Poetry Parnassus
26th June – 1st July 2012
South Bank Centre, London
With over 150 poets visiting the UK for a week-long celebration of poetry, Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre in London is set to be the largest ever gathering of the world’s poets. Inspirational poets, spoken word artists and rappers from each Olympic country will perform their poetry in over 50 languages and dialects.There will be over 100 events taking place: from a World Poetry Summit which will tackle the issues facing the art today and masterclass workshops to edible poetry installations, a session on women’s erotic poetry, garden readings and a poetry tea party for children. Many of these events are free.
Literature Across Frontiers is very excited to be involved and will be staging two of these events. We hope you can join us!
Arabic Poetry & Translation
Thursday 28thJune 2012
Queen Elizabeth Hall Front Room,
11:00pm – 12:00pm, Free
How do two different poetic traditions speak to each other through translation? What is lost and what is gained in the process of translating poetry and does the poet-translator’s voice reshape the intentions of the original poem? These and other questions are discussed by poets and translators Dhabiya Khamis(Qatar), Khaled Mattawa (Libya) and Iman Mersal (Egypt). Hosted byAlexandra Büchler from Literature Across Frontiers.
International Poetry Fair: Literature Across Frontiers Reading
Saturday 30th June 2012,
Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall
11:00am, Free
Literature Across Frontiers celebrates a decade of making literature travel with three poets from Europe. Flemish poet Els Moors (Belgium), Katerina Iliopoulou (Greece) and Ana Ristović (Serbia) join moderator Steven Fowlerto read and discuss their work.
World Poetry Summit
26th June, 10am – 6.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, £35
In addition to these events, Literature Across Frontiers director Alexandra Büchler will be speaking on a panel addressing the thorny issue of poetry and money at the World Poetry Summit: “A global gathering of leading directors, publishers and writers to help locate poetry’s place in the world and revolutionise how we work in the 21st Century.” Read more about the World Poetry Summit on the Parnassus website.