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Nikola Madzirov
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We’ll meet one day, like a paper boat and a watermelon that’s been cooling in the river. The anxiety of the world will be with us. Our palms will eclipse the sun and we’ll approach each other holding lanterns. One day, the wind won’t change direction. The birch will send away leaves into our shoes on the doorstep. The wolves will come after our innocence. The butterflies will leave their dust on our cheeks. An old woman will tell stories about us in the waiting room every morning. Even what I’m saying has been said already: we’re waiting for the wind like two flags on a border. One day every shadow will pass us by. Translated by Magdalena Horvat |
Nikola Madzirov (poet, essayist, translator) was born in 1973 in Strumica, R.Macedonia, in the family of war refugees from the Balkan Wars. When he was 18, the collapse of Yugoslavia prompted a shift in his sense of identity – as a writer reinventing himself in a country which felt new but was still nourished by deeply rooted historical traditions. His poems are translated into more than thirty languages. For the book Relocated Stone (2007) was given the East European Hubert Burda poetry award and the most prestigious Macedonian poetry award Miladinov Brothers award at Struga Poetry Evenings. Other recognitions include Studentski Zbor award for best poetry debut and Xu Zhimo Silver Leaf award for European poetry at King’s College, Cambridge in UK. He was granted several international fellowships: International Writing Program (IWP) at University of Iowa; DAAD and LCB in Berlin; Marguerite Yourcenar in France, KulturKontakt in Vienna, Civitella Ranieri in Italy and Traduki writer-in-resdience fellowships. Nikola Madzirov is one of the coordinators of the international poetry network Lyrikline, based in Berlin. Mark Strand said: “Madzirov's poetry is like discovering a new planet in the solar system of the imagination.”, while Adam Zagajewski wrote: “Madzirov's poems are like Expressionist paintings: filled with thick, energetic streaks they seem to emerge from the imagination and to return to it right away, like night animals caught in the headlights of a car.” He lives in Strumica.
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