English
Dutch poet Anneke Brassinga was welcomed today at the St. Sophia cathedral church in Ohrid, to honor her as the laureate of the 2026 Struga Poetry Evenings festival. President Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, who is the patron of the event, welcomed Brassinga, and Bas Kwakman, former head of the Rotterdam Poetry Festival, spoke about Brassinga’s work and praised the poet as a linguistic wizardress of the Dutch poetry.
In 1939 British poet Auden wrote that poetry |makes nothing happen: it survives”. Still, sometimes it would appear as blessing if poetry, as a universally appreciated tradition, could sometimes prevent some things from happening: today we see how the enflamed light of devastating violence, cruelty and inhumanity, are manifesting across the world. I would be happy and grateful for this miracle, for a sudden, lasting peace – brought forward through an innocent act of wizardry, such as reciting a poem, Brassinga said in her acceptance speech.