Bücher veröffentlicht von Plamen Press

Paper Bridge is the first bilingual collection by Ukrainian poet Vasyl Makhno.

Heaven Has No Ground is the fierce, intimate story of Ama, a young woman who is reckoning with the death of her father when she receives her own cancer diagnosis and, contrary to the wishes of family and friends, decides to seek alternative treatments rather than conventional chemotherapy and radiation. While this book was published as a work of fiction to great acclaim in the Czech Republic, it follows very closely the life story of its author, Hana Andronikova, who wrote the book during a period of optimism in her own battle with breast cancer. Much like Hana, Ama travels the world to find guidance and healing--going to Peru to consult a shaman and receive the Amazon's wisdom; to communities of Christian believers and Native Americans in the Nevada desert; and to the holy sites of Israel. Using striking metaphors and intensely emotional language in journal entries, emails, and narrative fragments, Andronikova takes us with her on a remarkable journey as she comes to grips with her human limitations and celebrates her place in the circle of life.

This collection of rebellious poems are a reflection of Macedonian poet Ilja Kostovski¿s travels across the United States, as well as his interpretations of God¿s purpose for man. Written over the course of a decade from the late 1970s, this work arose out of Kostovski¿s immersion in the 1978 San Francisco poetry scene and his experience of living in the Shaw district of Washington, DC during the 1980s .

In his novel The Eighth Wonder of the World, Plevnes takes his dark sense of humor and undeniable wit on a search for a common ground in an uncommon world. His protagonist Alexander Simsar, during the last 3.3 seconds of his life in Berlin in 1989 (weeks before the fall of Berlin Wall), envisions the creation of a monument¿an eighth wonder of the world¿that would embrace humanity in all its layers and countenances. In this absurdist novel, Plevnes invents a utopia that unites many of the differences in the world: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and even Satanism.

Farewell and a Handkerchief¿Poems from the Road is a collection that reflects on the month-long travels of Czech poet Vít¿zslav Nezval through Vienna, Paris, southern France, and Italy. During this journey, on May 9, 1933, Nezval had a chance encounter with two of the surrealist movement¿s most influential poets¿André Breton and Paul Éluard¿while sitting at the Cardinal Café on the Grands Boulevards in Paris, a meeting that proved transformative. After returning home, Nezval helped found the Czech Surrealist Group, along with Karel Teige, Jind¿ich Stýrský, and Toyen. It became the only official group of its kind outside of France.

Romania’s Floarea ┼óu┼úuianu is a fiercely sensual poet and visual artist, known for her provocative playfulness with words and images. The 2007 recipient of the Lucian Blaga International Poetry Festival Prize, she is the only woman to be included in Bucharest’s definitive anthology of contemporary poets, Manualul de literature. In Romania, she has published six books of poetry, and her words and images have traveled the world. Now, for the first time in the United States, her poems—masterfully translated by Adam L. Sorkin and Irma Giannetti—are gathered in this book, some with their original counterparts, paired with arresting photo plates  wrought by the artist herself. Strange, ferocious, and lovely, her images and words leave a lingering echo.

A stranger with a magical fife promises to rid the rat-infested town of Hamelin of its vermin for the sum of one hundred Rhine ducats. Viktor Dyk¿s rendition of the medieval Saxon legend of the pied piper masterfully blends lyrical prose with early twentieth century modernism, and has held its own among works of Eastern European literature for over a hundred years. Now this Czech classic is introduced in English translation for the first time.