The edition that was to be held in the spring of 2020 was postponed and reduced to a series of events that were presented in October, and which certainly, due to the circumstances, were somewhat lackluster. This 2021, following the protocols set by the health authorities, the festival of the word that touches the most notes of the soul returns in its natural season.
As the curators, Josep Pedrals and Mireia Calafell, tell us, this year "it will be a good sample of the richness and poetic plurality of the moment, both from a strictly literary point of view and in the way of presenting it", but at the same time without ceasing to look back and pay tribute to names such as Felícia Fuster and Joan Triadú on the centenary of their birth, to the recently deceased Joan Margarit and Josep-Ramón Bach, and to the Italian poet Nanni Balestrini in relation to the exhibition that La Virreina is offering on his artistic, political and editorial career.
The proposal also presents as a novelty an opening speech, by Albert Garcia Elena, and the increase of recitals in concert format. The aim is to look forward with a commitment to the spectacle of the word, where there is music of different styles, improvisation, performative musicality, classical... a kind of stagings for all tastes, even some in an experimental way.
With the recovery of the festival, it "wants to cure uncertainties and unease with the power of the word", establishing dialectics with love, revolution, the dissipation of poetic canons, sculpture or even economy. In collaboration with the MNAC and in audiovisual format, a performative action will be carried out by young poets who will make their verses dialogue with works from the museum in which war is represented. In addition to round tables around poetry magazines and publications, and their current relationship with it.
To celebrate this festival, big names in international lyricism have been invited, such as the British hip hop and spoken word artist Kae Tempest ---considered England's most brilliant poet---, the Brazilian Angélica Freitas ---whose verses can be seen in some protest murals in her country---, the Mexican Carla Faesler or the Argentine writer Pedro Mairal, without forgetting national voices of women of the stature of Chus Pato or the young Alba Cid. All of them and more, can be seen and heard in different events scheduled during the eleven days, some of them in audiovisual format.
But the icing on the cake will come on the last day with the XXXVI International Poetry Festival, when the Palau de la Música dresses up to receive six voices from the current poetic scene, from different parts of Europe, who will interpret their poems in a show with music, dance and the word as protagonist.
Another important event celebrated in connection with Barcelona Poesía is the awarding of the Jocs Florals prize, a distinction with more than 150 years behind it, which recognizes authors and their work. This year, Manel Ollé and his collection of poems Un grapat de pedres d'aigua have claimed victory.
But there's more, as during these days various spaces, entities and collectives dedicated to the dissemination of poetry organize recitals, concerts, debates and other activities in different parts of the city, such as the Centro Cívico Convent de Sant Agustí, Casa Amèrica, Sala Beckett or Biblioteca Mercè Rodoreda, among others. At l'Escola d'Escriptura de l'Ateneu Barcelonès, from May 10 to 14 there will be poetry workshops, and various bookstores will also collaborate by dedicating spaces and with related events.
"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" (L. Cohen)The complete program of events, as well as ticket reservations and connection to multimedia events, are available on the Barcelona Cultura website and on the social networks dedicated to the festival, as well as three new game itineraries with poetry as the protagonist in the appLiterapolis Bcn:two have been built on poems by Joan Margarit and will take us through Ciutat Vella, on the one hand, and several places in Eixample, Gràcia and Horta-Guinardó, on the other hand; while the third will follow the traces of David Castillo's poetics through points of Gràcia and the Horta-Guinardó district.
During these past months, culture has been one of the most important assets for most of the population, since, thanks to it, many of us have coped better with the situation emotionally. The fact that a festival like Barcelona Poesía can be celebrated again, which makes us enjoy the beauty of words and makes us reflect through them. Perhaps it will not bring us back the much-desired normality, but it does bring us glimpses of what is glimpsed on the horizon, and it is up to us to offer our gratitude in the form of support and presence. As Leonard Cohen once said, "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Let the verses break us so that our soul can be moved again.