Poetica – Festival of World Literature

Poetica turns the spotlight on poetry as a marginalized genre of world literature. It aims to foster public discussion of world literature and to connect German and international writing. The underlying idea is that literature shapes knowledge just as the sciences do. Through exchange between poets and scholars, aesthetic ideas are compared, making foreign cultures and their answers to central questions of human existence accessible.

One author curates and hosts the festival and invites up to ten poets from around the world to engage with the guiding theme. All authors attend every event of the week. The program includes discussions at the University of Cologne, readings, writing workshops for students, and staged presentations of poetry by actors and authors at the Schauspiel Köln. The writers read in the original language, while actors perform the German version. Outside the university, simultaneous interpreters usually provide support.

From 2009 to 2014, a trial phase preceded the festival in the form of the “Literator” poetics lectureship, hosted by Daniel Kehlmann, Peter Esterházy, Sibylle Lewitscharoff and Michael Lentz. In 2015, Günter Blamberger, director of the International Kolleg Morphomata, and Heinrich Detering, president of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, founded Poetica. The concept originated at the Kolleg Morphomata of the University of Cologne, which organized the festival until 2021. After ten editions, founding director Blamberger handed over the leadership to the poet and translator Uljana Wolf. The university simultaneously appointed her honorary professor of international contemporary poetry, including its curation and mediation.

Poetica was originally funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the Kolleg Morphomata. When that funding ended as scheduled in 2021, the then rector Axel Freimuth decided to continue the festival with university funds. Since then, the university has covered personnel costs, while the events are financed by the Kunststiftung NRW and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Rotating local partners add to this, such as the Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, the Schauspiel Köln, the Literaturhaus Köln, the Museum Ludwig and the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum.

At the start of each edition, a book with the main texts and essays is published, along with an accompanying brochure containing biographies. The website documents past editions with podcasts, videos and photos. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and Kölnische Rundschau report daily during the festival week, while WDR, Deutschlandfunk, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung carry interviews, recordings and reports. The Kölner Kulturrat e.V. has nominated Poetica four times for Cultural Event of the Year.