The program of the 24th poesiefestival berlin is now online
10.05.2023
Advance booking for the 24th poesiefestival berlin has begun! The poetry festival, titled no one is an island, will take place from June 9 to June 16, 2023, at Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg. Over 100 artists of numerous nationalities and languages are participating.
Program highlights
At Weltklang – Night of Poetry (FRI 9.6. | 19.30), Berlin’s prismatic and panoramic opening, Grammy award winning singer, composer, and producer Arooj Aftab will perform among others. Aftab works in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz, minimalism, and Urdu poetry. Also performing on stage are: Takako Arai who in her work explores Japan's history in the age of globalization and neoliberalism; poet and literary scholar Polina Barskova whose research is devoted to the poets of the Leningrad Blockade, and artist Julian Talamantez Brolaski, also known as lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the country bands Juan & the Pines and The Western Skyline. Radna Fabias, in her poems, contends with the relationship between Blackness and feminism, and Meena Kandasamy and Zaffar Kunial address processes of social stratification, cultural codification, inclusion, and exclusion in their texts. Christian Lehnert is a poet and theologian. He writes odes and tercets which deftly include rhyme – a formal attribute that has become rare in German poetry.
13 Poetry Talks (SAT 10.06. – FRI 16.06.) between poets will open up dialogue and exchange. Among others, Eileen Myles & Alice Notley will be on stage together for the event Offering The Healing Of Words (MON 12.06. | 19.30): a summit between the second and third generation of the legendary New York School, hosted by Shane Anderson.
In three main events this year, the focus will be on the themes of violence, identity and motherhood: Writing Violence (SAT 10.06. | 19.30), questions if and how poetry can both document and remember violence, but also initiate therapeutic processes, extending the opportunity for solidarity and healing. With Kemi Alabi, Yevgeniy Breyger, Kholoud Charaf, Athena Farrokhzad, Madara Gruntmane, Ramin Mazhar, Ramin Mazhar, Ganna Gryniva (Music)
In Writing Identities: You Are Dazzled By Their Murmurations (TUE 13.06. | 19.30) poets radically explore the boundaries of poetic language. In seeking to express marginalized perspectives and experiences, they question received wisdom, familiar patterns, common attributions, and powers of representation and interpretation. With Kemi Alabi, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Kay Gabriel, Eileen Myles
Writing Motherhood: "...grammatickt mamal aus..." (WED 14.06. | 19.30) will feature poetry about motherhood, mother figures, pregnancy and childbirth, miscarriage, and abortion. With Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Tjawangwa Dema, Athena Farrokhzad, Joanna Mueller, Alice Notley
A poetry book market (SUN 11.06. | 13.00 – 18.00) invites everyone to stroll and browse: 45 independent publishers present new poetry. Weekends readings in the Buchengarten (SAT 10.06. and SUN 11.06.) will see more than 40 poets perform and read open air – free entry.
An annual highlight, the Berlin Poetry Speech 2023 (SUN 11.6. | 19.30), will be held this year by Kim Hyesoon. Like her poetry, her speech is visceral and provocative – she will talk about her experience of state censorship and about writing in the sign of absence: how do poets connect with their deaths? May they use ghost voices which precede language, are poets capable of absorbing other voices and sounds?
Poetry in Education offers an extensive program and everyone is invited to participate: training for poetry mediators, workshops for school classes, readings of young poetry, laughing yoga and much more. We will also celebrate the award ceremonies of the national Lyrix competition and the reading and award ceremony of the British Council's writing competition We Have Everything We Need.
In the week leading up to the poesiefestival berlin, Poets' Corner – Poetry in the Districts creates poetic landscapes and connects poets and performers. From June 4th to 8th readings with numerous Berlin poets will take place at 14 venues throughout the city.
Considered the largest of its kind in Europe, poesiefestival berlin was founded in 2000. Each year, it brings more than 100 renowned poets and artists from all over the world to Berlin.
poesiefestival berlin is a project of Haus für Poesie in cooperation with Akademie der Künste and is supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and by Deutscher Literaturfonds e.V. as part of the "Neustart Kultur" program of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Presented by BÜCHERmagazin, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, EXBERLINER, Literaturport, radioeins, rausgegangen, taz and tip Berlin.