Poetry International 2008


Friday 24 October 2008 - Saturday 1 November 2008
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX

Poetry International 2008 is about freedom. It celebrates poetry’s enduring ability to transcend doctrine, spin and censorship, to confirm, in John Berger’s words that ‘in the world we live in today poetry is an unbowed, unspinned means of communication’.
We celebrate poetry in translation by looking at Palestine, magnified in significance by the untimely death of Mahmoud Darwish. Speechless presents poetry beyond censorship from South East Asia.

Six Seasons evokes the poetic moods of Bengal through text and music, and some of the greats in world poetry, including Jorie Graham, Mark Doty and Tomas Venclova, read from their latest work. Look out too for Lemn Sissay’s specially curated installation running throughout the festival and join us for a reading from his new collection, Listener.

My picks from the festival are:

Sean O'Brien
Sunday 26 October 2008
Sean O'Brien, one of the great poet critics of our age, gives this year's TS Eliot Prize lecture.

Power in the Voice
Monday 27 October 2008
Power in the Voice is a British Council project that celebrates young people finding their voices through spoken word, performance poetry, rap, storytelling and the oral tradition.

Lemn Sissay
Wednesday 29 October 2008
It's been seven years since Lemn Sissay wrote Morning Breaks in the Elevator.

Jean Binta Breeze and Linton Kwesi Johnson
Thursday 30 October 2008
Jean Binta Breeze presents new poetry and spoken word with an urban flavour - the next generation of performers on the London scene.


While your there why not stop off at the Saison Poetry Library, 5th Floor Royal Festival Hall. The library houses the largest selection on contemporary poetry (1912- onwards) in England, comprising of a audio, written and visual poetry. The library is a public lending library and can be joined on providing a proof of any UK address (bill, bank statement)


http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/
http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk



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