Porto, July 22, 2024 (Lusa) - The 1st edition of the Porto International Poetry Festival (FIPP) kicks off on Friday. It promises four months of talks with Portuguese and foreign poets and artists, creative writing workshops, spoken word, and music.
FIPP opens with the theme ‘Ruir’ on 26 July at 6 p.m., at the Pestana Palácio do Freixo, in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto), with a ‘poetry talk’, i.e. a conversation between poets Chus Pato (Galicia, Spain) and Inês Lourenço (Portugal), moderated by fellow poet José Manuel Teixeira da Silva, Francisco Reis, one of the organisers of the festival, a project organised by Poetria, a bookshop specialising in poetry and theatre, which has been running for 20 years in the heart of the city of Porto, told Lusa today.
In a telephone interview, Francisco Reis explained that the event promises to celebrate poetry in all its forms throughout the months of July, August, September, and October. The theme of the first edition is ‘RUIR’, in the sense of proposing a renewal,’ a rebirth’, basically as a reflection on the idea of collapse, exploring the transformative power of poetry.
For this first edition, the festival has Galicia as its partner region, emphasising the ‘linguistic, historical and cultural ties shared with the north of Portugal’.
‘FIPP is an international poetry festival in Porto. We want it to be an annual cultural event of reference, dedicated to celebrating poetry and promoting poetic art as a form of contemporary expression,’ explained Francisco Reis.
On Saturday 27 July, the FIPP offers a moment of ‘poetry sound’ with the show ‘Camiño do meu contento’, by the artistic group ‘Sinais de Cena’, which is dedicated to the reading and performance of poetic texts and prose.
On Sunday, 28 July, at 10:20 a.m., there will be a poetry lab, or creative writing workshop for poetry, at the Soares dos Reis National Museum. ‘Playing with words’ is the name of the workshop, the aim of which is to try and discover poetry as a family, in sessions lasting 45 minutes each, aimed at children aged 8 and over.
Also, on Sunday, a poetry talk is scheduled at the Soares dos Reis Museum at 3.30 p.m. with Marta Bernardes, Tiago Alves Costa and Ismael Ramos.
The FIPP programme continues on the first weekend of August, with more talks, creative writing workshops, poetry slam and spoken word, among other activities, and will run over the next four months on weekends, explained Francisco Reis FIPP has several objectives, but Francisco Reis highlights the desire to ‘promote the accessibility of poetry to a wider audience’, ‘build bridges’, ‘promote innovation and diversity of dialogue through poetry’, and' be a place for poetry lovers to meet and reflect. '
The festival will feature established and emerging poets from Portugal such as Ana Rocha, Emanuel Madalena, Fernando António Machado, Francisca Camelo, Inês Lourenço, José Manuel Teixeira da Silva Ismael Ramos, Marta Bernardes, Miguel Royo, Rosa Alice Branco, Pedro de Queirós Tavares, Tiago Alves Costa.
It also features poets from Galicia, Spain, such as Chus Pato, Esther F. Carrodeguas, Marga Tojo, Olga Novo, Rosalia Fernandes Real, Samuel L. Paris, Xosé María Álvarez Cáccamo, among others.
FIPP ends on 27 October, when the festival closes with a poetry talk ‘looking to the future’, with two Galician poets, Ester Carrodeguas and Samuel L. Paris, and the Portuguese Francisca Camelo and Emanuel Madalena, added Francisco Reis.
Poetria is now a meeting place for poets, readers and lovers of literature. As well as selling books, Poetria promotes cultural events, book launches, workshops and debates, helping to energise Porto's literary scene.
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