Page 44 - September 2020

LITTERATEUR

NS: How do evaluate poetry festivals?

Niels Hav: We writers are individualists, most of the time we are glancing at the wall
at home as a lonely robber in the desert. Festivals is a chanse to meet with
colleagues and share dreams and ideas. Every business needs this kind of
professional venues. Symposia of any sort is an ancient tradition. You meet new
authors, new texts and issues. And the poems are meeting a new audience who
gets the chance to hear the text read in the author's own voice. The fact is that
poetry is related to music, and often the tone and the poet's appearance can be the
key to a deeper understanding. A good festival can be a magical place - sometimes
it's like being inside a UFO, glowing and pervaded by metaphysics. Everyone
returns home with their heads swimming full of inspiring new impressions. That's
the ideal festival, of course there are also less successful variants, which quickly
disappears into merciful oblivion.

NS: Your poetry has been translated into several languages, including Arabic.
Could you give us some details about this?

Niels Hav: Danish is one of the smaller languages, so it's a pleasure to be translated
and see the poems thrive in other regions. It has in particular been a joy for me to
get in touch with Arab readers who have such a rich tradition for poetry of high
quality. When I sit with an Arabic newspaper, I can only "understand" the photos.
I’m trapped in the Latin alphabet. Many Arab writers have the advantage over
European colleagues, they are able to read two alphabets. I don't know if Arabs are
more intelligent than the Europeans, maybe they just are more curious. In English
Per K. Brask and Patrick Friesen have been working with my stuff for many years,
they initially made it possible for the poems to cross borders. My Arabic book is
translated by Jamal Juma, who himself is a fine poet. My friend Salim Abdali has
translated a few texts - and you dear Nizar have translated some new poems, I am
profoundly grateful for this. Translators are alchemists who make a heroic effort:
they perform the impossible.

NS: Ababil has published four of your poems translated into Araic. I am sure Arab
readers would like to read more. Could you grant us at least one more poem?

Niels Hav: Yes, thank you, I would be happy to end with a poem. It has been a
pleasure to exchange thoughts and ideas with you.

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