poem “Amor y proteinas.”
His account of life and relationships is profoundly touching, insightful, with both an engagement and a soft ironic distance from his subject that left us all in awe. Poetry doesn’t come much better than this. And then he has this gift of a voice and natural disposition for reading. Now that I have the book which Salvador Madrid, the Festival Director, so proudly presented to us, I look forward to grappling with his Central American Spanish.
Presentaciรณn del libro Un lugar donde caerme vivo del poeta Leonel Alvarado, homenajeado del VIII Festival Internacional de Poesรญa Los Confines.
After a long, rough ride
A lovely conversation about many things after a long, rough ride from Copรกn to San Pedro Sula airport with Tyehimba Jess, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2017, in the front seat. A great poet. A great man.
Colecciรณn Poetas en Los Confines
El Festival Internacional de Poesรญa Los Confines es una de las plataformas culturales mรกs importantes de Hispanoamรฉrica, que reรบne cada aรฑo a autores de diferentes paรญses y lenguas del mundo para dar a conocer su trabajo literario.
Hemos creado la Colecciรณn Poetas en Los Confines con el propรณsito de mostrar al pรบblico un libro de cada poeta que forma parte del festival, de este modo los lectores se acercan para recorrer el mapa infinito de la poesรญa, edificado por los diversos paisajes de las culturas y por las visiones de los poetas, cuyas imรกgenes nos permiten reconocer la maravilla y la necesidad de los hombres y mujeres que habitan su destino o caminan para encontrarlo.
Le invitamos a leer poesรญa, ese lenguaje universal que nos permite interpretar la realidad y reconocernos como sujetos sensibles, capaces de transformar nuestro mundo para que sea justo, respetuoso, protector de las memorias y las culturas, ademรกs de las libertades individuales y los pactos sociales alentados por el bien comรบn.
adriangrima.org 
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