Agenda

The First International Poetry Encounter in Aruba combines elements of a collective retreat, a conversation on poetry and translation, and a performance cycle.

Poets are invited to form lasting interpersonal bonds with each other and with Aruba, while reflecting about Aruban culture and language, the meaning of insularity, nature, and history. Sites for performances and encounters include the National Library, the Universidad di Aruba campus, the Archaeological Museum, the San Nicolas Community Museum and Arikok National Park

The importance of translation is another interwoven theme to celebrate the exchange of knowledge, experience, and insights: translation workshops will encourage in situ working-translations of poems into Papiamento language, the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean islands Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

Poets and translators from Aruba, Curaçao, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Scotland are expected to participate in this year's programme. They include Jesús Montoya, Wilson Alves Bezerra, Juana Adcock, Marta Jazmín, Christie Williamson, Jamila Medina Ríos, América Merino and John Gonzalez Martínez. The artistic director Arturo Desimone is himself an Aruban poet with an Argentinean background.

Co-organisers: Arturo Desimone and Maria Silva-Hart, Basha Foundation

Supported by: Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied, Looren América Latina

Join two online festival events on poetry and translation hosted by the University of Aruba!

More information