Helicon Society
for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel

And what should we do with horses in the twentieth century?
And with gazelles?
And with the big stones?
In the mountains of Jerusalem.
(Leah Goldberg, in answer to the question who needs lyrical poems)


Helicon Society for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel was jointly founded in 1990 by the poet Amir Or, Helicon’s chief editor and artistic director, and by Irit Sela. Helicon is a non-profit organization, headed by an executive committee. The present chairman of the committee is Dr. Liora Barash-Morgenstern.

WHAT WE DO

Helicon is a poetry journal, a poetry press, a training centre for young poets, a producer of poetry performances, an initiator of interactive ventures between poetry and the other arts, a promoter of communication and sharing among poets writing in the various languages of Israel – Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian and more – and an importer of poetry from the world into Israel and an exporter of Israeli poetry to the world. In short, Helicon is an independent locus and catalyst for poetry.

WHY WE DO IT

“…The language of the poetic word is able to awaken human consciousness to realize that reality is cosmic and border-less and thus free the spirit of man of the iron lock of facts.”
(Lebanese poet Fuad Rifka in Helicon 49, on “Stranger”, 2002)

Throughout the ages, poetry has been providing human society with the sense of existential meaning beyond the dry facts, and the ability to touch the essence of our life. Recently, poetry is again becoming a central component of every nation’s and every people’s cultural identity: a textual essence of common memory, imagination, dreams and values which create a culture and make it unique. Poetry is rising in the world again, and we wish to enrich it in Israel too.
In our country, split culturally, socially and politically, poetry has an additional major role. With its power of elevation, poetry is able to bridge between distant worlds and to reduce the distance between rivals; thus it contributes to the realization of the peace for which our region strives.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

1. To be the frontrunner in nurturing poetic culture in Israel, 2. To bring people closer through poetry, 3. To bring new audiences to poetry and poetry to new audiences, 4. To supply a permanent and appropriate platform for poets and their poetry, 5. To foster poetry’s future generation, 6. To integrate poetry within local educational and cultural frameworks.


HELICON INITIATVES

Helicon Poetry Journal: Publication of a poetry journal which has become a central platform for poetry in Israel. The journal has been published regularly since 1990, and today has six issues a year. The print-run of each issue is about 600 but some have a 2nd edition. Its objective is: “To supply a necessary platform for poets and poetry and to enable continuous and available publication of poetry in Hebrew to culture enthusiasts in Israel.” Helicon Journal has set itself the aim of expressing poetry’s point of view on human themes pertaining to us all, and supplying suitable exposure for young writers. Almost seventy issues have been published so far, including contemporary and classic poetry alongside first publications, translations and visual art works by Israeli artists. Prominent poets, translators and artists have been published in Helicon, including: T. Carmi, Tuvia Rubner, David Avidan, Shimon Zandbank, Hezi Leskli, Hayim Gouri, Yoram Brunovski, Ronny Someck, Agi Mishol, Aminadav Dykman, Dan Daor. Translated poets range from Ancient Greek, Indian, Chinese, or Scandinavian poetry, via Shakespeare, Marlowe, Blake, Tagor, etc. to Plath, Auden, Paz, Neruda, Tanikawa… the list could fill some pages.

Helicon School of Poetry: Helicon Poetry School is a novel phenomenon in Israel, which continues a tradition from ancient Greece and various developed civilizations.

The School includes:
1. A Poetry Class for Beginning Poets – founded 1993
2. A Hebrew-Arabic Poetry Class - founded 2001, with the aid of the Beracha Foundation and the Culture Administration.
3. Poetry Master Class – founded 2003, based on personal projects, for chosen graduates of the poetry classes.

Helicon Poetry School is a multi-disciplinary framework which bestows poetic knowledge upon the next generation of poets in Israel. It is intended for poets who wish to write as a major occupation, enabling its participants the role of “Carriers of a Poetic Message” in our society.

To promote excellence, and due to the high costs, the chosen students receive full grants. The studies take place in six intensive (full board) weekends over a period of six months. The curriculum includes new experiences in writing, translating and editing poetry, as well as poetry on stage and poetic dialogues. The Hebrew-Arabic poetry class is taught in two languages, and includes workshops on the poetics of Arabic poetry and mutual group translation. Each poetry class ends with an anthology of the participants’ poetry and translations, as well as a poetry-reading event.

Graduates of the poetry classes have published over thirty poetry books so far; they have participated in international poetry festivals and have won many awards, including the Ministry of Culture’s Award for a First Published Book, The Jerusalem Award, AKUM Prize, the Metula Poetry Festival Prize, and The Prime Minister’s Literary Award for 2002. Many of our graduates have also gone on to write criticism, teach and run various poetry frameworks around the country.

Faculty: Since their inception, the Poetry Class for Beginning Poets and the Arabic-Hebrew Poetry Class has been proud of its distinguished and dedicated faculty of poets, translators, performers and teachers, each with a distinctive voice: Yusuf Abu Warda, Ronen Altman Kaydar, Dr. Bassilius Bawardi, T. Carmi, Siham Daoud, Dr. Vivian Eden, Elisheva Grinbaum, Dr. Zali Gurevitch, Sharon Hass, Dr. Ariel Hirschfeld, Liat Kaplan, Samer Khir, Dr. George Khleifi, Dr. Salman Masalha, Salman Natour, Agi Mishol, Amir Or, Professor Shimon Sandbank, Professor Sasson Somekh and Nurit Zarchi

Sha’ar International Poetry Festival: started at 2001 as a bilingual festival of new poetry which enabled the best young writers to have a platform; and allowed Israeli audiences to discover new writers of the future. At the same time it built new audiences for poetry through multimedia presentations. Sha’ar, all of whose performances are multidisciplinary (including, music, theatre, dance, video, rap and the visual arts) pushes poetry out of a traditional isolation into collaboration. Since 2004, Sha’ar has built on these strands and become an international festival. Already it has presented poets from Asia and America as well as Europe and Africa; the radical mixture and pacy format remain the same and the festival plays to packed houses.

Helicon Cabaret: Helicon Cabaret, which was founded as a poetry theatre, aims to revive the contact between the poetic word and its listeners by giving poetry a live stage, promoting interdisciplinary artistic approaches to poetry, and bringing new audiences closer to poetry. The cabaret takes place once a month and includes poetry reading, discussion and multimedia, with poets, translators and performers participating. Artists from various fields, in various languages and of various ages meet, and the events are held in an informal atmosphere. An annual Cabaret event is produced for the international “Bridge between Cultures” initiated by the UN, and under the auspices of UNESCO and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Helicon Publishing House: Helicon has published over twenty poetry books so far, and its logo represents quality to every book lover in Israel. Helicon publishes two poetry series:
1. Helicon Poetry Series –poetry books by renowned poets as a platform for high quality contemporary Hebrew poetry, 2. Pegasus Series – first collections by selected young poets.

Helicon Poetry School is a novel phenomenon in Israel. The School includes: 1. A Poetry Class for Beginning Poets – founded 1993, 2. A Hebrew-Arabic Master-Class - founded 2001, 3. Graduates' Master Class – founded 2003, based on personal projects, for chosen graduates of the poetry classes.

Helicon on the Internet: 1. The “Shireshet” Hebrew site for poetry education: http://www.snunit.k12.il/shireshet
The site is dedicated to contemporary Hebrew poetry and is the largest of its kind in Israel. It was founded in 1998 together with Snunit, the Hebrew University’s information centre for education and teachers. The purposes of the site are: to give service and information to students, teachers, researchers and lovers of Hebrew poetry in Israel and abroad; to give tools for teaching poetry in schools; to encourage poetry reading and experiencing writing; and to support young poets and offer them appropriate critical standards. The site’s contents include: Poets reading their poetry, Poetry Reading – a shared interpretative reading of poetry, a workshop of poetry writing, Poems of Tel Aviv, Helicon Forum, etc.
2. Helicon’s home page: www.helicon.org.il , in Hebrew with English pages, covers the whole range of the organisation’s work.

Poetry within the Community: Since 2002, Helicon has been operating, in collaboration with the Rishon Lezion municipality, a pilot project for work within a community. The project included meetings between poets and high-school pupils, a creative poetry writing workshop, and a final evening event, in which the community’s work was exhibited alongside that of the guest poets. Following this success we are now seeking funding to apply this model to its full potential in the community, and offer it to other communities as well.

HELICON ACHIEVEMENTS

A)  Poetic culture: Helicon has contributed to a change in the status of poetry in Israel and to the ability of various audiences to face the challenge poetry offers, to enjoy and be enriched by it. Helicon Cabaret was a pioneer project of its kind, as has “Sha’ar festival”, Shireshet web site, and the school for poetry, which has been respected and appreciated from the very start. Translations of world poetry have enabled the public to enjoy the best poetry written, old and new, from east and West.

B) Future Generation: Graduates of the poetry school have published about thirty poetry books in the past ten years. They have won respect for their achievements and their contribution in every framework in Israel and abroad. They have continued to contribute to bestowing knowledge and poetic tools outside Helicon’s framework, in MATAN, ( framework for school-age artists), at the Beit Bialik cultural center in Tel Aviv, in various workshops and colleges around the country. Poetry has been spread by them in the community, in schools and youth movements.

C) Bringing people closer: The Hebrew-Arabic poetry classes, the bi-lingual “Shaar” festival for new poetry, “Bridge Between Cultures” events and the renewal of Masharef literary journal all seek to bridge between various cultural groups in Israel: old-timers and new-comers, Hebrews and Arabs, orthodox and secular. The Arabic-Hebrew poetry class and Shaar festival were established at the start of the Intifada, during a period of political unrest and questions of identity and belonging, regarding the actual essence of Israeli society. Helicon has been able to bring together cultural worlds in encounters that raised questions and answered them through writing, dialogue and mutual creativity.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Helicon wishes to broaden and to deepen its existing activities, to enable more publics accessibility to poetry. For this purpose the society intends to promote the following projects:
1. Establishing a School for Poetry – a national and community center for with a poetry library, workshops, poetry events and a recreation center.
2. Broadening the poetry school to a school for literary creative writing in all genres.
3. Broadening “Sha’ar” festival of new poetry – from two evenings to three full days, with many more activities and performances.
4. Establishing a poetry archive – a documentation and preservation project of lectures, discussions, poetry readings etc.
5. Enriching the web activities – forming a new and accessible platform for contemporary poetry.
6. Promoting the distribution of Helicon journals yearly.
7. Expanding the fund-raising activity in order to realize the society’s programs.

HELICON SOCIETY’S LEADERS

Dr. Liora Barash Morgenstern –
Chairperson of the Society and its public directorate

Liora Barash Morgenstern is a PhD in philosophy (Tel Aviv University) and has studied psycholinguistics (Catholic University, Washington D.C.). Her academic, professional, business and public career stretches over many years. In the academic field she taught philosophy at Tel Aviv University preparatory courses, participated in international conferences, conducted workshops in teaching logic to children and is considered a pioneer of the field as an author of the book “Uri Givon’s Discovery” together with Karin Frank, PhD (Massada Publishing House, 1979).
The professional career in the field of publishing and editing includes positions such as the editor of “New Outlook Middle East Monthly” magazine, editor for “Massada Publishing House”, contributing editor to “Rav Da’at” morphological dictionary, and over the years has published many articles.
In the business field Dr. Liora Barash Morgenstern initiated several projects of publications for the tourist industry, and represented in Israel “Medicis”, an American based corporation. Currently she also serves as a member of the Board of directors of “Dor Gaz” Company.
During the past decade Dr. Liora Barash Morgenstern dedicated time to a variety of public activities. She is one of the founders of “The School for Drama Authors”, and serves as a member of its board; she is a member of the board of “Friends of the Interdisciplinary Center for Studies in Herzliya”, and the board of directors of “Levzeller Home” for handicapped. She is the former chairperson of “Israel’s Society for Arts and Culture” of the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport, member of the board and finance committee of the “Janco Dada Museum”, and member of the advisory board to the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa for the appearance of the City.

Amir Or – Editor in Chief and Artistic Director of the Society
Amir Or, born in 1956, is the author of of 8 volumes of poetry, the latest of which is The Musuem of Time (2007). His poems have been published in more than 30 languages in anthologies, magazines, and in 8 books in Europe and the U.S. His latest publications in English are "Poem" (2004) and "Day" (2006), both by Dedalus. He has also published 5 books of his own translations into Hebrew and the fictional epic The Song of Tahira (2001). ■ www.amiror.co.il/
Or is the 2000 recipient of the Pleiades honour for having made 'a significant contribution to modern world poetry'. Among his awards are the Bernstein Prize, the Fulbright Award for writers, the Prime Minister’s Poetry Prize, and for his translations from ancient Greek – the Culture Minister Honorary Prize. He was awarded Fellowships at Iowa University, the Centre for Jewish Studies Oxford, and the Heinrich Böll Cottage Foundation.
Or studied philosophy and comparative religion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he has later lectured on ancient Greek religion. He has taught creative writing and lectured on poetry in universities in Israel, the U.K. and Japan. He also published several books of his translations into Hebrew, among them The Gospel of Thomas (1992), An Anthology of Erotic Greek Poetry (1993), and Stories From The Mahabharata (1998).
Or founded the Helicon Society for Advancement of Poetry in Israel, and its Hebrew-Arabic Poetry School. He is editor of Helicon poetry journal, and artistic director of the Sha’ar International Poetry Festival. Or serves as National Coordinator for the UN sponsored “Poets for Peace”.
Alongside his literary activities Mr. Or has been working for years to promote culture and its creators. Or has been a director on the board of “Gnazim” literary archives, on The Writers Association board, on the Mishkenot Sha’ananim steering committee and in the literary section of the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sport. Has also served on the advisory committee of “Cultural Vision 2000” appointed by the Minister of Culture, heading the committee that reviewed the situation of creative and performing artists in Israel.


HELICON – FROM THEN TILL NOW

1990
Founding of Helicon, The Association for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel
and the beginning of its activities
*Publication of the journal “Helicon”
*Opening of the Poetry Theater, which eventually became the Helicon Cabaret

1992
*Founding of Helicon Press and the start of the poets’ series “Helicon for
New Poetry”

1993
*Establishment of the Helicon School for Poetry for poets at the outset of
their career
*Founding of the of New Poetry anthology series

1995
*Founding of The Individual Voice series 1996
*Opening of the Helicon cabaret

1998
Helicon goes on the Internet
*Establishment of Shireshet, the learning site for poetry:
http://www.snunit.k12/shireshet
* Partnership in Eurozine, the European Network of cultural magazines

2000
*Expansion of the press: Founding of the Pegasus series for young poetry
*First production of Bridges Between Cultures, and annual international
event sponsored by the United Nations

2001
*Establishment of the Helicon Arabic-Hebrew Poetry Class
*Foundation of the interdisciplinary Sha’ar Festival for new poetry

2002
*Establishment of the Helicon Master Class
*Inauguration of the Helicon Poetry in the Community Project
*Renewed publication of the Arabic journal “Masharef” by
Helicon and Arabesque

2004
* The Sha'r festival turns into an international event

2005
* The Helicon School is a founding member of ENCWP, the European Network of European Creative Writing Programs
* Helicon becomes a member of the Lyric Line translation web network

2006
* The opening of Helicon House
* Starting the workshops programme of the Helicon School in Tel Aviv

2007
* Partnership in the LAF (Literature Across Frontiers) and hosting an international translation workshop in Israel


HELICON

Who we are?

For the last sixteen years, Helicon has been providing a platform for contemporary Israeli poetry. Helicon is a non-profit organization that established and managed, throughout the years, a poetry school, a poetry journal, a poetry press and the Helicon Cabaret. A major contributor to the development of the field of poetry in Israel, Helicon has produced poetry workshops, poetry publications in both Hebrew and Arabic and translations of the best world poetry. It also initiated festivals and workshops with international poets and promoted interactive ventures between poetry and other arts.

History

1990 was a critical year for poetry in Israel. New poetry had lost most of its traditional audience and many poetry journals ceased publication. Publication of poetry in most publishing houses decreased and the future generation of poets had no educational framework, no platform and nowhere to publish. Helicon was established by the poet Amir Or and the director Irit Sela in order to rectify the situation by turning the crisis into a new start. Helicon started as a poetry journal and a poetry theater and it is growing and evolving ever since.

Helicon Press and Poetry Journal

Helicon Poetry Journal has been published regularly since 1990 and today has six issues a year. It provides a necessary platform of poetry to culture enthusiasts in Israel. Over seventy issues have been published so far, including contemporary and classic poetry. Prominent and young poets as well as translators and artists have been published in Helicon.
Helicon publishing house’s logo represents quality to every poetry lover in Israel.


School of Poetry (School of Creative Writing)

Helicon Poetry School was founded at 1993 and is a novel phenomenon in Israel. To promote excellence the students are chosen carefully and receive full grants. The curriculum includes the study of poetics, writing, editing and translating poetry as well as poetry on stage and mutual group translation. Helicon has developed a unique methodology of teaching in order to emphasize the understanding that a poet needs a poetic tool box to accompany inspiration.
The school is a member of the European Network of Creative Writing Programs (ENCWP) and provides consultancy and guidance to different creative writing programs in Europe. Over the years, additional frameworks were developed: The Hebrew-Arabic poetry class, Poetry Master Class as well as a vast range of classes dealing with various aspects of literary creation.
Graduates of the poetry school have published over thirty poetry books so far. They have participated in national and international poetry festivals and have won many awards.

Helicon Cabaret

The Helicon Cabaret is a live stage for poetry. Artists and audiences from various fields, in various languages and of various ages come together for evenings of poetry, live music, dance, theater, art performances and multimedia at diverse venues such as the Helicon house, national theaters, and clubs.

“Sha’ar” - International Poetry Festival

For the past six years, the Sha'ar festival has been a major poetic event in Israel, enriching its cultural calendar with three days of poetry and peace. Sha’ar is the Arabic word for “poetry” and the Hebrew word for “gate”. The festival has taken upon itself to open through poetry a gate to thought, to beauty and to human dialogue.
The three days of the festival bring center stage three different types of dialogue, which come together to form the unique experience of Sha'ar:

A Dialogue between the Arab and Hebrew cultures
a human dialogue between artists, languages and cultures
and a dialogue between poetry and other fields of art.

It’s a unique range of encounters: poets from various languages and cultures; poetry conjured with music, theatre, dance, visual art, and panel discussions; promoting work created especially for the festival; a poetic dialogue between Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures; and between accomplished poets and the new generation of poets.
The unique voice and qualities of contemporary Israeli poetry have led Helicon to create the festival. It was founded at 2001, on the verge of the second Intifada in an attempt to encourage dialogue and creativity at times of severe political tension. The bi-lingual festival for new poetry was created as an interdisciplinary festival which gives young poets and artists, Jews and Arabs, new immigrants and old timers, a platform to perform on, and gives audiences an opportunity to become acquainted with Israel’s next generation of artists. Since 2001 the festival has grown to become international and it takes place at the Arabic-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa.
The fruits of the festival are collected in two festival books, in Hebrew, English, and all other languages of international poets participating in it. These are unique anthologies of contemporary poetry.

Poetry within the Community

As far as we are concerned, poetry is an inseparable part of the fabric of life. Education and community service are part of the main objectives of Helicon as it is constantly seeking to bridge between various cultural groups in Israeli society- new immigrants and old timers, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular - through the Hebrew-Arabic poetry classes, the International Poetry Festival and the renewal of “Masharef”, an Arabic literary journal.
Helicon draws new audiences to poetry. “Shireshet”, the site for poetry education was founded in 1998 together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The site is dedicated to contemporary Hebrew poetry and is the largest of its kind in Israel.

Between the years 2002-2005, helicon operated a pilot experimental project for work within the community. The project included meetings between poets and students, a creative poetry workshop for young adults and a graduation event, in which the community’s work was presented. Following the success of this project, we are now seeking funding which will enable us to apply this model to its full potential in the community.

The volunteers’ among the editorial staff, events producers, managements and committees members; the financial bodies supporting us, the poets and artists as well as the audiences, have all been an inseparable part of Helicon’s success. Their support - the financial assistance, donations and volunteer work - made it all possible.

From its very beginning, Helicon operated to serve the public with the hope that those who enjoy its services will eventually pass on the poetic message. Graduates of the poetry school have continued to contribute to bestowing knowledge and poetic tools outside Helicon’s framework in various workshops and other poetry frameworks they have established around the country.

Helicon’s Vision and Plans for the Future

In 2006, with the opening of the Helicon House, our organization faces new and exciting possibilities. It enables the Helicon Society to broaden and deepen its existing activities and to promote the following projects:
1. Establishing a poetry library at the helicon house and expanding the activities in it.
2. Broadening the poetry school to a school for literary creative writing in all genres.
3. Establishing a poetry archive - a documentation and preservation project of lectures, discussions, poetry readings etc.
4. Enriching the web activities - forming a new and accessible platform for contemporary poetry.
The Helicon House is a home for poetry lovers from around the country that come together for lectures and books launching as well as editing, translation and creative writing workshops.
Helicon is a partner of Eurozine, the European Network of Cultural Journals, a member at Lirik-Line, the International Translation Network, a member of ENCWP, the European Network of Creative Writing Programs and a member of the international translation workshops of L.A.F. - Literature beyond Frontiers. This year Helicon will host an international workshop in Israel and will participate in one in Scotland.

Why is it important
In Israel, courage and persistence are necessary in order to maintain and preserve a lively and flourishing poetry culture that is also directly connected to world poetry. We believe that the presence of poetry within a culture is crucial to its existence since it enables a culture to define its vision, to set its values and to pave a way for itself. In our country, split culturally, socially, and politically, poetry has an additional major role. With its power of elevation, poetry is able to bridge between distant worlds and reduces the distance between rivals; thus it contributes to the realization of the peace for which our region strives. This is the torch Helicon is constantly carrying on for the last sixteen years.