Poetry all around in Bucharest next week at FIPB 2023

Bucharest once again becomes the European capital of poetry at the 13th edition of the Bucharest International Poetry Festival (FIPB), next week, starting from Monday, September 11, until Sunday, September 17.

Poets from 27 countries on four continents come to Bucharest, where the public can meet them in more than 50 extremely varied events: from public reading sessions, to performances, debates, round tables, book launches, gallery openings.

The list of foreign guests of the Bucharest International Poetry Festival includes important names of contemporary poetry, a selection that covers both generational and aesthetic diversity and the forms of public presentation of poetic creation.

From top names in today’s European literary world such as the Italian poet Milo de Angelis, founder of Il Niebo magazine, Philippe Tancelin (France) – poet and philosopher, well-known researcher in the aesthetics of poetry, one of the founders of the legendary l’Université Paris VIII, Rachid Khaless – Moroccan poet, equally known as a prose writer, editor, painter and translator, winner of one of the most important national literary awards: Prix du Maroc du Livre, 2019 edition, Portuguese literary critic and translator José Manuel de Vasconcelos, Habib Tengour – beloved French-Algerian poet, winner of the most recent edition of the Benjamin Fondane Prize, Hasan Erkek – Turkish poet, playwright and theater teacher, awarded with more than 20 national and international awards, Serbian-Canadian poet Goran Simić from Bosnia and Herzegovina , internationally recognized for his volumes of poetry, essays, short stories and theater or the well-known Danish writer, poet, artist, performer, literary activist and translator Claus Ankersen.

As in previous editions, South American poetry is strongly represented in the FIPB 2023 program. The following will be present in Bucharest: Gabriel Chávez Casazola – poet and journalist, considered one of the essential voices of Bolivian poetry, the Uruguayan poets Julio Pavanetti and Harold Alva, or Cuban poet, journalist, literary critic and translator Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (Cuba). They are joined by beloved names of Spanish poetry today such as the poet and cultural activist Annabel Villar born in Uruguay but settled in Spain, Aurora Luque – poet and translator, Enrique Nogueras Valdivieso – poet and professor at the University of Granada, specializing in medieval Latin and in Romanistics, also translator from Portuguese, Old French and Romanian, Fulgencio Martinez, known equally as a poet, translator, editor and researcher or Enrique Nogueras – poet and university researcher, one of the names extremely connected to the Romanian cultural space and Corina Oproae, originally from Romania, poet and a well-known Romanian translator.

The literary world from the south of the Danube is strongly represented in the program by the presence of four Bulgarian writers: the poet Kristin Dimitrova, whose poems have been translated into over 35 languages, alongside Ivan Hristov and Aksinia Mihailova, successfully translated into Romanian and more the young poet Olya Stoyanova.

Romanian language poetry from across the Prut is also not missing from the program of this year’s edition of the most powerful poetry festival in Romania: Moni Stănilă, Alexandru Vakulovski, Maria Pilchin, Artur Cojocaru, Dumitru Fanfarov, Vasile Gribincea, Mitoș Micleușan are just a few of the poets present in Bucharest.

Beloved Romanian authors living abroad complete the list of guests at FIPB 2023: Andrei Codrescu, Carmen Firan, Adrian Sângeorzan, Traian Pop Traian and Călin Andrei Mihăilescu are coming to Bucharest between September 11-17, 2023.

The program also includes names of poets known for their civic concerns, such as writer and activist Ester Naomi Perquin from the Netherlands or Gordana Vlajić, writer and political activist from Serbia.

Poets known for their positions as cultural managers will also be present at this year’s edition of the Bucharest International Literature Festival, such as Semier Insayif from Austria – freelance writer and cultural manager or Udo Kawasser – poet, translator of literature Latin American, dancer and creator of POESIEGALERIE, Austria’s largest poetry festival and Austria’s most important online poetry platform.

The performance will not be missing either from the architecture of the program of this year’s edition of the FIPB. Well-known names of this cultural area will be present in Bucharest during the week of September 11-17: Jaan Malin aka Luulur from Estonia – performer, winner of several slam poetry shows, who has gained international fame, Kiro Urdin from North Macedonia , film director, visual and multimedia artist, Katarzyna Wojtczak (Poland) – artist, sociocultural initiator, poor gallerist, experienced in architecture, Ornela Alia (Albania), an artist who works with performance, with video and text as the main tools of exploring different forms of interactivity, which include not only people, but also objects, institutions, ideas and beliefs, Gergana Ivanova and Olya Stoyanova from Bulgaria, Katarzyna Wojtczak (Greece/Poland), Tonia Tzirita Zacharatou (Greece), together with Elena Chirila and Ana Gurdis from the Republic of Moldova.

José Luís Peixoto, one of the most translated and beloved Portuguese prose writers today, well known to Romanian readers, comes to FIPB 2023 as a poet, together with his compatriot, the Portuguese poet, essayist, literary critic and translator José Manuel de Vasconcelos.

Germany is represented in the program by the presence of Nico Bleutge – multi-award winning poet, essayist and literary critic, Yevgeniy Breyger – well-known German-language poet, translator and editor born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, together with writers of Romanian origin Dagmar Dusil and Kira Iorgoveanu-Mantsu.

The poetic literary space in Greece is represented in the program by the presence of the poets Nikolaos Vlahakis, Krystalli Glyniadakis, Tonia Tzirita Zacharatou, together with the writer and translator Victor Ivanovici, a bridge man between the Romanian and Greek cultural worlds.

Important names of poetry from the former Yugoslavia complete the FIPB 2023 program: Pavle Goranović – poet, essayist, editor and member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatian poet and translator Goran Čolakhodžić.

Roman Honet – well-known Polish poet and editor, Canadian writer and literary critic Lise Gauvin, Cyrus Console and Andrew Davidson Novosivschei from the United States of America, together with the well-known French author of Vietnamese haiku and renku Minh-Triêt Pham complete the list of guests from abroad. They are joined by an important selection of contemporary Romanian poets from all generations.

Screenings of video poems, poetry and jazz, poetry in motion complete the list of “arguments” that can convince culture lovers in Bucharest to get closer to poetry by participating in a series of concept events.

Overall, the public is expected to take part in more than 50 events, in 14 well-known spaces in the capital. Seven days in which the power of poetry to change the world is celebrated, in a unique event organized by the Capital City Hall, through the National Museum of Romanian Literature.

At the 2023 edition of the Bucharest International Poetry Festival, the organizers resumed a project known and loved by poetry lovers: the National Poetry Book Fair, an event that brings to the fore the most recent and most important volumes of poetry. Public attendance in the events of the Bucharest International Poetry Festival is free.