Literary residency
The Contrasens Literary Residency is organized in collaboration with the independent bookshop “La Două Bufnițe” and aims to provide a space for contemporary writers to immerse themselves in the city for a month, exploring their vision of Balkan culture.
Essays and impressions 2023
Ce au scris autorii pe parcursul șederii lor în Timișoara anul trecut, la prima ediție Taifas.
Read hereABOUT US
We all perceive freedom differently. Each generation has its own version of freedom, just as every generation has its own conception of poetry. The Taifas Literary Residency brings together poets from a culture of excess, vigor, and rebellion, as well as one that values freedom, dignity, and the naturalness of language. From the freedom to express inner experiences to the freedom to externalize a critical, cynical, and even ironic spirit towards the mundane moments of life, Gabriel Timoceanu, Bogdan Ghiu, Goran Mrakić, Ligia-Verkin Keșișian, and Alex Higyed will spend a month in Timișoara, engaging with students, young writers, and maintaining a dialogue with the local public at La Două Bufnițe bookshop about the power of poetry and the rigor it gains with the passage of a new generational frontier.
Events within the Literary Residency
Contrasens Literary Residency 2024
Bogdan Ghiu
is a poet, essayist (covering literature, philosophy, media, contemporary art, urban studies), translator (having translated over sixty books by authors such as Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari, Bourdieu, Bataille, Latour, Barthes, Rancière, Baudrillard, Ricoeur, Artaud, Baudelaire, Breton, Duras, Leiris, Sade, Sansal, etc.), a theorist and educator in translation, journalist, a member of the '80s Generation and the "Cenaclul de Luni" literary circle, a former student of Jacques Derrida, and a board member of PEN Romania.
Goran Mrakic
is a bilingual writer, fluent in both Romanian and Serbian, born in Sânnicolau Mare in 1979. Known for his unique literary style, he blends realism with satire, tragicomedy, the grotesque, and dark humor. He completed his elementary school in Variaș, then graduated from the "Dositei Obradovici" Theoretical High School, followed by a degree in History and Italian Language from the West University of Timișoara (2001). He has worked as a journalist and publishing director at the Union of Serbs in Romania, as well as in the private sector.
Gabriel Timoceanu
is a graduate of the Faculty of Sociology at the West University of Timișoara. He founded Brumar Publishing House in Timișoara, which he led for 20 years. He is a member of the Romanian Writers' Union, and in 2017, he was awarded the Ex Aequo Prize for Poetry (for his collection Cu mâna streașină la ochi, published by Diacritic in 2016) by the Writers' Union's Timișoara branch. Today, he leads the 2021 Timișoara European Cultural Association and Aranca Publishing House, continuing to be an influential voice in the Romanian literary landscape.
Alex Higyed
is a performer, poet, and bookseller at the independent bookstore La Două Bufniţe. He holds a PhD with a thesis on Performance Poetry as an interactive phenomenon. In addition to his work at the bookstore, he also coordinates the Comuna 30 project, where he looks forward to hearing new voices in literature. His first poetry collection, "nimic personal", was published by Casa de Pariuri Literare in 2021.