The Medellín International Poetry Festival, which will be held until July 30, kicked off this weekend in the capital of Antioquia, in the midst of a great celebration for the reunion with this literary genre after two years of pandemic and will have more than 116 face-to-face and virtual activities.
This year’s edition of the festival, which will also include a “rich” virtual programme, will be held under the slogan “World Peace, Peace with Nature”.
“Everyone will be able to interact with the world poetry that has its epicenter in Medellín in July,” the organization said in a statement, in which it specified that the programming can be followed through social networks.
While from July 23 to 30, the festival will be held in person with simultaneous activities in different stages located in Medellín, Valle de Aburrá, municipalities in eastern Antioquia and in the city of Santa Marta.
“The Medellín International Poetry Festival is one of the largest in the history of the world, with the participation of more than 1,800 poets from 187 countries in its 32-year history. and that adds to the celebration the immense joy of the Colombian people for living a historic opportunity for a total and definitive change in Colombian society”, added the director of the event, Fernando Rendón.
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Among the invited poets are André Robèr, poet, visual artist, journalist, cultural activist and publisher from Réunion Islands; Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, Egyptian poet, novelist, translator and journalist, and Eugenia Brito, Chilean poet and essayist, among others.
Among the poets from native nations who will participate are Esteban Ríos Cruz, a binnizá poet from Mexico, and Carmen Tocay, a Maya Kaqchikel poet from Guatemala, winner of the 1st POE Micros World Award 2019 contest.
In total there will be 65 women poets and 65 men poets who have been invited by the organization of the Festival, and who will participate in 116 acts. This weekend the 26th version of the Medellín International Poetry School will also be held, with workshops, courses, conferences and forums.
EFE
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