The city of Medellín will once again become a global epicenter for poetic expression as it hosts the 35th edition of the International Poetry Festival of Medellín (FIPMed), taking place from July 5 to 12, 2025. With the theme “Poetry to Rebuild the Human Spirit,” this year’s festival continues its tradition of uniting diverse voices in a powerful celebration of peace, memory, and creative resistance.
Since its founding, the Festival has stood as a beacon of hope and artistic resilience, and in this landmark edition, it reaffirms its commitment to fostering cultural dialogue and human connection through poetry. Hundreds of poets from around the world and Colombia will gather to share their verses, visions, and voices with a wide audience across Medellín.
After the Second World War, we have witnessed very few political scenarios as close to a new world war as the one we face today — a war whose power to annihilate life on Earth would be total. To the atomic bomb that ended hundreds of thousands of lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been added an enormous nuclear arsenal capable of shattering the planet. How can we remain indifferent to our own end? The destruction of nature advances at a geometric rate compared to the timid measures taken to mitigate the predatory impact of transnational corporations. Tension grows extreme, and the world seems to accept with sorrowful resignation the threat of total annihilation.
Poetry reminds us all of the origin and the wondrous meaning of life in its radiant manifestations. From the joyful days when human beings lovingly created a living language — a name for each animal, a sign for every living being — to our own time, in which words are expelled by hatred and the urge to exterminate, enough millennia have passed for us to awaken to a clear consciousness of the moment we are living in. We call “war” the two centuries of armed conflict in our country, and we also name “war” the conflagration between civilizations and nations that has existed on Earth since the beginning of time. We call “class struggle” the inevitable clashes between forces within human society that seek to impose their own interests.
Poetry calls us to remember our roots, the atmosphere of nature’s splendor, the deep spiritual unity of ancestral peoples, the primordial meaning of belonging to the powerful collective energy, to the intelligence of human life that once dwelled in forests and along riverbanks in harmony with the spirit of existence.
Poetry evokes the distant times of the beginning and invites us to recover our original condition. The International Poetry Festival of Medellín remains steadfast in its purpose after 35 years of existence. Founded in the city in opposition to the most extreme forms of violence and war, the Festival has become a refuge for the people, a powerful nourishment for their consciousness and sensitivity — a paradigm of dialogue between the poetic traditions of the world and the expressions of cultural diversity. From July 5 to 12, our fraternal ritual will be revived to reaffirm the city’s vocation for life and peace — the reincarnated dream of poetic justice and the brotherhood of the peoples of the Earth.
Our invited poets for the 2025 celebration include:
From Africa:
Ahmad Zakaria (Egypt), Ashur Etwebi (Libya), Mohammed Bentalha (Morocco), Cheikh Tidiane Gaye (Senegal), Safia Elhillo (Sudan/USA).
From the Americas:
Arturo Borra, Hugo Mujica, Lautaro Rivara (Argentina), Melissa Sauma (Bolivia), Natasha Kanapé Fontaine (Innu Nation, Canada), Agustín Guambo, Almendra Tello (Ecuador), Adriana Lizcano, Ana Sofía Buriticá, Diana Villa López, Duván Carvajal, Edson Velandia, Jaime Londoño, Jorge Valbuena, Juan Aurelio García, Lorena Zapata, Lucía Estrada, Luis Arturo Restrepo, Mariamatilde Rodríguez, Marisol Bohórquez, Mary Grueso Romero, Michael Benítez, Nataly Domicó (Emberá Eyábida Nation), Rómulo Bustos, Ronald Cano, Steven Anderson, Valentina Rojas, Yenny León (Colombia), Guillermo Acuña (Costa Rica), Ismaray Pozo Quiñones (Cuba), Afua Cooper (Jamaica/Canada), Manuel Becerra (Mexico), María Belén Milla (Peru), Porfirio Salazar (Panama), Esmeralda Torres (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).
From Asia:
Aminur Rahman (Bangladesh), Lan Lan, Li Yuansheng, Yang Ermin (People’s Republic of China), Yingxia Tang (China/Australia), Reshma Ramesh (India), Adnan Al-Sayegh, Chawki Abdelamir, Mohammed Al-Attabi (Iraq), Mohsen Emadi (Iran), Lorca Sbeity (Lebanon), Murad Sudani (Palestine), Khosiyat Rustamova, Kuchqor Norqobil (Uzbekistan), Huu Viet (Vietnam).
From Europe:
María Sánchez (Spain), Michel Cassir (Lebanon/France), Claudia Christiansen (France), Dimitris Lyacos (Greece), Ánne Márjá Guttorm Graven (Sami Nation, Norway), Laura Di Corcia (Switzerland/Italy), Milla van der Have (Netherlands), Valeriu Stancu (Romania).
From Oceania:
Tusiata Avia (Samoa/New Zealand).
Festival Themes:
- Life Liberated from Iron: Poetry for Peace
- Poetry as Spiritual Resistance
- Freedom of Expression, Thought, and Creation
- We Are Nature: Seeking Earth’s Renewal
- Celebration of Poetry
- Pedagogy of Poetry
The celebration will include 60 activities: poetry readings, performances, lectures, panel discussions, workshops, film screenings, and concerts. Every day will feature a rich program in a central venue, including a poetry book fair and a range of poetic experiences.
The International Poetry Festival of Medellín is organized and convened by Revista Prometeo and the World Poetry Movement. It is supported by the Special District of Science, Technology, and Innovation and the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Knowledge of Colombia. Sponsors include Comfama, Confiar Financial Cooperative, Ecopetrol, and Cenit. Allied institutions include the Chamber of Commerce of Medellín for Antioquia, the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombia, and the Swiss Cultural Fund. Media partners include Cámara FM, Radio UNAL Medellín, Teleantioquia, Telemedellín, and RTVC. Numerous public and private national and international entities are collaborating to make this celebration possible.
Opening Ceremony & Symbolic Reading
The festival will open with a moving communal reading of “Helenidad,” a powerful poem by the late Greek poet Yannis Ritsos, to be recited by attendees after a welcoming address by Fernando Rendón, the Festival’s founder and director. The poem evokes the resilience of people and the eternal bond with the land — resonating deeply with the Festival’s purpose and Medellín’s own transformative journey.
Book Fair: A Celebration of Poetic Voices
A special highlight of the 35th FIPMed is its Poetry Book Fair, hosted in the lobby of the Hotel TRYP (Calle 50 #70–124) from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. The fair will feature a curated collection of poetry books by both guest poets and acclaimed voices from Colombia and around the globe. Attendees will also have access to the latest issue of Revista Prometeo, the Festival’s literary journal, along with past editions.
The book fair will also accompany major readings and events, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, held at the Teatro al Aire Libre Carlos Vieco on Cerro Nutibara, July 5 and 12, respectively.
Participate and Receive Poetry
Festival attendees are encouraged to register their attendance by scanning a QR code available at events. By doing so, they will receive a free selection of poems by participating poets—ensuring a lasting connection to the poetic experiences they witness.
Join the Celebration
Organized by Revista Prometeo and supported by a network of cultural, governmental, and international allies, the 35th International Poetry Festival of Medellín invites everyone to become part of a poetic movement that continues to inspire the world.
For more information and full programming, please visit:
🌐 www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org
Follow us:
Instagram & Facebook: @festivalpoesiamed
Magazine: @RevistaPrometeo
Media Contact:
Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín
📧 contacto@festivaldepoesiademedellin.org
