Lip Print: Gabrielė Labanauskaitė’s Poetry Book Launch & Conversation on Body, Gender & Identity
Mengi, Óðinsgata 2, 101 Reykjavík Kort
mið 7. okt 2026 19:30
Bústaðu viðburðinn!Lūpų tapetai / Lip Print: Gabrielė Labanauskaitė’s Poetry Book Launch & Conversation on Body, Gender & Identity
7 October 2026 · 19:30
Mengi, Reykjavík
Free admission
Lithuanian poet, playwright and interdisciplinary artist Gabrielė Labanauskaitė comes to Iceland in October for the premiere of her play NT drama (is. Fasteignamartröðin) at Akureyri City Theatre on 9 October. Before travelling to Akureyri, she will present her poetry in Reykjavík and introduce her newly published collection Lūpų tapetai, accompanied by the English-language zine Lip Print, featuring 16 selected poems from the collection.
The evening at Mengi will include poetry readings followed by a conversation with Gabrielė about her work, the new collection, and themes running through her writing – including the body, gender, identity, creativity, relationships, social power and violence. There will also be an opportunity for questions and reflections from the audience.
About the book
Gabrielė Labanauskaitė’s first published collection of poetry traces her creative journey over nearly 20 years. At times, the poems seem to have been written by a whole cast of different people – as though the author’s name itself might be given in the plural: Gabrielės Labanauskaitės.
Its lyrical heroines are women searching for themselves and for their reflections in others – women who love, lose, travel, and continually reinvent their voices and identities.
The collection moves through creativity and writing, relationships with others, and finally towards feminism, feminicide and violence. The book is accompanied by Lip Print, an English-language zine containing 16 selected poems from the collection.
Poet and philosopher Dr. Aušra Kaziliūnaitė describes Labanauskaitė’s distinctive poetic style as “the new Baroque” – an ornate poetic discourse attentive to detail, fragmentation and embellishment.
“I like to walk with poetry’s hair unbrushed. I like to play.” Gabrielė Labanauskaitė
About Gabrielė Labanauskaitė
Born in 1980, Gabrielė Labanauskaitė is a poet, playwright, interdisciplinary artist and pioneer of audiovisual poetry in Lithuania. She is the founder of the creative writing community IŠ TYLOS (FROM SILENCE), an associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and holds a PhD in theatre studies.
Her plays have been staged in Lithuania and internationally. Blood Brothers was included among the 100 best European plays of 2012, while NT drama received the Grand Prix at the international playwriting festival Heidelberger Stückemarkt in 2021. Identity, the body, gender, social power and otherness are central themes in her work.
The conversation
The conversation will be moderated by Giedrė Gudaitė, a Lithuanian poet and editor living in Iceland and currently studying Icelandic as a second language at the University of Iceland.
Creative writing workshop
Earlier the same day, Gabrielė Labanauskaitė will lead a Ritrými creative writing workshop at Mengi from 17:00 to 19:00. More information about the workshop and registration will be provided separately.
