World Poetry Day is celebrated on March 21 and was first declared by UNESCO at the 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999 in order to support linguistic diversity, preserve endangered languages, and unite people of different cultures.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network is actively engaged in promoting these values. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was established in 2004 and unites 246 cities from more than 80 UNESCO member States that position culture and creativity as strategic development resources for the period up to 2030 at the local level. The network covers seven creative fields: craft and folk art, design, cinema, gastronomy, literature, media art and music. For more information about the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), please visit: https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/home .
In times of global uncertainty, the Ulyanovsk - UNESCO Literary City program, in its interaction with the network of creative literary cities, is aimed at the social, economic and cultural development of the city. This goal is achieved through creativity, culture and the creation of connections between literary communities around the world through books, words and common ideas.
The events dedicated to the World Poetry Day are annually led by the literary city of Granada (Spain). In 2022, the theme of the events is: "Let's Poetry". Celebrations in Granada begin with the opening ceremony in the Quarto Real de Santo Domingo, where four poets give the start of the recitation of poetic lines. They are followed by 25 more poets in the gardens of the Faculty of Law of the University of Granada. Residents and guests of Granada will also have a poetry slam of 10 poets who will fight for public recognition.
In 2022, events on the occasion of World Poetry Day will be held by 11 cities of literature: Dunedin (New Zealand), Heidelberg (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Kuhmo (Finland), Manchester (Great Britain), Melbourne (Australia), Milan (Italy), Nanjing (China), Obidos (Portugal), Tartu (Estonia) and Wonju (South Korea). All over the world, these events celebrate poetry and its ability to speak about our common humanity and our common values. We invite you to join and celebrate poetry in all its forms together.
"Enlightenment brings together the properties of peoples and people, equating them like a tree in a regular garden," - this is the position held by our famous poet and prose writer Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.
The literary city of Dunedin (New Zealand) will distribute a free poetic video with the participation of the famous poet-performer David Eggleton, poet laureate of New Zealand, reading the work "Time of Icebergs". Also on the big screen in the city library "City Library Cube" will be shown a film by David and Richard Wallis, which is rich in verbal and visual references to the literary city of Dunedin.
In Heidelberg (Germany), as part of the Poetry by Phone project, 35 poets from Heidelberg will call poetry lovers by phone and read their own poems aloud. Poets and listeners will be selected by the departments of culture. The City Library will also host an exhibition where children will be able to experience creative play with words, the poet, translator and co-founder of the independent publishing house Das Wunderhorn will present his latest work at the Heidelberg House, and on March 20 a musical and poetic event will be held at the central cemetery.
Krakow (Poland) will contribute to the celebration of World Poetry Day by planting together with poets from Krakow, the literary community and readers in the Planti Park a Poetry Tree in memory of Adam Zagajewski on the first anniversary of his death. They will also hold a poetic event, showing 5 poems by Adam Zagaevsky on the wall of the Potocki Palace on the Main Square.
The literary city of Kuhmo (Finland) will contribute to the event at the Juminkeko Center. An event dedicated to the Year of Veps Culture will be held here, where people will be able to learn more about their history, culture and language.
Manchester (UK) will take part in the celebration of World Poetry Day with a screening of a film about a recently commissioned poem by one of the city's multilingual poets.
Starting from March 20, Milan (Italy) will join the celebration of World Poetry Day with poetic walks from the Chiesa Ross Library to San Domenico Savio Street, readings by the Poetry and the City group (Nicola Gardini, Vivian Lamarck and Vittorio Lingiardi) with students of local secondary schools in the Perego Garden. MAMU Cultura Music organizes a musical reading with Stefano Orlandi (vocals) and Giulia Bertasi (accordion).
Nanjing joins the celebration with two events. On Poetry Night, the newly opened Nanjing Literary Center will host readings by 20 Nanjing poets on the theme "A Miracle happens in Spring". There will also be a "poetry walk with a white cane": 20 visually impaired students from the Anjing School for the Blind and a group of volunteers will join together to enjoy a literary walk and share classical Chinese poems on Mochou Lake.
Obidos (Portugal) joins the celebration of World Poetry Day with an online reading of poems by its most famous local poet Armando da Silva Carvalho in the public library, which will be broadcast online. This event is held as part of a partnership between the library, the municipality and local schools.
In Tartu (Estonia), a poetry evening will be held with the reading of poems by poet Doris Kareva, poet Andra Tidee, poet and musician Jaan Pehka at the club of the House of Literature of Tartu. Continuing the tradition started in 2020, people are invited to record and send poetic videos, both original and foreign.
Wonju (South Korea) will also join the celebration of World Poetry Day. Starting from March 17 and ending on March 21, five poets will present poems available in both English and Korean.
To stay up to date with all the events of UNESCO literary cities, follow the link for updates: https://www.citiesoflit.com /.