The Barcelona Poesia festival celebrates its 27th edition from Wednesday 15 to Wednesday 22 May, with a programme that aims to place the emphasis on everyday poetry, on the small facts and gestures of everyday life. The poetry that is breathed, that which is seen, that which moves, and that which waits, patiently, to be discovered.

The curators of Barcelona Poesia, Maria Callís and Manuel Forcano, have put together a programme with 44 activities -in addition to some forty parallel activities taking place throughout the month of May- and the participation of 130 poets, both national and international, with a proposal designed for different poetic sensibilities, examining the different literary currents and the diversity of the poetic act.

Among the participants are the New Yorker Lydia Lunch, one of the most transgressive poets and performers; the Slovenian poet, translator, columnist and editor Anja Zag Golob; Joseba Sarrionandia, considered one of the most important Basque writers of all literature written in Basque; the young and brilliant Catalan poet and book writer Raquel Santanera; Francisco Ferrer Lerín, a philosopher, writer and ornithologist specialized in large necrophagous birds of prey; the Portuguese writer Raquel Lima, as well as the Catalan authors who have been awarded prizes throughout the year, who will take part in the opening ceremony of the festival: Mireia Calafell (Carles Riba Award 2023), Marina de Cabo (Ciutat de Palma Award 2023), Jordi Solà (Miquel de Palol Award 2023), Hug Casals (Amadeu Oller Award 2023), Irene Tarrés (Octubre de Poesia Award 2023) and Joan Tomàs Martínez (Jocs Florals de Barcelona 2023). Also worthy of note is the participation of the Moroccan writer Abdellatif Laâbi, poet and founder of the magazine Souffles. With a considerable role in the literary and cultural renovation of the Maghreb, he was arrested for his ideas and activities in opposition to the regime and sentenced to six years in prison. Released in 1980, he currently lives in France.

An inauguration in grand style

The Mallorcan writer Antònia Vicens (Santanyí, 1941) will give the opening speech of Barcelona Poesia on Wednesday 15 May at 7 p.m. in Sala Paral-lel 62. Under the title Llàgrima, Oli i Sal, Vicens will give the opening speech which, in honour of poetry, will take the form of a prayer in an act directed by the poet and playwright Eduard Olesti (Ausiàs March Award for Poetry 2023).

The inaugural Barcelona Poesia festival will continue with the humorous toe-tapping show Barcelona Ratafia, with a death and a birth, a poetry recital and a traffic accident, a duel and a cat. Under the artistic direction and dramaturgy of Eduard Olesti, and with Antònia Vicens, the stage of Paral-lel 62 will be filled with the most renowned poets and winners of the most important poetry awards, such as Mireia Calafell, Marina de Cabo, Jordi Solà, Hug Casals, Irene Tarrés and Joan Tomàs Martínez. Along with the poets, the actors and actresses Núria Martínez-Vernis, Oriol Sauleda, Núria Coromines, Frances Ribes Renshaw and Quimet Pla will also take part.

One of the highlights of Barcelona Poesia, which will close the opening day with a change of register, with an intimate act, will be the performance by Lydia Lunch (New York, 1959), poet, writer, actress, guitarist, scriptwriter, photographer, singer and multimedia artist, and one of the most acclaimed performers of the genre, with the poetic-musical performance Rise Above, which combines spoken word with Lunch’s voice, and improvised percussion by Ian White, of Gallon Drunk and Big Sexy Noise.

A festival of Barcelona City of Literature UNESCO

Barcelona Poesia, as well as Festival 42, of fantastic genres, and the International Festival of black novel, BCNegra, promoted by Institut de Cultura de Barcelona, are part of the Barcelona UNESCO City of Literature programme, which recognises the city’s commitment to the promotion of literature, both in terms of creation and reading. Within this framework, projects linking the city and literature are designed, planned and carried out: grants for literary creation, activities to promote reading, literary mapping of the city. Moreover, the programme office is a mediator between the different literary and cultural agents in the city and is the point from which Barcelona connects with the other UNESCO cities of literature in the world, a window open to collaborations and joint projects.

See all the details of the programme on the official website of Barcelona Poesia festival.