How is the godwit doing these days? And what does this have to say about the world we live in? Wherever we leave room for nature, the godwit appears. Portuguese poets Raquel Lima and Nuno Piteira, together with the Frisian poets Elmar Kuiper and Jan Kleefstra, followed in the tracks of this long-legged wader and undertook journeys to the breeding grounds of the godwits in their respective countries. Based on multiple stays in Friesland and Portugal, the poets and slam poets immerse you in a rich live experience, filled with declaimed narratives and Portuguese songs, accompanied by music performed by cellist Joana Guerra.
Times and other information
Sat 2 Oct | 8.30PM
Westerkerk | Price: € 12,50 | Languages: Frisian and Portuguese
Get your tickets here.
About the makers
Nuno Miguel Garcia Piteira (b. 1974) was fascinated by words and sounds from a very young age. Collaborations with artists in various fields are a particular source of energy and inspiration for his visual poetry, spoken word, poetry slam workshops, performances, translations, installations and other collective projects. Hoping to inspire others to dream and change their inner (and exterior) worlds, he is currently devoting his time to creating private moments for a collective consciousness, in words and sound. For Nino, Godwits is proof that language can bring people together, to construct something necessary and useful to everyone, enhancing respect for all forms of life.
Raquel Lima (b. 1983) is a Portuguese poet, performer and art educator. Over the course of a decade-long journey, she visited countries in Europe, South America and Africa for her poetry. Along the way, she presented her work, using literature, storytelling, poetry slams, spoken word, performance and music, at places including FLIP - Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty. She has published her work in various languages as spoken word performance artist, and has organised poetry workshops, culminating in the Poetry, Race and Gender Workshop, for Intersectional Poetic Writing. In 2019 she published her first collection of poetry and audiobook, entitled Ingenuidade Inocência Ignorância. She also conducts academic research into topics including slavery and African diaspora movements.
Joana Guerra (Lisbon, 1983) began exploring adventurous musical landscapes filled with acoustic experiments after completing her classical cello studies. Besides producing her own solo releases Gralha (2013) and Cavalos Vapor (2016), she is currently collaborating with countless other musicians and artists in various experimental improvisational music projects. She is a member of the free improvisation trio Bande à Part, plays with The Alvaret Ensemble and in the spoken word band Tapete.
Jan Kleefstra now has multiple Frisian and Dutch collections of poetry to his name, published by De Friese Pers and Uitgeverij Aspekt. In addition, together with his brother Romke, Jan has spent over a decade in many various international collaborations releasing music and films with Frisian titles and Frisian poetry which is published across the world. This collaboration has led to performances at home and abroad. They are also engaged in several international projects which all revolve around the devastation of life in the economically exploited landscape, which is also the theme of his minimalist and sober poetry.
Elmar Kuiper writes, draws, paints and films. His work was nominated for a number of poetry awards, including the Fedde Schurerpriis (Hertbyt, 2004), the C. Buddingh’-prijs (Hechtzwaluwen, 2010) and the J.C. Bloem-poëzieprijs (Ruimtedier, 2016), and was shortlisted for the Piter Jellespriis (Hiemsiik, 2015). He has won the Frisian poetry award, the Rely Jorritsmapriis, four times. In 2017, a poetry collection in German entitled Da scharwenzeln spottvögel mit der schwerkraft, translated by Stefan Wieczorek, was published by Edition Virgines in Düsseldorf. The volume contains a selection of 60 poems from his six published collections. In 2018, his intimate collection entitled Stienkeal: De foetus die stierf in de baarmoeder van de moeder, groeit onder Elmar Kuiper zijn handen (Stienkeal: The foetus that died in the mother’s womb is growing in Elmar Kuiper’s hands) was published.