News

/ 7 June 2017

Genoa becomes the capital of words with the 23rd International Poetry Festival "Parole Spalancate"

From 8th to 18 June, Genoa will be invaded by poets from all over the world with the 23rd International Poetry Festival "Parole spalancate" (words wide open) , the largest and most prestigious Italian event devoted to poetry.

This Festival, founded and directed by the poet Claudio Pozzani will offer as usual over 100 free events between readings, concerts, performances, projections, conferences, exhibitions and guided tours.

Among the guests and the events of this year: the visual artist and poet Emilio Isgrò, known for his use of the erasure technique in his art works; Sandro Veronesi (13 June), novelist awarded with the prestigious Strega Prize will offer a monologue about the theme of the Festival: the Elevation; the Nobel Prize Gao Xingjian (June 18) will read his poems and talk about his Call for a new Renaissance; the film director Gianni Amelio presents his new novel "Politeama" and talks about his latest film "La tenerezza" (June 17th).

This year we have three tributes: the first (June 8th) is to Fernanda Pivano, born in Genoa, writer, journalist, and above all translator that contributed to the diffusion of the most significant American writers in Italy (Beat Generation, Bret Easton Ellis, David Foster Wallace, Chuck Palahniuk and Jonathan Safran Foer).

The second tribute is to Jim Morrison as poet (June 10th), with a special reading by his friend and collaborator Frank Lisciandro. Too often Morrison is considered only for his music, but his real love was for poetry, with a lot of texts still unpublished.

The third tribute is to songwriter Jeff Buckley (June 16th) in the twentieth anniversary of his death.

During the Festival there is the section called "The poetic reconstruction of the universe", where writers, poets, scientists, designers give their vision and hints for a more human society based on values such as art, culture, creativity, sense of beauty, sharing of knowledge, that now they are considered almost useless... In this section the guests propose speech about silence and inner words, a new industrial Humanism, modern illiteracy.

As every year, Parole spalancate organizes a special Bloomsday (June 16th), reading of Joyce's Ulysses in 23 different venues in the old town and the Poetic Paths, guided and spectaculars tours following the traces of poets and writers who lived and stayed in Genoa.

Two whole days will be dedicated to the Mediterrean contemporary poetry (June 10th and 11th), in collaboration with the Festival Voix Vives of Sète (France) with readings and performances in the Giardini Luzzati, an urban park in the most animated part of the city.

Then, of course, Parole spalancate hosts Versopolis poets (from June 15th to 17th), that this year are Adam Horovitz (UK), Anna Axfors (Sweden), Natasha Sardžoska (Macedonia), Aurelia Lassaque (France) e Indré Valantinaité (Lithuania).