About

Where poetry lives

Versopolis Platform

Versopolis was founded in 2014 as a European poetry platform that builds novel opportunities for emerging European poets. It envisages continuation of cooperation and growth, given that it was selected from two open calls within the Support for European Platforms initiative by Creative Europe. 

Versopolis creates new possibilities for emerging European poets, fostering their growth and the circulation of their works. Poets can effortlessly transcend national boundaries and benefit from a strong platform to start their careers and amplify their voices. It is like an agency for up-and-coming poets. It provides substantial support for poets, including financial and organizational support.

Versopolis provides translations of poetry into different European languages and publishes them in a variety of formats, such as e-books, printed booklets, online articles and the Versopolis poetry database. In addition, it supports poet mobility by organizing a number of guest appearances at different European literary festivals. This facilitates opportunities for networking with respected stakeholders – festivals, literature organizations and other poets – around the world.

The title of a Versopolis poet is highly desired in the European literary community.

By the end of 2022, we offered opportunities to 381 European poets from 47 countries, writing in 42 languages. By the end of 2025, that number will rise to 585!

By the same year, Versopolis will have 36 festivals under its wing, which will make it the largest poetry platform in the world.

Versopolis Initiatives

In 2020 and 2021, as a reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, Versopolis developed a digital gathering called the Festival of Hope. With over 100 partners from all across the globe, from China to North America, it became a very successful endeavor. In 2022, this resulted in the global initiative Brave New Literatures, which served as a laboratory for new literary directions, embracing new media, AI and other cutting-edge technologies in the field of literature and poetry.

In 2023, these efforts culminated in the creation of Poetry Expo, the first digital fair dedicated to poetry, human creativity and literature. The Expo reached as many as 142,000 poetry lovers from all over the world.

Versopolis Webpage

Verspolis’ webpage is a document of the project’s activities. It hosts a large poetry database, featuring all selected Versopolis poets, as well as a thorough presentation of translators and platform member festivals. The webpage is not only a project document, though. It offers new writing on diverse topics procured by selected guest editors and authors from all respective platform members’ countries. An international editorial board carefully selects authors from all over the world to answer the most pressing social, political and cultural questions.

We serve interviews, reportages, columns, essays and reviews. So far, we have also published 8 freely available e-books, as well as the Versopolis Manual and the Versopolis Anthology (Arc Publications, 2020).

Author of the Week

Author of the Week is a special Versopolis feature created in collaboration with the Versopolis Review editorial team and partner festivals from the Versopolis network. The column features a series of essays, written by a diverse range of established and up-and-coming authors from the countries of the selected festivals, who discuss topics from their own literary environment, current trends and challenges in both poetry and society.

Moved by Versopolis

Versopolis has also launched the Moved by Versopolis programme. This initiative leverages the power of social media to showcase the mobility and travels of Versopolis poets, their festival experiences and their unique poetic expressions.

Versopolis Podcast

The Versopolis podcast, launched in 2023, explores contemporary poetry by a wide range of poets and poetry experts. Hosted by Dr Mitja Drab each episode delves deep into a specific topic, giving a unique perspective of the most exciting literary voices today.

Versopolis’s future steps

As a platform for promoting poetry and emerging poets, Versopolis envisions a future where poetry and the arts are deeply integrated into the cultural fabric of Europe, transcending borders and fostering meaningful connections among diverse literary communities. Versopolis’s mission and vision play a significant role in shaping the contemporary literary landscape and will continue to do so in the coming years.

 

Versopolis in a word: community. It is great to feel oneself connected, as it were, to such a burgeoning network of poets across the continent. It’s a special project and one with which it’s an honour to be involved.
Billy Ramsell
Versopolis poet
United Kingdom
Thanks to Versopolis I had the opportunity to publish four poetry books outside of Bulgaria - in France and Slovakia in 2019, in Poland in 2021 and Slovenia in 2022. That is why for me the project is a generator of happiness, friends and meaning. It is one of the most important poetry projects in Europe!
Ivan Hristov
Versopolis poet
Bulgaria
I feel we, in the Versopolis family, are working to ensure the survival of literary culture in communities of minority languages and the languages of small nations during a time when the hegemony of English threatens to extinguish such fragile cultural entities.
Patrick Cotter
Cork International Poetry Festival
Ireland