The sponsors of the 23rd poetry meeting in Rešetari, gathering Croatian poets from around the world, are the culture ministry, the City of Zagreb, Brod-Posavina County, and the City of Slavonski Brod. Joining the CHF as organisers are the Rešetari municipal government and the State Office for Croats Abroad.
The Croatian Heritage Foundation again this year joined in the organisation of the Rešetari poetry meeting. With various anti-pandemic measures, recommendations, and mobility issues impacting participating poets from other parts of the world, the organisers of the 23rd annual event have avoided the traditional form and chosen to leverage online communication. The event will be held in Rešetari with a real time online presence thanks to Unitas WebRadio Nova Gradiška and Live Stream Video Online. All viewers can join in the broadcast by phone, messaging and other media channels. The 23rd meeting in this novel format kicked off at noon on the 19th of September.
The sponsors of the event, gathering Croatian poets from around the world, are the culture ministry, the City of Zagreb, Brod-Posavina County, and the City of Slavonski Brod. Joining the CHF as organisers are the Rešetari municipal government and the State Office for Croats Abroad.
The event opened with a welcome from poet and programme head Lidija Puđak. Also on hand to offer his heartfelt welcome was Rešetari Culture and Literary Association president Ivan De Villa, who deservedly lauded the association’s forty years of work. He noted his particular pride in the fact that this event, which pools poets from the diaspora communities and members of the association, affords special attention to promoting and preserving the Croatian language and identity.
Ms Puđak read some of the letters of support from a number of state and municipal institutions and ethnic Croatian communities abroad. Snježana Josipović, the head of the 2-9-2 KLD Rešetari poetry section, gave a brief overview of Zelenilo stihova (“The Greenery of Verse”), a collection of work by young poets, and read the introduction penned by Croatian language teacher Gabrijela Vojvodić.
And while the event did not include an art colony, many works of art were submitted and exhibited at the KLD Gallery Petrović, also included in the live broadcast. The exhibition is open to the public and and visitors are welcome to visit in Rešetari.
The collection Nebesko valovlje (“Heavenly Waves”) features a selection of works chosen by a panel of judges (Đuro Vidmarović, Ivan Slišurić, Mato Nedić).
On hand to offer an interpretation of their own poetry and select poems from the collection were KLD Rešetari members Zrinko Kapetanić, Snježana Josipović, Katarina Čavlin, Suzana Jelić and Lidija Puđak. The programme, running just shy of three hours, featured readings of the work of some ninety poets.
From the messages of support that arrived from around the world and from the emotional charge that prevailed among those present, we know that in this way the small Slavonian village of Rešetari was at that moment in poetic heart of the world. CHF culture department head Snježana Jurišić also joined in to welcome the participants and thank the poets for keeping the Croatian word abroad alive and for getting involved and supporting this event in this novel format.
We all, however, hope to see the 24th meeting in Rešetari once again, bringing people to this Slavonia region village on the 25th of September 2021.
By: Snježana Jurišić