Article
The 45th Poetry International Festival in review
From protocol to disruption
June 27, 2014
Videos of all our live streams (all listed on the programme) are available on-demand. You can also curl up with a copy of our {piform id="22" title="festival anthology"}, containing poems by each of our festival poets in the original language and in translation.
In addition to the number of translation workshops held during the festival, we offered two master classes – one on reading poetry by Alfred Schaffer, and one on writing poetry by Hu Xudong. Hu’s speech, delivered in English, is available at the link: ‘The incessant bustling of the poet among the birds and stones’.
One of our most popular specials was a tribute to Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet who recently passed away. A speech about Heaney’s home in Mossbawn by PI Ireland editor Billy Ramsell and another by festival poet Norbert Hummelt, entitled ‘The Tollund Man and me’, rounded out the evening.
We’ve also got a whole slew of new poems from the festival. By Alfred Schaffer, we’ve go ‘Protective State’, a poem based on the brochure What is being done about terrorism? And what can you do? From Julian Brolaski comes the touching piece ‘We Birds’ and from Martín Gambarotta ‘The Ethiopian Son’, which was performed as a radio play during the festival. Peter Gizzi gave us two new poems during the festival: ‘Vincent, Homesick for the Land of Pictures’ and ‘Strangeness Becomes You’. The latter was the topic of a translation workshop. During our Poetry and science programme, which included a speech by Véronique Pittolo (see the link), Adam Dickinson read three new poems: A String of Small Pearls, Hydroelectric Wax Museum, Hail, and Hang-ups.
Finally, the Itinerant Poetry Library made the rounds once again during the festival, netting its 300th member. Read more about Rotterdam’s contribution to the Library at the link.
Thank you all for being a part of the 45th Poetry International Festival, whether you were physically in Rotterdam or just with us in spirit. Until next year!
Every year brings a completely different Poetry International Festival. The poets, the audience, and the participating artists and volunteers all help to make each year’s festival unique. It takes some time to process everything you see and experience during such an eventful week, and with that in mind we're taking the last week of June to unpack the events of the 45th Poetry International Festival, and to draw your attention to some new articles, poems, and videos that were uploaded during the festival week.
You can look back on the entire festival at your leisure, from the opening speech to the closing. You can also peruse the work of this year’s festival poets, through our A-Z feature in three parts ( 1, 2, 3), or on the festival home. All the photos taken during the festival by photographers Tineke de Lange and Pieter van der Meer are on display at our official Facebook Page, and we’ve got some personal anecdotes from poets, translators, volunteers, and staff over on our Tumblr festival blog.Videos of all our live streams (all listed on the programme) are available on-demand. You can also curl up with a copy of our {piform id="22" title="festival anthology"}, containing poems by each of our festival poets in the original language and in translation.
In addition to the number of translation workshops held during the festival, we offered two master classes – one on reading poetry by Alfred Schaffer, and one on writing poetry by Hu Xudong. Hu’s speech, delivered in English, is available at the link: ‘The incessant bustling of the poet among the birds and stones’.
One of our most popular specials was a tribute to Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet who recently passed away. A speech about Heaney’s home in Mossbawn by PI Ireland editor Billy Ramsell and another by festival poet Norbert Hummelt, entitled ‘The Tollund Man and me’, rounded out the evening.
We’ve also got a whole slew of new poems from the festival. By Alfred Schaffer, we’ve go ‘Protective State’, a poem based on the brochure What is being done about terrorism? And what can you do? From Julian Brolaski comes the touching piece ‘We Birds’ and from Martín Gambarotta ‘The Ethiopian Son’, which was performed as a radio play during the festival. Peter Gizzi gave us two new poems during the festival: ‘Vincent, Homesick for the Land of Pictures’ and ‘Strangeness Becomes You’. The latter was the topic of a translation workshop. During our Poetry and science programme, which included a speech by Véronique Pittolo (see the link), Adam Dickinson read three new poems: A String of Small Pearls, Hydroelectric Wax Museum, Hail, and Hang-ups.
Finally, the Itinerant Poetry Library made the rounds once again during the festival, netting its 300th member. Read more about Rotterdam’s contribution to the Library at the link.
Thank you all for being a part of the 45th Poetry International Festival, whether you were physically in Rotterdam or just with us in spirit. Until next year!
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