New Zealand poet Charles Olsen
receives the XIII Distinction POETAS DE OTROS MUNDOS (‘Poets From
Other Worlds’) awarded by the Fondo Poético Internacional
(‘International Poetry Fund’) in recognition of the high quality of his
poetic oeuvre.
Photo credit: Lilián
Pallares, New York, 2016
Son of
an Anglican priest and an opera singer, Charles Olsen moved to England in
1981 and to Spain in 2003. He travelled to Spain because of his interest in
the Spanish painters Velasquez and Goya, and to study flamenco guitar. He has published the poetry collections Sr. Citizen (Amargord,
2011), which includes a foreword by New Zealand poet Pat White, and Antípodas
(Huerga & Fierro, 2016). His poems have been included in anthologies in
Spain and Colombia as well as Blackmail Press (editions 28 and 39) and the latest
NZ Poetry Yearbook 2017 (Massey University Press). Although he didn't speak
Spanish before moving to Spain now writes many of his poems in Spanish and
has also translated many Spanish and New Zealand poets.
He has also taken his poetic vision into different areas such as the
performance Agita Flamenco which premiered in the New Zealand
pavilion of the Venice Biennale – a show including flamenco dance and piano
– and his poetry films, which have been shown in festivals such as
Liberated Words (Bristol), Sinestèsia (Barcelona), and ZEBRA Poetry Film
Festival (Berlín). He collaborated with video-creations in the show Parpadeos,
presented this year in the Netherlands Flamenco Biënnale.
For the last six years he has run the online poetry project Palabras Prestadas (Given
Words) with the participation of poets from throughout the
Spanish-speaking world and this year he is running a special edition of Given Words in
English for the Phantom Billstickers National
Poetry Day which is open to all New Zealanders.
His partner, Colombian poet Lilián Pallares, with whom he runs
the audiovisual producer antenablue – the
observed word, has been awarded at the same time the XIV Distinction
POETAS DE OTROS MUNDOS. In 2011 she was selected as one of the ten best
young writers of Latin America by About.com, New York. Charles recently
translated her book of short stories 'Sleepwalking City'
into English.
The awards will be presented by the Aragonese poet, Ángel Guinda, president
of the Fondo Poético Internacional, on Sunday 9th July of
the current year, in Madrid, Nakama Bookshop (Calle Pelayo 22), at 12:30
midday. [See invitation below.]
The previous distinctions have been awarded to the poets Theodoro Elssaca
(Chile), Subhro Bandopadyay (India), Zhivka Baltadzhieva (Bulgaria), Mohsen
Emadi (Iran), Ahmad Yamani (Egypt), Inés Ramón (Argentina), Rubén Grajeda
Fuentes, ‘Leo Zelada’ (Peru), Nicanor Parra (Chile), Abdul Hadi Sadoun
(Iraq), Mohamed Alfaqueeh (Libia), Soleh Wolpé (Iran) and Luljeta
Lleshanaku (Albania).
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