The Power of Culture

There was no extensive guide of international poetry on the Internet, even though the medium is particularly appropriate for bringing the art of poetry to the attention of a broader public.

The Poetry International Web site, launched at the end of 2002 by the Dutch Poetry International festival organisation, filled this gap and is simultaneously a guide, a magazine and a platform for poets and poetry lovers.

The web site consists of an international page that serves as a gateway to 17 country domains, from Croatia to Australia and South Africa. These pages, where visitors can find poetry news from the country in question, are compiled and maintained locally. The Poetry International Web receives support from the Dutch Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, the European Union, Hivos, NCDO and the Rotterdam Art Foundation, and works together with poetry organisations such as The Melbourne Age in Australia, Yu Jian in China, Weaver Press in Zimbabwe and Prometeo in Colombia.

Every three months the participating countries send not only poetry news, essays and interviews with poets, but also at least ten poems in the original language along with an English translation, to make them more accessible. In combination with the archive of the Poetry International festival - 350 poems per year by 35 poets – these poems form a growing database. The feature Camera Poetica is a collection of short films by poets who have presented their works during the poetry festival over the last few years.

Web surfers automatically see an overview of related messages at the top right of the page. Moreover, site visitors can also search the site by language, poet, genre and country information using the search engine. Poetry International Web also has an extensive overview of links to other poetry websites.

www.poetryinternational.org