Home 
From 8th till 15th May 2016, the Silesius International Poetry Festival will be held in Wrocław as a part of the literary programme of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 and the UNESCO World Book Capital. Bringing together the lexicon of modern Polish poetry in one place and time, this festival is a unique and ground-breaking event in Poland, because it is organised by five different entities – the biggest poetry festivals in Poland: the Miłosz Festival from Krakow, the City of Poetry from Lublin, the European Poet of Freedom International Festival of Literature from Gdańsk and the Poznań of Poets Festival.
The festival owes its name to the awards gala of the SILESIUS Wrocław Poetry Award, which closes the entire event. It is a joint project of five cities: Gdańsk, Krakow, Lublin, Poznań and Wrocław, which will join forces already in May to handle the fullest possible presentation of Polish poetry and the most important European phenomena. We want to propose unconventional ideas for talking about poetry and to present the most interesting ways of its promotion that are specific to particular cities and events.
The Programming Board of the festival consists of directors and organisers of the biggest poetry events: Jarosław Broda (Department of Culture of the City Council of Wrocław), Olga Brzezińska (City of Literature Foundation, Krakow), Urszula Chwalba (Krakow Festival Office, Krakow UNESCO City of Literature), Tadeusz Dąbrowski (European Poet of Freedom, Gdańsk), Irek Grin (European Capital of CutureWrocław 2016, UNESCO World Book Capital), Robert Piaskowski (Krakow Festival Office, Krakow UNESCO City of Literature), Prof. Paweł Próchniak (City of Poetry, Lublin), Joanna Przygońska (Zamek Culture Centre, Poznań), Aleksandra Szymańska (City Culture Institute, Gdańsk), Prof. Piotr Śliwiński (Poznań of Poets).
The Programming Board chose unanimously the Artistic Director of the Festival; this function was entrusted to poet Marcin Baran – the winner of the SILESIUS Wrocław Poetry Award and the Programming Director of the Bruno Schulz Festival.
The programme of the Festival will include a few dozen author’s meetings with Polish and foreign poets, panels of academic experts in lyric verse, music concerts, lessons for middle-school pupils with first encouragements and tips on how to approach poetry, a cycle of critical literary tutorials for students, workshops for young translators wishing to translate poetry, training courses for hosts and members of Book Discussion Clubs and the awards gala of the SILESIUS Wrocław Poetry Award. You can also expect plenty of other attractions, such as a special online festival radio providing live coverage of all festival events (Jacek Podsiadło’s Domowe Radio Studnia), the night poetry Hyde Park, an unconventional football match “Poets vs. Critics”, a city game or the Scrabble Championship for Word Amateurs and Professionals.
Organiser: Office of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016
Co-organisers:
Zamek Culture Centre in Poznań – Poznań of Poets
City of Literature Foundation, Krakow Festival Office – Miłosz Festival
City Culture Institute in Gdańsk – European Poet of Freedom
”Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Centre – City of Poetry
Department of Culture of the City Council of Wrocław
The detailed programme will be available at:
http://www.wroclaw2016.pl/miedzynarodowy-festiwal-poezji-silesius
Join this event on Facebook here
