41st Poetry International Festival, 11-18 June 2010

Welcome to the 2010 Poetry International Festival blog. In June, poets from across the world – from Afghanistan to the United States, from Brazil to South Korea, from Sudan to Russia – will gather to attend the 41st annual Poetry International Festival in the City Theatre of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This year, the festival will explore the boundaries and relationships between prose and poetry, and we’ll also be putting the spotlight on contemporary poetry from the United States. In addition to showcasing guest poets from around the world, throughout this exciting week we’ll host special events about Wislawa Szymborska, Fernando Pessoa, Herman Gorter, the classic Persian love story of Layla and Madjnun, and much more.

In the weeks leading up to the festival we’ll be introducing you to this year’s guest poets via this blog and giving you a taste of what’s to come in June. And throughout the week of 11-18 June itself we will be covering the festival with diaries, interviews and recordings.

We can now reveal a list of guest poets to this year’s festival:

Eugenijus Ališanka Lithuania

Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi Sudan

Ursula Andkjær Olsen Denmark

Jon Fosse Norway

António Gamoneda Spain

Christian Hawkey USA

Hiromi Itō Japan

Lêdo Ivo Brazil

Katia Kapovich Russia / USA

Kim Hyesoon South Korea

Marc Kregting The Netherlands

Hasso Krull Estonia

Tomas Lieske The Netherlands

Ewa Lipska Poland

Carlos López Degregori Peru

Thomas McCarthy Ireland

Kamran Mir Hazar Afghanistan

Hassan El Ouazzani Morocco

Michael Palmer USA

Valérie Rouzeau France

Erik Spinoy Belgium

Nyk de Vries The Netherlands (Friesland)

C.K. Williams USA

Ron Winkler Germany

From early May you’ll find information in English about the festival events and guest poets via www.poetry.nl.