Barcelona Poesia is focusing on the ephemeral nature of the word

A speech and a parade in charge of the poet Núria Martínez-Vernis and the group De Mortimers, with a tribute to the recently deceased musician and poet Pau Riba, will kick off the 25th edition of the Barcelona Poesia Festival on 11 May. The event presents verse in many different ways, as is its trademark, but this year it will focus specifically on the ephemeral nature of the word, “on the possibility of words circulating inside and outside bodies, spreading, mutating, going viral”, as can be read in the presentation written by Josep Pedrals and Maria Callís, curators of the festival. For this reason, live poetic creation events are encouraged, whether they are improvisation sessions, glosses or translation slams.

The gardens of the Casa de la Misericòrdia and the orchard of the Museu Frederic Marès will be two of the main stages of an edition that will take place in more spaces than ever before. Music will also play an important role. For example, El Molino will host two nights in a row a poetic-musical show by La Ludwig Band created expressly for the festival based on the work of Serafí Pitarra. Among the many names taking part in Barcelona Poesia are Narcís Comadira, Toti Soler, Bruno Muntané, Pol López, Eva Baltasar, Adriano Galante, Filippa Leal, Osías Stutman, Mary Ann Newman and Danielle de Picciotto. There will be time to remember literary personalities such as Gabriel Ferrater, Joan Fuster and Guillem Viladot, and there will be a nine-hour reading marathon dedicated to  Pier Paolo Pasolini at the Fundació Joan Brossa – Centre de les Arts Lliures.

The programme also includes the presentation of the Jocs Florals de Barcelona 2022 Awards, with Glòria Coll Domingo as the winner, a night of hip hop and poetry slam at the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, and the performance of the play El club de res de res, produced in collaboration with the CCCB, the Fundació Els Tres Turons and L’Altre Festival, whose actors and actresses are people with mental health disorders. In addition to the official programme, many libraries, civic centres, entities and associations have organised poetry activities throughout the festival, which are included in the off Més Poesia. The XXXVII Festival Internacional de Poesia at the Palau de la Música will bring the event to a close on 18 May. Poets of widely different languages, ages, cultures and lyrical approaches will take the stage: Jordi Pàmias, Hirondina Joshua, Golan Haji, Marta Petreu, Ángelo Néstore, Andríi Antonovskyi and Alice Oswald. They will be accompanied by the music of Marina Herlop.

You can find out all the details of the Barcelona Poesia Festival programme on the official website.