From Wednesday 19 to Sunday 23 June 2024, the 41st Marché de la Poésie, one of the most important poetry festivals in Europe, will take place in Saint Sulpice Square in Paris, welcoming thousands of poets, editors and readers every year. This year, Greece is the invited and honoured country, which is participating dynamically, with funding from the Ministry of Culture, with Greek poets presenting their work to the French public. The visitors of the festival will be welcomed by a space dedicated to Greek poetry – booth 415 – organized by the Greek bookstore-publishing house “Desmos”.

The selection and the programme were prepared under the supervision of the festival organisers, Yves Boudier and Vincent Gimeno-Pons, with the collaboration of a team of translators and critics and with the assistance of the Directorate of Letters of the Ministry of Culture, which informed the festival’s organising committee of all the French translations of works by Greek poets that have been produced for the French market in recent years. From Greece, the poets Dimitris Angelis, Anna Griva, Katerina Iliopoulou, Lena Kallergi, Efthymia Panagiotou, Thomas Tsalapatis, Yannis Stigas, Thanasis Hatzopoulos, Dimitra Christodoulou, and Titika Dimitroulia, professor of Theory and Practice of Translation at the University of Athens, literary critic, translator, Stamatis Zochios, researcher at the Centre for Research in Greek Folklore of the Academy of Athens, professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, writer, translator, Clio Mavroeidakou, director of the poetry series of the ed. “Desmos”, translator and Sissy Papathanasiou, writer, translator, director of the Directorate of Letters of the Ministry of Culture of Greece.

The events include poetry readings in Greek and French, a tribute to the great Greek poets of the 20th century, presentations and discussions on the Greek poetry scene and meetings with Greek poets, as well as concerts of Greek poetry set to music and a musical theatre performance based on works by Greek poets.

The organization of Greece as a country of honour in the 41st Marché de la Poésie in Paris acquires an additional importance as this summer the spotlight is on the French capital where the Olympic Games are being held and has already aroused the interest of the French press with extensive publications in French newspapers (https://www.marche-poesie.com/presse-41e-marche-de-la-poesie/)