Martin Solotruk
Martin Solotruk. Foto: © Martina Straková, 2013.
Poet, cultural manager, translator, and academic researcher, born (1970) in Bratislava, Slovakia. He has directed Ars Poetica, a renowned international poetry festival and publishing house (www.arspoetica.sk), an organization based in Bratislava, Slovakia, since 2003. Solotruk graduated in English and American studies and in Slovak literature, having also received stipends and education at Azusa Pacific University, California, and the University of Warwick, UK, on a prestigious EU postgraduate scholarship.
He received his PhD. in translation studies and taught American literature, English literature, cultural studies and artistic translation for over 20 years at Comenius Faculty of Arts, before moving to the Faculty of Law to teach legal and diplomatic language.
He also spent some years in television and advertising working as creative team leader and studio director. Solotruk’s first book of poetry Tiché vojny (Silent Wars, 1997) won the Slovak Literary Fund Best Debut Award. His later books of poetry include Mletie (Grinding, 2001), Planktón gravitácie (Plankton of Gravity, 2006), Lovestory: Agens And Paciens, (2007), and The Metaphysical Household (2017).
His poetry appeared in multiple leading anthologies and other prestigious publications in Germany, Ireland, France, Portugal, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Costa Rica, Macedonia, Taiwan, India, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the US, including A Fine Line: New Poetry from Eastern and Central Europe (Arc Publications, 2004) and New European Poets (Graywolf, 2008). A solo book of Solotruk’s poetry was launched in March 2016, in Éditions Bruno Doucey, as part of his readings at Le Printemps des poètes festival, in Maison de la Poesie, in Paris.
Other solo book selections of his poetry in translation were published in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, English, and Chinese. Solotruk gave invited readings and performances at numerous major festivals and events, worldwide, in over 20 countries, including Hong Kong Poetry Nights, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Poesie Festival Berlin, Genoa International Poetry Festival, Struga Poetry Nights, Taipei International Festival, Europe House in London, StAnza Festival in St. Andrews, UK, Vilenica Festival, Slovenia, etc.
As a cultural manager and expert, Solotruk was invited to participate and talk at major conferences (e.g. “The language of Europe”, Brussels, November 2008)) organized by the European Commission, personally hosted by The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Commissioner Leonard Orban. For Ars Poetica, Solotruk also led, as artistic director and statutory representative, all four EACEA funded Partner Cooperation projects that it successfully took part in as beneficiary and partner. Ars Poetica has been a member festival of Versopolis Platform since its inception in 2016.
Solotruk has also been active in multiple collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, as a poet and manager, including international projects involving a range of world poets, musicians, contemporary dancers, digital artists, including shows and projects presented at Poesie Festival Berlin, StAnza in Scotland, theatres and scenes in Bratislava, Bristol, Prague, Cracow, Venice, New York, New Orleans, New Delhi, and elsewhere. He also translates poetry and drama from English. His award winning book selections include e.g. works of Charles Simic, John Ashbery, and Ted Hughes. Plays in his translations were staged in major theatres in Slovakia, including the Slovak National Theatre. For his translation of Ted Hughes’ The Crow he won the 2007 prize for the best artistic translation in Slovakia.
