Tanja Bakić (born 14 September 1981) is a prominent Montenegrin poet, literary scholar, music writer and translator. She resides in Podgorica, where she has worked variously as an educator, editor, PR officer, interpreter and curator of literary-themed soirées and events.[1][2] Her poems received numerous critical accolades and were frequently anthologized even in serious collections such as Ban’ya Natsuishiʼs 2016 “World Haiku” (Tokyo: World Haiku Association).[3] She was a speaker at William Blake colloquium at Tate Britain in London. As a literary theorist, she contributes to Bloomsbury Publishing. She is the winner of Central European Initiative Fellowship for Writers Award 2016 bestowed upon her at Vilenica International Literary Festival in Slovenia.[4] Chosen by the Australian poet Les Wicks among only sixteen writers across the globe who ‘bring something unique to the world poetry movement’ (Rochford Street Review).[5]

Tanja Bakić

She was the first student in the history of University of Montenegro ever to graduate with a degree thesis connected with rock and roll music.[6] Earning a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English literature, her major scholarly interests have revolved around studies of William Blake and Music of the United Kingdom (1960s).[7][8][9] She has been featured in the line-ups at various festivals across Europe;[10][11] the winner of several fellowships for writers;[12][13] twice selected by an international jury of art critics as the Montenegrin representative at the art biennial of Europe and the Mediterranean – in Ancona in 2013 and in Milan in 2015.[14][15] She has contributed an aural component to a plant installation by Australian eco-designer, Tanja Beer, presented by Arts House in Melbourne in partnership with Cambridge Junction, United Kingdom.[16][17] She is responsible for the Montenegrin component of the world poetry festival ‘Palabra en el Mundo’,[18] during which she edited a poetry-themed radio show streamed to 154 countries worldwide.[19] Her poetry volumes garnered much public attention and were highly acclaimed. Her poetical voice was described as “possessing a high quality… and capable of producing pictures and images reminiscent of ones found in the ancient Chinese divination text, I Ching” (David Albahari).[20] She was dubbed a poet whose lyrics are “potent and musical” (JL Williams, Scottish Poetry Library), “faithful to Zen Buddhism” (Nicola Frangione) and “in line with contemporary world poetry” (Slave Gjorgjo Dimoski, Struga Poetry Evenings).[21] Her best-selling music-related non-fiction work, “Voodoo Child: A Story About Jimi Hendrix” (“Voodoo Child: Priča o Jimiju Hendrixu”, 2013), revealing her collaboration with Jimi Hendrix's former London-based girlfriend Kathy Etchingham and his sound engineer Roger Mayer (engineer) was deemed a huge success in Montenegro.[22] She is also the author of the provocative Brian Jones and his Band (2019), dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Brian Jones’ death, in which she interviewed Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed promotional videos for the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and who was rumoured to be a son of Orson Welles. The cover of her latest poetry volume Intertext (2022) [23] is inspired by Performance (film), starring Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg.[24]

Selected works

edit

Books

edit
  • A Winkle (Treptaj, 1996), poetry
  • Madonna - the Slave or the Queen (Madonna robinja ili kraljica, 2008), musical non-fiction
  • The Sick Rose (Bolesna ruža, 2009), poetry
  • Grass, eBook (Trava, 2009), poetry
  • Silken Shoes (Svilene cipelice, 2011), poetry
  • Lover-crossed Star: Selected Poems (2012), poetry published in English
  • The Seed and Other Poems (Sjeme i druge pjesme, 2013), poetry published bilingually in English and in Montenegrin
  • Voodoo Child: A Story About Jimi Hendrix (Voodoo Child: Priča o Džimiju Hendriksu, 2013), music-related non-fiction work
  • Brian Jones and His Band (Brian Jones i njegov bend, 2019), music-related non-fiction work
  • Intertext (Intertext, 2022), poetry

Translations

edit

Editorship

edit
  • Good manners: How to Behave in the Contemporary World (2009)
  • If Thou Knowest What Love Be, an anthology of World love poetry (2009)
  • Eight, Selected Poems of Ibrahim Spahić (2011)
  • Catalogue of Ratković Poetry Evenings (ed. and trans. into English, 2012)
  • Almanac of Ratković Poetry Evenings (ed. and trans. into English, 2018)

References

edit
  1. ^ [1] Podgorički sajam knjiga: Izgubljeno u prevodu
  2. ^ Znakovi pored puta: Gost Tanja Bakić 10.10.2013.
  3. ^ [2] World Haiku 2016
  4. ^ Vilenica: Dobitnica pisateljske štipendije SEP za leto 2016 je TANJA BAKIĆ iz Črne Gore
  5. ^ ‘A taste of the international poetry festivals: Featured Writers’ introduction by Les Wicks
  6. ^ "Mr Tanja Bakić [01268]". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-10-01. COBISS bibliografije
  7. ^ [3] Blake: an Illustrated Quarterly
  8. ^ [4] U Bijelom Polju predstavljena knjiga Voodoo Child: Priča o Džimiju Hendriksu
  9. ^ [5] Promovisana knjiga Tanje Bakić o Hendriksu: Detalji o rok legendi
  10. ^ [6] La Passe du Vent
  11. ^ [7] Struga Poetry Evenings Participants
  12. ^ [8] Literarni večer s Tanjo Bakič
  13. ^ [9] Forum slovanskih kultur
  14. ^ [10] Mediterrane Biennial
  15. ^ http://www.bjcem.org/mediterranea-16-selected-artists/ BJCEM
  16. ^ [11] Going Nowhere: The People's Weather Report
  17. ^ [12] Going Nowhere: Program
  18. ^ [13] Palabra en el mundo
  19. ^ [14] Prvi put u Crnoj Gori: Festival poezije "Riječ u svijetu"
  20. ^ [15] Pjesnikinja Tanja Bakić: Promjena od nas pravi ono što jesmo
  21. ^ [16] Nova zbirka Tanje Bakić: Odgovor Eliotovoj poetičnoj simfoniji
  22. ^ Promocija „Voodoo Child: Priča o Džimiju Hendriksu“ Tanje Bakić u KIC-u
  23. ^ "Tanja Bakić Knjiga Intertekst Dnevna soba RTCG 16 05 22". YouTube. 22 May 2022.
  24. ^ "Tanja Bakić - Brajan Džons i njegov bend - RTCG Dnevna soba 02 03 20". YouTube. 13 April 2022.

Further reading

edit