Open Letter to Europe by David Harsent

(1942, United Kingdom) has published twelve volumes of poetry that have won numerous prizes, including the Forward, the Griffin International and the T.S.Eliot. A Broken Man in Flower, Harsent’s versions of the poems written by Yannis Ritsos while in prison camps and under house arrest, will appear in 2023. Harsent has collaborated with several composers, most often with Harrison Birtwistle. Birtwistle/ Harsent collaborations have been performed at major venues worldwide, including the Royal Opera House, the Salzburg Festival, the Concertgebouw, and Carnegie Hall. He holds a number of fellowships, including Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Fellow of the Hellenic Authors Society. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Roehampton.

Days of Poetry and Wine is one of the largest and most recognizable international poetry festivals in this part of Europe. Founded in 1996 by Beletrina Academic Press, it has hosted more than 550 internationally renowned poets and young emerging authors. In addition to main festival's emphasis - poetry and wine - every edition of the festival also brings something new and small surprises from the field of music, visual, photography, film and other arts for all ages and interests. Festival events take place at several different locations throughout Slovenia, Austria and Croatia, but the center of the festival being Ptuj, a charming medieval town in Eastern Slovenia that greatly supports adds to the relaxed atmosphere of the festival. Days of Poetry and Wine have become an important reference for performing poets and a beloved destination for all poetry-lovers and professionals, not only from Slovenia, but from wider surrounding region. Since 2014, the Days of Poetry and Wine is a member of the European poetry platform Versopolis, supported by the Creative Europe program. More than 60 festival events, all of them admission free, attract more than 8.000 visitors every year.