Public Republic

Photo: dawn’s point of view

Dear Poet,

SPRING POETRY RAIN in Nicosia
the capital of Cyprus – the last divided city in Europe
in May, 26 at 17.30

We are two cultural organisations, Ideogramma and Sidestreets, each based on either side of the divided city, and with this letter we are inviting you to participate in a new project of ours titled SPRING POETRY RAIN, as one of the many poets whose work will be dropped from the sky on Nicosia, over the whole length of Arasta / Ledra Street, which is divided into two at a checkpoint that separates the city in two.

The project
Many types of balloon will have been put in place above the whole length of Arasta / Ledra Street from lunchtime. The largest balloons (1.80 m in diameter) filled with the poems) will be burst in predetermined time intervals dropping the poems.

Many stages will be placed along the street too. From these musicians will play and poetry will be read.

A visual colourful programme will be distributed to the audience, which will guide them to the stage / happening, as readings and / or music playing will be taking place in more than one stages at a time.

The audience will be invited to read out the poems as well as pinning them up on balloon strings.

The organisers are talking to local and other TV stations so that the event can be shown live. Live Webstreeming is going to be provided by Cyprus Telecommunications Authority

With this letter we are inviting you to

o Send one or two poems
o The subject of the poems should fall under the categories of peace, coexistence, understanding, respect, etc
o The original language of the poem will be respected, but we request that the poems you send are also accompanied by a translation into one or more of the island’s most spoken languages; Armenian, and / or English and / or Greek and / or Turkish
o With your poem(s), please also send us a short CV (in English) of not more than 2 – 3 lines and a photograph. All the participating poets will have their biography and photo projected on walls.

Deadline for submission
We would appreciate it if you could send us your suggested poems as soon as possible, but not later than 30 April, 2012.

Please forward
Please forward this invitation to all of your relevant contacts.

A secondary objective of this event is to reach as many people as possible, not only so that on the day they can log on and follow the event, but also so that we can measure the reach. For this reason, we would greatly appreciate it if you could inform us of:

o the number of people you have sent this invitation to
o as well as their countries

Looking forward to hearing from you,

With very warm regards,
Nora, Anber, Johann, Lily

PS If you happen to be in Cyprus during the SPRINGPOETRYRAIN event, we shall love to see you and of course have you read your own poems.

Ideogramma is a non-profit organisation established in 2006. It stages poetry events every year in March, and for the past two years has run a European Culture 2007–2013 programme with six events in four European countries. Ideogramma is run by Nora Hadjisotiriou (marketing & pr consultant, event organiser, administrator) and Lily Michaelides (poet and writer, event organiser)

Sidestreets is an educational and cultural initiative established in 2007. Sidestreets organizes both national and international artistic, cultural and educational programs including exhibitions, poetry readings, seminars, film series, awareness-raising programs and general culture courses. Sidestreets is housed in a modern five-story building in the old town of Nicosia and is equipped with spaces and facilities for cultural events. Dr. Johann Pillai (educational programs) and Anber Onar (cultural programs) are the cofounders and directors of the programs in the initiative.