European Writers' Tour 2017

Orbita is a creative collective of Latvian poets writing in Russian whose works are dedicated to dialogue between disciplines and cultures. The collective was founded 1999 in Riga. Since that time Orbita has published a number of eponymously titled almanacs in which literary works appear side by side with works of visual art . Additionally, Orbita has organized three "Word in Motion" festivals of poetry video and multi-media art in Latvia, issued poetry CDs and a collection of poetry videos; created several multi-media poetry installations for public exhibition; produced a number of bilingual (Russian-Latvian) poetry collections and publications; issued an anthology of contemporary Russian poetry in Latvia - a unique study of this phenomenon. Orbita actively participates in Latvian and international cultural life. Members of the group have been published in many European countries and are frequently invited to European literary and artistic festivals in Germany, Russia, Italy, Finland, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Switzerland, Sweden etc. In Latvia Orbita’s achievements have been recognized with the Annual Literary Prize of the Union of Latvian Writers, the Annual Prize for the best photography album and for the best photography exhibit, as well as a number of prizes for book design, poetry video and various other literary and artistic awards. Since its founding Orbita appears in literary and multimedia performances in conjunction with invited musicians and video-artists. During the last years the artistic development of the group goes also the direction of synergy of the poetry and visual arts, technologies, perception of the poetry, sound and performance art.