Eugenijus Ališanka

Ališanka has published five poetry collections and two essay collections so far. His work has been translated into various languages including English, Polish, Swedish, Russian, German and Dutch. In 1992, he received the Zigmas-Gėlė prize for his poetry collection Lygiadienis (Equinox). His essay collection, Dioniso sugrįžimas (Dionysius’s Return), was awarded a prize by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. Ališanka has also distinguished himself as a poetry translator, translating, amongst others, the works of Wisława Szymborska, Carolyn Forshé, Dannie Abse, Bernardine Evaristo, Jerome Rothenberg, Desmond Egan and Jacek Podsiadło. 

Eugenijus Ališanka is an unusual voice in Lithuanian poetry. Averse to linguistic and symbolic conventions, he has generated a literary landscape that is clearly rooted in Lithuania yet also connects to the shared European literary canon and history. Poems obviously situated in a typical Lithuanian village landscape of the post-communist period gain a universal dimension, while in other poems Greek myths are reimagined within a Lithuanian context. In so doing, intellectual tussles are articulated in a concrete, visual manner. This is most explicit in the collection Iš neparašytų istorijų (From Unwritten Histories), which lends voice to often unidentified shadow figures from history. A spiritual kinship with other Eastern European poets such as Zbigniew Herbert, to whom Ališanka has dedicated one of his poems, is apparent. Eugenijus Ališanka will be reading at the 41st Poetry International Festival. This text was written for that occasion. 


Bibliography

In Lithuanian

Poetry
Iš neparašytų istorijų (From Unwritten Histories), Vaga, Vilnius, 2002
Lygiadienis (Equinox), Vaga, Vilnius, 1991
Peleno miestas (City of Ashes), Regnum, Vilnius, 1995
Dievakaulis (Godbone), Lithanian Writers’ Association Publishing House, Vilnius, 1999
Exemplum, Vaga, Vilnius, 2006

Essays
Dioniso sugrįžimas (Dionysius’s Return), Lithanian Writers’ Association Publishing House, Vilnius, 2001
Vaizdijantis žmogus (Representing Man), Lithanian Writers’ Association Publishing House, Vilnius, 1998

In translation
City of Ash, Northwestern University Press, USA, 2000
Dievakaulis / Godbone, Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, Vilnius, 1999
Gudaben, Ariel Skrifter, Sweden, 2002
Božja kost’/Dievakaulis, Symposium, Russia, 2002
Aus ungeschriebenen geschichten / Iš neparašytų istorijų, DuMont, Germany, 2005
Iz nenapisanih zgodb, Društvo Apokaplipsa, Lubliana, Slovenia, 2008
Uit het archief van ongeschreven brieven (anthology), Uitgeverij P, Belgium, 2010
Exemplum, Suhrkamp, Germany, forthcoming 2010
From Unwritten Histories, Host Publications, USA, forthcoming 2010

Eugenijus Ališanka will be reading at the 41st Poetry International Festival. This text was written for that occasion. For more information, including a festival schedule, visit www.poetry.nl.