Held every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Practiced throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace. World Poetry Day is an occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.
To commemorate World Poetry Day 2022, a number of events and festivities are organized around Greece. Hellenic Authors’ Society, in its official event titled “Poetry: A guide to survival, me and the other” invites us to participate in an exciting tour guided by poems, which converse with us with tenderness, humor, wisdom and compassion, offering solace, companionship, but also answers to the demanding questions of the human condition. In attempt to act therapeutically, poetry is there to hold our hand offering recognition and acceptance. Together with Hellenic Authors’ Society, the Authors’ Society of Thessaloniki will celebrate World Poetry Day with readings of the poems by the city’s three major female and three major male poets performed by a respective number of actors.
In cooperation with Athens Culture Net of the Municipality of Athens, a poetry marathon for peace is organized in Free Thinking Zone with the participation of numerous poets and a series of poetry readings from 7 p.m. till midnight. On its part, Poets’ Circle organizes a number of events both in Athens and a number of cities around the country. A poetry night dedicated to the environment titled “The Earth we see and the Earth that sees us” will take place in Athens, with the participation of thirty poets, as well as in Thessaloniki, in cooperation with the Saixpirikon bookstore-editions. Similar events are organized in Larissa, Volos, Kos, Lefkada and Tinos. Poetry becomes an agonizing cry for the environment, climate change, the war and the world that is changing around us.
“Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. As an intimate form of expression that opens doors to others, poetry enriches the dialogue that catalyses all human progress, and is more necessary than ever in turbulent times.”As poetry continues to bring people together, we are all invited to join in and enjoy the numerous festivities organized throughout Greece!
A.R.
TAGS: LITERATURE & BOOKS | READING GREECE
