President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova received today the laureate and winner of the Golden Wreath of the 2024 Struga Poetry Evenings, Jean-Pierre Simeon, the winner of the “Miladinovci Brothers” award, Katica Kjulavkova, the winner of the “Bridges of Struga” award, Katrin Pitz and the winner of the renewed “Mlada Struga” award, Filipa Sara Popova.
The meeting was attended by Todorce Tasevski, Director of the Struga Poetry Evenings, Elizabeta Sheleva, President of the Festival’s Management Board, and Jordan Plevnesh, former Macedonian Ambassador to France and reciter of the poetry of laureate Jean-Pierre Simeon.
Pointing out that the Struga Poetry Evenings, with more than six decades of existence and authenticity, have the primacy of one of the oldest and most significant world poetry festivals, the President welcomed this year’s rich program content and emphasized its invaluable importance for the presentation of Macedonian and world poetic creativity.
At the meeting, President Siljanovska Davkova congratulated this year’s laureate, the French poet, playwright and essayist Jean-Pierre Simeon, and the winner of the “Miladinovci Brothers” award, academician Katica Kjulavkova, highlighting their significant creative, literary and poetic contribution, as well as the young poets Katrin Pitz and Filipa Sara Popova, expressing the expectation that these prestigious awards will represent encouragement and incentive for their further international successes.
The interlocutors exchanged opinions on the meaning and contribution of the Struga Poetry Evenings in the overall affirmation of the Macedonian state and culture, as well as on the importance of constantly upgrading the Festival with new contents and forms of poetic presentation.
The President welcomed the renewal of the “Mlada Struga” award as an opportunity to promote debut authors and poets of the younger generation, as well as the publication of a special edition with Braille of a selection of Petre M. Andreevski, Gane Todorovski and Mateja Matevski’s anthology poems, which pays tribute to the innovation of Braille and enables visually impaired people to experience the beauty of poetry.
