On Friday, August 9th at 9PM, this year’s literary programme is to continue at the “Poets’ Square” with the guest for the evening being Nenad Šaponja. He is to present to the audience his latest book of poetry The Psychology of Gravity.
Ilija Bakić said the following about the aforesaid book: “As is the case with his previous books of poetry, Šaponja’s poetic expression is very distinctive. Namely, his verses are precise whilst the metaphors and the pictures they create are subtle. Entering into the spheres of ideas and principles ranging from aesthetical to philosophical ones to which the poet is dedicated, calls for one to be actively involved in poetry analysis and the stepping away from all that’s material.”
Nenad Šaponja is a poet, essayist and literary critic whose verses are recognizable in the contemporary Serbian poetry for being hermetic in addition to their stylistic perfection and metaphysical insights.
In the area of literary criticism, he is a proponent of the Post-Modernist poetics and idiosyncratic approach to literary works. This ,however, entails taking on literature as a lifestyle. For ten years, he was a literary critics writer for the “Politika” daily newspaper. Besides poetry and literary critics, his work encompasses the area of short stories and travel writing prose. In 2012, he founded the “Agora” publishing company. It is now one of the most influential publishers in Serbia, holding an unchanging leadership position in the field. This is all owing to its broad area of interest when it comes to the material published and its quality as well. Over 500 published editions bare his signature as both editor-in-chief and publisher. It goes without saying that the plethora of books published by “Agora” are richly deserving of the highest literary awards they have been given.
Šaponja has published the following poetry collections till now: Giokonda, Mirror in Two Souls, Obviousness, The Sea, Four Poems, Sweet Death, Is There a Touch of Your Soul, I seem, therefore I am Not, I descend into the Silence the Weight of a Thrown Dice and The Psychology of Gravity. His books of essays and literary criticism encompass: Baedeker Doubts, The Autobiography of Reading and The Experience of Writing whilst his famous travelogue is And Brussels is Easy To Get Around. Furthermore, what is important to mention are his anthologies: The Anthology of Contemporary Stories from Novi Sad, The Most Wonderful Short Stories by Pavle Ugrinov, The Anthology of Stories from Novi Sad, The Prosveta’s Book of Crime Stories, The Glass Grass by Tanja Kragujević, The New Story of Novi Sad, The New Story of Novi Sad: a prose panorama and others. Šaponja is the recipient of the following awards: the “Branko” award for the best book of poetry, the “Prosveta” award for his book of essays Baedeker Doubts, the “Milan Bogdanović” award for the best literary criticism, the “Miroslav Antić” award for the book of poetry I seem, therefore I am not, the “Moma Dimić” award for his travelogue And Brussels Is Easy To Get Around, the “Kočić’s Feather” award for his poetry book The Psychology of Gravity , the “Teodor Pavlić” award also for the book The Psychology of Gravity, the “November Charter of Novi Sad”, the “Stevan Pešić” award once again for his book of poems The Psychology of Gravity and the “Laza Kostić” award for the aforementioned book (The Psychology of Gravity).
The moderator for the evening is Slavica Perović, a linguist and writer.
The “Theatre City” Press-Office