Some say that poetry is a dying art. This is not the case in Venezuela, where the World Poetry Festival is hosted each year. The fifth annual event is taking place this week.
This time around, the World Poetry Festival is dedicated to the Venezuelan writer Gustavo Pereira. Pereira hails from Margarita, an island off the coast of Venezuela. He is one of Venezuela’s most famous literary figures, and has published over 30 books.
Pereira told a Caracas newspaper: “now poetry is being written in Venezuela like never before. The participation of young people, who line up to get into poetry readings, is a source of pride. When writing poetry becomes a common activity, we can really sense that we are in the process of making a life-changing transformation.”
Also attending the events in Venezuela this week are prominent poets from all over Latin America as well as countries around the world including France, Turkey, New Zealand, South Africa, Angola, and Palestine.
[...] To check it out, visit Biblioteca Ayacucho. You can download pdfs of books in Spanish ranging in publication date from the early 17th century to the late 20th century. Many famous Venezuelan writers are included in this digital “book shelf”: essayists Simón Bolívar, Andrés Bello, Francisco de Miranda, and Rufino Blanco Fombona; poets Manuel Díaz Rodríguez, Jose Antonio Ramos Sucre, and Gustavo Pereira. [...]