Readings

World Poetry Day 2025
A Celebration of Poetry

Together with its partner institutions, the Haus für Poesie is celebrating UNESCO World Poetry Day with readings by six international poets.

AVRINA (born 1992 in Tamil Nadu), one of this year’s literature fellows at the Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf, writes poetry and prose and has received the Short Fiction / University of Essex International Short Story Prize 2021.

Petr Borkovec (born 1970 in the Czech Republic) and Georg Leß (born 1981 in Arnsberg) are the winners of the 2024 German-Czech Dresden Poetry Prize. Georg Leß has published three poetry collections, most recently "die Nacht der Hungerputten" (kookbooks 2023). Petr Borkovec, a poet and translator (primarily of 20th-century Russian poetry), has had numerous works translated into German. His latest publication is a collection of prose miniatures, "Den Stock aufheben" (Edition Korrespondenzen 2024, translated by Lena Dorn).

Rachel McNicholl, a translator and poet from Ireland’s west coast, was a fellow at the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg. During her residency, she wrote new poems, now translated into German for the first time by Eva Bourke and Hans-Christian Oeser.

María Negroni (born 1951 in Argentina), a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist. Her works include the poetry collections "Arte y Fuga" (Pre-Textos 2004) and "Interludio en Berlín" (Pre-Textos 2014).

Seda Tunç (born 1983 in Izmit, Turkey), a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, is a poet and translator based in Vienna. Her debut collection "WELCH" (edition mosaik) was published in 2021. She is currently working on her next poetry collection, which explores national border policies, structural violence, and displacement.

UNESCO World Poetry Day highlights the significance of poetry, the richness of linguistic heritage, and the importance of oral traditions. Since its inception in 2000, the Haus für Poesie has organized Germany’s central event in collaboration with its partner institutions.

Readings will be in the original language, with German translations available for reading along.
Under the patronage of the German UNESCO Commission

A joint event by Haus für Poesie and the German UNESCO Commission, Akademie Schloss Solitude, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, Kulturstiftung Schloss Wiepersdorf, Czech Literary Centre, and the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia Bamberg.

Readings by: AVRINA, Petr Borkovec, Georg Leß, Rachel McNicholl, María Negroni, Seda Tunç
Welcome address: Roman Luckscheiter, Generalsekretär der Deutschen UNESCO-Kommission
Moderator: Marie Kaiser

Admission: €6.65 / €4.65
Haus für Poesie – Kulturbrauerei, Knaackstraße 97, 10435 Berlin

Tickets available online