At the 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala, translator and friend of Fernando Rendón, Cao Shui, along with the 2025 gala’s Recitation Image Ambassador, Mr. Yuan Fan, presented the award certificate.
Rendón was one of the founders of the Medellín Poetry School in 1996. In 2012, he co-founded the World Poetry Movement (WPM), serving as its General Coordinator and Editor-in-Chief of its official website. He has organized numerous global poetry movements and participated in international poetry festivals worldwide. His published works include Anti-History, Under Other Suns, and The Salmon Pattern.
On the evening of February 23, 2025, the 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala, themed Facing the Bright Sunlight of Peace, was grandly held at the National Library Art Center in Beijing, just before the opening of the National Two Sessions. Colombian poet Fernando Rendón, the General Coordinator of the World Poetry Movement and President of the Medellín International Poetry Festival, was honored with the International Poetry Art Ambassador Prize at the gala. His translator and friend, Cao Shui, accepted the award on his behalf.
The 2025 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala was supported by Peking University’s Chinese Poetry Research Institute and People’s Daily Press, co-hosted by Beijing Normal University’s Chinese Contemporary New Poetry Research Center and China Literary Artists Magazine, and organized by Beijing Huaxia Shitong Cultural Development Center, with the support of numerous institutions. The event aimed to unite collective strength, celebrating the prelude to spring through poetry and weaving the artistic chapters of the era.
At the event, Professor Tan Wuchang, the chief planner of the gala and director of Beijing Normal University’s Chinese Contemporary New Poetry Research Center, delivered a passionate speech.
Notable figures such as Ye Yanbin, former chief editor of Poetry Journal and renowned poet, Professor Zhao Zhenjiang of Peking University and distinguished translator, and Professor Zhang Ning of Beijing Normal University and prominent literary critic, took the stage to present awards to He Jialin, the Image Ambassador of the 2025 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala, and Fernando Rendón, the International Poetry Art Ambassador of the event.
A congratulatory video from Fernando Rendón was played at the event, with subtitles translated by Cao Shui. In the video, Rendón expressed his heartfelt message:
“Dear friends! Happy Chinese New Year! I am honored to be named the International Poetry Art Ambassador of the 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala! I am deeply grateful to China, a great civilization with profound insights into the past, present, and future. Poetry serves as a bridge in mediating relations between nations. At this historic moment, this is crucial for all of us. China is working towards global harmony, making world peace a reality. Thank you very much!”
About Fernando Rendón
Fernando Rendón (born July 16, 1951, in Medellín, Colombia) is a renowned Colombian poet and a key figure in Spanish-language poetry. He is the founder and president of the Medellín International Poetry Festival, one of the world’s three largest poetry festivals. He also founded and serves as the chief editor of the poetry magazine Prometeo and is the General Coordinator of the World Poetry Movement (WPM).
Since 1968, Rendón has worked as a journalist for media outlets such as El Espectador. In 1982, he established the poetry magazine Prometeo and founded the Medellín International Poetry Festival, serving as its president. In 1988, he launched the poetry magazine Imagery.
His poetry collections include Radioactive Issues, The Song of the Red Branches, Floating, Between the Visible and the Invisible, All the Love Songs in the World, Rimbaud Station, and Ancient Stones Writing the Future. His works have been translated into English, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, German, Swedish, Albanian, Croatian, Catalan, Romanian, Vietnamese, Bengali, Hindi, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, and Arabic, among other languages.
Rendón has received numerous international literary awards, including the Alternative Nobel Prize, the American Anti-War International Poetry Award, the Colombian Republic Medal, the Mokiba Humanitarian Award, and the 3rd Boao International Poetry Award. His influence extends globally.
In 2024, his short poetry collection Songs of the Ideal State was published by Beiyue Literature and Art Publishing House. This book, translated into Chinese by poet Cao Shui, features 200 of Rendón’s representative works. As both a poet and an activist, Rendón has played a pivotal role in the Medellín International Poetry Festival and the World Poetry Movement, which he co-founded. His poetry, deeply rooted in human civilization, integrates diverse cultural elements to create a new poetic utopia.
His works exhibit a strong lyrical and philosophical tone, reflecting on war and peace, darkness and light, mythology and reality. They embody the people’s defense of democracy, pursuit of humanity, and exploration of freedom, echoing his lifelong commitment to the Medellín International Poetry Festival and the World Poetry Movement. His poetry is both grand and intricate, blending epic scope with romantic delicacy, carrying forward the mysticism and grandeur of Spanish-language poetry.
The 9th Chinese Poetry Spring Festival Gala in 2025 was attended by nearly 200 scholars, critics, and public figures, along with over 1,000 individuals from Beijing’s cultural and educational sectors. Preliminary statistics indicate that the event’s live broadcast reached millions of viewers that evening.
