Poetry International

Poetry International returns this year from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 July with talks, readings and innovative live performances. The packed line-up features music, translation, new commissions and free events.

Poets meet, debate and offer their perspectives on a changing world. During the first Poetry International the Cold War loomed large as inspiration. Nearly half a century on, the conflicts and shifting geo-political fault lines that impact on all our lives today provide one of the central themes of the festival.

It includes a special focus on poets and poetry from the Middle East; including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Kurdistan, Iran, the Palestinian Territories and Syria – powerfully demonstrating poetry's enduring ability to anticipate and envision change and transcend barriers of censorship, prejudice and conflict.

The festival features: Choman Hardi, Warsan Shire, Eliza Griswold, Kei Miller, Imtiaz Dharker, Malika Booker, Aamir Iqbal, Ghareeb Iskander, Nick Makoha, Rafeef Ziadah, Paul Batchelor, Sasha Dugdale, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Sean Haefeli, Etta Ermini, Saleem Khan, Dilawar Khan, Zahid Ullah Khan, Sahira Sharif, Meena Ibrahimkhil, Shkola Zadran, Stephen Watts, Hubert Moore, Nasrin Parvaz, Pascale Petit and Ebrahim Golestan.