The Istanbul International Poetry Festival starts today. Among the guests we can count Saadi Yousef, Claudio Pozzani, Jean Pierre Balpe, Pedro Shimose, Pio Serrano, Sergey Gandlevski and Joan Margarit. It may sound awkward to promote such an event to travelers, but it is really difficult to find those names (read: poets) together anywhere. So, if you’re around Istanbul, do not miss it. I will not say the same thing for the festival’s crappy, flashy, ugly site Istanbul Siir Festivali, which is a pain in the neck (apparently they did not think linux users and/or they have other technical problems).

The main theme of the event will be Catalan poems and two of the poets mentioned, Iraqi Saadi Yousef and Cuban Pio Serrano both live in exile.

There is an opening concert of Cihat Askin at the Archaeology Museum, the closing concert will be given by Ayse Tutuncu Percussion Group.

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