POETICA - Festival für Weltliteratur - präsentiert von Rausgegangen

In the festival's words:

Poetica is an international literature festival that has been held annually in Cologne since 2015. It is organized by the University of Cologne in cooperation with the German Academy for Language and Poetry and cultural institutions of the city of Cologne and focuses in particular on poetry as a marginalized genre of world literature. An author curates and moderates the festival and invites up to ten prominent poets from around the world to discuss a central theme. The initial idea for Poetica was that literature shapes knowledge just as much as the sciences do, and that the comparison of aesthetic ideas in the dialogue between poetry, science, and the public provides excellent access to understanding foreign cultures and their potentially different answers to central questions of existence. Characteristic of Poetica is the presence of all authors at all events of the festival week as well as the diversity of its venues and formats, from discussions at the university and a writing workshop for students to readings and the staged realization of poetry at Schauspiel Köln.

At all events, the literary texts are read in the original language by the authors and in German by the actors. The moderations are usually in English and German. The main texts and essays will be documented in a book publication, which will be available at the opening evening of Poetica.

Poetica is financed by the University of Cologne, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Kunststiftung NRW.