World Poetry Day with Vicent Andrés Estellés in the spotlight

Double celebration of poetry in the year 2024. World Poetry Day, which is celebrated on 21 March, also serves to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the poet Vicent Andrés Estellés. The main event takes place at the CCCB, but on the same day two other activities are also scheduled, one of which is musical, at other venues in the city.

International Poetry Day was instituted by UNESCO in 1999, during the Paris General Conference, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity and making endangered languages visible.

In Barcelona, this year the celebration is commemorated with a central event at the CCCB (6.30 p.m.; admission is free, but reservations are required) that revolves around one of Vicent Andrés Estellés' poems, a work entitled m'he estimat molt la vida (I loved life very much) that will be the focus of the event, an invitation to celebrate the work of the author from Burjassot, one of the great renewers of contemporary poetry in the Catalan language. His work revolves around death, life and the love that gives it meaning. 

Estellés' work is a celebration of life, each reading in a particular language, and it is reflected by artists such as the audiovisual artist Daniela Savalli, the architect and digital artist Ana Karen Orozco, the actor Francesc Anyó, the writer and journalist Míriam Cano, and the poet Martí Sales, Mariona García Corominas, from the Catalan Down's Syndrome Foundation, the choreographer Vaikonur - Ester Guntín, the actor Arnau Boces, the dancer and performer Mabel Olea, the musicians and gestural artists Clara Poch and Marçal Calvet and the journalists Roger Seró Ballesteros and Laia Vidal Castañé.

A bit of music? On Thursday 21 March you can visit the Casa-Museu i Arxiu Joan Maragall (7 p.m., 7 p.m.). There is a reverse ticket office and places are limited) and join a musical celebration of the Day of Poetry by the Ensemble Virreina, which will perform works by Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Gaubert, Sibelius and Toldrà, among others, in the form of duets of solo instruments with piano and also solo piano. But be warned, there will be a surprise, perhaps in the form of a poem?

Finally, Santa Mònica, the art centre on La Rambla, is also joining in the celebrations for the Day of Poetry with one of the proposals of the cycle Dijous de veu i paraula. On 21 March, at 7 p.m. (admission is free, but places are limited), three of the most outstanding poets of the moment, who come from Gandia, Barcelona and Palma, and are in possession of an award-winning and committed work, will be invited to the space. They are Teresa Pascual, Mireia Calafell and Clara Fiol.

If you want to celebrate International Poetry Day with verses, there are at least three proposals in the city. Consult the websites of each venue for more information.