Eleni Cay

- Slovakia -

Eleni Cay is a Slovakian-born poet writing in English and Slovak. Her award-winning collection of Slovak poems ‘A Butterfly’s Trembling in the Digital Age’was translated into German by Inge and Petr Stahl and published by Hein Verlag (Germany) in 2015 and translated into English by John Minahane and published by Parthian Books (UK) in 2017. Eleni’s English-language poems appeared in many poetry journals, including Atticus Review, Glasgow Review of Books, Poetry Ireland Review, Acumen or Envoi. Her poems were also published in French (e.g. Le Monde), Romanian (e.g. Pro-Saeculum) and Filipino (as part of The Poeziomat exhibited in the City of Manila in 2018).

 

Eleni’s first two pamphlets- ‘Colours of the Swan’ and ‘Autumn Dedications’ – were published by Westbury Arts Centre during her poetry residency at the Centre in 2014-2015. The position brought together Eleni’s interests in poetry, music and collaborative arts and resulted in exhibitions in the Milton Keynes Gallery and 5thBase Gallery in London. In 2016, Eleni was a Poet in Residence for the London’s garden St Dunstans in the East as part of the Mixed Borders project, organised by Poetry School and London Parks & Gardens. Eleni had her third pamphlet published by Eyewear in 2017 and was invited to present it at the London Troubadour (UK) and Harvard University (USA).

 

Eleni is known for her filmpoems, dancepoems and innovative poetic combinations, which have been screened at international festivals and featured on Button Poetry and Moving Poems with over 50k views. As part of her ongoing efforts to enrich contemporary poetry with new art forms and diverse voices, Eleni has created a ‘Living Book about Dancepoetry’, a fascinating new genre that brings together dancers and poets. Eleni runs free workshops for artists interested in making their own film- and dance-poems, including for The Poetry School and University College London. Her dancepoems have been performed in the UK and France by professional and amateur dancers.

 

In 2018, Eleni’s poem ‘Evergreen Carol’ was shortlisted in the Bedford International Writing Competition; the poem ‘Redemption’ was longlisted in The Cornwall Contemporary Poetry Competition and the poems ‘Ariadne’s Dandelions’ and ‘The Journey Home’ were highly commended in the Poetry Stanza Competition by Poetry Society, UK. 

 

Eleni loves cloud-watching, playing the piano and harp. She is fluent in seven languages and currently lives in Norway where she is full Professor at the University of Stavanger.