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2024-11-20

ÁLVARO MATA GUILLÉ (Poets of the Planet)

 Poet. Born in Costa Rica.

  •     Frequent guest at festivals, poetry meetings or book fairs, where he has held literary workshops, recitals, talks, conferences, as well as published in various newspapers and magazines around the world.
  •     Columnist of cultural and political criticism, in the magazine Libros y Letras, Literary Magazine of Colombia and Latin America.
  •     Director of the International Poetry Festival En el Lugar de los Escudos (Mexico), which will be held for the ninth time in May 2024.
  •     Some of his books: Scenes of an Afternoon (Costa Rica); Beneath the Wind (Venezuela, Argentina); Beyond the Mist (Mexico); Osip (Spain); A Country without a Name (Mexico).
  •     Upcoming publications: About the Fragments (poetry, Colombia); The Individual in the Shadow (essay, Mexico).
  •     His texts have been translated into English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Macedonian, Arabic, Bengali, Aymara, Greek, Vietnamese, Polish, Russian, Mandarin, and Korean.
  •     He was director of the International Liberty and Poetry Symposium (Costa Rica 1998-2005).
  •     In charge of the literature area of the International Arts Festival (Costa Rica, 2001-2003).
  •     He was a member of the editorial board and editorial secretary of K Magazine 2007-2010 (Mexico City).
  •     Others:
  •     Walls of Timid Brilliance, choreography by the group Diquis Tíquis, based on the poem Triptych. National Dance Award, 1993, Costa Rica.
  •     Altered States, UNA Chamber Dance Company, based on the poem Solveit. National Dance Award, 2016, Costa Rica.
  •     Beyond the Mist, based on the book of the same name, winner of the IBERESCENA Fund (Ibero-American Performing Arts), Costa Rica-Colombia-Mexico co-production, 2023.


«¿Será posible que yo exista realmente,
y que la muerte verdadera llegue?»
se preguntaba Ósip Mandelstam,
en un texto transcrito,
no se sabe por quién,
tampoco cuándo,
en una de las paredes del reclusorio,
bañadas por un sol negro,
en espera de la noche,
de las fosas

“Is it possible that I really exist,
and that true death comes?”
Ósip Mandelstam would ask himself,
in a transcribed text,
no one knows by whom,
nor when,
on one of the walls of the prison,
drenched by a black sun,
awaiting the night,
of the graves


"An fíor go bhfuilimse ann dáiríre
agus go dtagann an bás cinnte?"
ceist a chuir Ósip Mandelstam air féin,
i dtéacs tras-scríofa,
ní fios cé a dhein,
ná cathain,
ar bhalla de bhallaí an phríosúin,
báite ag grian dhubh,
ag feitheamh le hoíche
na n-uaigheanna