Under the heading There lies Europe, the 22nd poesiefestival berlin from 11 to 17 June 2021 is investigating the poetry of Europe in all its diversity of forms and languages, and in spite of the pandemic is building poetic bridges across the continent. Multilingualism, the ambivalence of language policymakers to the languages, migration and diaspora – these are the thematic lines along which the Festival will be putting Europe to the test.

“There lies Europe. What does it look like?” asked Kurt Tucholsky in 1932 in his poem ‘Europe’ written under the pseudonym Theobald Tiger, in which he describes the drifting apart of European states in favour of national interests and to the detriment of common interests and of diversity seen as something positive. The 22nd edition of the poesiefestival berlin is setting out to point up the linguistic, cultural and poetic diversity of Europe and find common denominators through poetry.

150 poets from around 40 countries will be coming together during the Festival in digital readings, talks, concerts and workshops. Some of the videos will be filmed in Berlin, with others cut together and elaborately post produced from digital discussions or submissions from around the world. In addition, 70 interviews, essays and anthology contributions will be posted as text content on the Festival website to provide a deeper experience. From 1 June to the end of the Festival, Festival visitors will have the opportunity to write together about the continent’s possible futures in a collective live poem. And this will be joined by other participative live formats during the Festival as well.

The poesiefestival berlin is a project by the Haus für Poesie.

In cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.