The Medellín International Poetry Festival is not just a local celebration—it is a beacon for the world’s poetic and spiritual life. For 35 years, it has brought together nearly 2,100 poets from 197 nations, creating a rare space where diverse languages, cultures, and voices converge in dialogue, reflection, and celebration. The Festival embodies peace, humanism, social justice, and solidarity, serving as a platform where poetry becomes a bridge between peoples, generations, and continents.
Participating poets from across the globe have repeatedly attested to its transformative power. Many recall arriving in Medellín to discover a city alive with poetic energy, where audiences of all ages engage deeply with words, and where the Festival’s organizers, led by Fernando Rendón, cultivate an environment of collaboration, respect, and care.
At a time when the arts and creative voices face increasing threats, the Festival stands as a symbol of resilience and hope. Its preservation is vital—not only for Medellín and Colombia—but for the global community, as a testament to the enduring power of poetry to inspire, heal, and unite humanity.
Egyptian poet Ashraf Aboul-Yazid wrote: “For decades, the Medellin International Poetry Festival has been a beacon of peace and art, uniting humanity through poetry. It transforms pain into hope, celebrates dialogue and beauty, and must endure as a global symbol of harmony and the human spirit.”
Irish poet Moya Cannon recalls her visit to the Medellín International Poetry Festival as one of deep warmth and inclusivity. She praises its community spirit, cultural impact, and global significance, calling it a beacon of excellence that Colombia should proudly continue supporting.
Argentine poet Tina Elorriaga defends Medellín’s International Poetry Festival, praising Fernando Rendón’s 35-year effort transforming the city’s image from violence to poetry. She calls the Festival a beacon of free expression and cultural resistance that must continue inspiring justice and beauty worldwide.
Greek poet Dinos Siotis urges the Medellín City Council to preserve the International Poetry Festival, calling it a luminous torch of world poetry for 35 years. He hails it as a global model of excellence and creativity—vital as oxygen for humanity.
Italian poet Giuseppe Conte calls Medellín’s International Poetry Festival the most important in the world, celebrating its unique energy and spirit. He praises it as a living force of dreams, love, and resistance against global violence—urging: “Let’s live Poetry! Let’s live!”
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tyehimba Jess recalls his 2019 participation in the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a revelatory experience connecting poets worldwide. He urges Colombia to continue funding this vital global gathering that elevates Medellín onto the international literary stage.
Ecuadorian poet Luis Carlos Mussó calls the Medellín International Poetry Festival a vital global space for peace, freedom, and solidarity. He praises its healing power for Colombia’s past wounds and urges institutions to keep supporting this “annual miracle” where poetry rebuilds what war destroyed.
Moroccan poet Mohamed Ahmed Bennis expresses full solidarity with the Medellín International Poetry Festival. He emphasizes its 35-year legacy as a global meeting point for poets, promoting justice, beauty, and peace, and urges Colombian authorities to ensure its continued support.
Chilean poet Soledad Fariña expresses shock at attempts to cut funding for the Medellín International Poetry Festival, highlighting its 35-year legacy of uniting 2,100 poets from 197 countries, fostering reconciliation, artistic growth, and a global celebration of poetry.
Virginia Fernández Collado, poet and professor, recounts her experience at the 32nd Medellín International Poetry Festival in July 2022, highlighting readings, collaborations with global poets, educational activities, and the Festival’s transformative impact, describing it as a vibrant, unforgettable poetic celebration.
Fahredin Shehu, award-winning poet from Kosovo, emphasizes the Medellín International Poetry Festival’s 35-year legacy of uniting 2,100 poets from 197 nations, fostering creativity, justice, cultural dialogue, and human values, urging its preservation as a vital global poetic sanctuary.
Nigar Arif, poet from Azerbaijan, celebrates the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a magical, unifying space where poets worldwide gather, fostering creativity, solidarity, and cultural dialogue, urging its preservation for the invaluable inspiration, humanity, and hope it brings.
Althea Romeo Mark from Switzerland and Antigua & Barbuda celebrates the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a transformative, global gathering where poets connect, friendships flourish, and Fernando Rendón’s team ensures flawless organization, making it the ultimate “Mecca” for poets worldwide.
Miguel Falquez-Certain from New York expresses solidarity with the Medellín International Poetry Festival, celebrating its 35 years of inspiring love for poetry, fostering lifelong friendships, and honoring Fernando Rendón’s tireless work, ensuring the festival’s unmatched global significance.
Kalu Tatyisavi from México urges continued support for the Medellín International Poetry Festival, celebrating its role in uniting nations, poets, and voices, fostering dialogue, diversity, and a peaceful space where humanity meets in colorful, fraternal harmony.
Italian poet Valerio Magrelli denounces the far-right attack in Medellín’s City Hall against the world-renowned International Poetry Festival, aiming to eliminate its annual funding. Such an act is intolerable — the Festival is perhaps Colombia’s most important cultural institution and must endure.
Spanish poet María Sánchez expresses deep sadness over the attack on the Medellín International Poetry Festival. Having attended in 2025, she witnessed poetry’s transformative power — a space of community, resistance, and hope. Removing its funding, she warns, would silence Medellín’s brightest cultural light.
Cuban poet Moisés Mayán declares he cannot imagine Medellín without its International Poetry Festival. Quoting José Martí, he affirms that poetry is essential for humanity’s spirit. After attending in 2019, he says the Festival transformed him forever — “it must live on.”
Paraguayan poet Susy Delgado urges the Medellín Council and Colombian government to preserve the city’s International Poetry Festival. She calls it one of the world’s most significant cultural events— a global seed of peace, diversity, and poetic unity that must endure.
Costa Rican poet Guillermo Acuña cites the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a powerful example of how art and poetry can confront violence. For 35 years, its creative and liberating word has inspired dreams, hope, and transformation—he affirms: “I believe in the Festival!”
Colombian poet Rómulo Bustos Aguirre affirms that the Medellín International Poetry Festival represents 35 years of creative resistance and reconciliation, a true “mining of the human heart” that rebuilds through poetry—the vigilant spirit of hope that saves history’s instant.
Indian poet Rati Saxena calls the Medellín International Poetry Festival the “Kaaba of the world’s poets.” Having joined it five times, she celebrates its transformative magic, saying poetry there becomes the people’s mantra—spreading peace, safety, and spiritual strength across humanity.
Algerian poet Hamid Larbi expresses full support for Fernando Rendón and the Medellín International Poetry Festival, calling it a global space of altruism and unity. He praises its humanistic mission, creative exchanges, and Colombia’s solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.
Saudi poet Raed Anis Al Jishi praises the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a beacon of creativity and human connection. Having joined during the pandemic, he celebrates its cultural bridges, inclusiveness, and lasting contribution to global poetic and spiritual vitality.
French poet-philosopher Philippe Tancelin defends the Medellín International Poetry Festival, calling it a pillar of global friendship, peace, and imagination. He urges authorities to preserve its funding, warning that losing it would wound humanity’s creative and spiritual progress.
Peruvian poet Renato Sandoval Bacigalupo, director of the Lima International Poetry Festival, calls the Medellín International Poetry Festival a sacred beacon of peace and transformation. He urges the world to defend it as humanity’s spiritual heritage and the living flame of poetic resistance.
Cuban poet Ismaray Pozo describes the Medellín International Poetry Festival as the Cannes of poetry—yet greater, for it unites poets and audiences without barriers. She celebrates its human warmth, global dialogue, and the way it transforms Medellín into a better city.
Canadian poet Gary Geddes calls the Medellín International Poetry Festival a beacon of Colombia’s greatness—transforming the city’s image through culture, poetry, and solidarity. Having shared his work there, he urges continued support for this healing, unifying force of global literary spirit.
Chinese poets Zhou Sese and Li Cheng’en express their deep admiration for the Medellín International Poetry Festival, calling it one of the world’s greatest cultural bridges. They urge Medellín’s government to ensure its funding, praising Fernando Rendón’s lifelong poetic and humanitarian dedication.
Peruvian poet Marco Martos affirms that the Medellín International Poetry Festival is the world’s most important poetic gathering. Bringing together thousands of poets and spectators from nearly two hundred countries, it honors Colombia, promotes peace, and celebrates poetry’s living oral and written traditions.
Australian poet Dr. Judith Nangala Crispin urges full support for the Medellín International Poetry Festival, calling it a shining light for global poets. She praises its vast audiences and its power to place Colombia on the literary map, spreading hope, truth, and beauty worldwide.
Chilean poet José María Memet, director of ChilePoesía, calls the Medellín International Poetry Festival “a virtuous encounter of friendship and planetary talent.” Founded amid Colombia’s darkest times, it turned shadows into light — a global treasure that must never face political or financial blindness.
Indian poet Usha Akella describes the Medellín International Poetry Festival as a transcendent, spiritual experience — a living celebration of poetry’s power that unites thousands under rain and verse. She calls it Colombia’s proud cultural jewel, building bridges of humanity that must be preserved.
Colombian sociologist and poet Alejandro Sánchez recalls the 34th Medellín International Poetry Festival, where voices united in “El corazón humano.” For him, the festival embodies poetry’s living legacy — a collective song of love, dialogue, and humanity that Medellín must preserve.
Nicole Cage Florentino (Martinique) wrote: “A festival where poetry reaches prisons and streets, where poets become rock stars before thousands, and words defy war to unite humanity—this is Medellín’s living miracle, shining for decades through love and verse.”
Andrés Galeano Rodríguez (Colombia): In Medellín, poetry flows through the city’s open veins—reaching children, barrios, and hearts. Its organization, warmth, and power heal war’s scars, keeping faith alive. This poetic torch must never fade; it ignites life itself.
Gonzalo Fragui, Poet (Venezuela): I have been fortunate to attend the Medellín International Poetry Festival twice — a true celebration of word and spirit, where halls and theatres fill like football stadiums. A global gathering for peace and healing through poetry. Long live the Medellín International Poetry Festival.
Omar Pérez, Poet (Cuba): The Medellín Poetry Festival has brought immeasurable benefit to poetry and poets worldwide. Beyond art, it has nurtured the city’s soul and its people — a living bond of love and renewal that must never be broken for money.
The Medellín Poetry Festival is a gift to the world—alive with joy, peace, and human connection. Its spirit unites poets across continents, keeping poetry’s flame vibrant for future generations. The world thanks Medellín for this enduring light.
—Niyi Osundare (Nigeria)
The Medellín Poetry Festival is the world’s most emblematic and necessary celebration of poetry—an artistic and spiritual community inspiring strength, clarity, and hope amid chaos. Its light must continue for humanity’s sake.
—Angelina Llongueras (Catalonia, Spain)
The Medellín International Poetry Festival is an oasis of life and hope the world deeply needs—where poetry unites hearts against hatred and division, celebrating humanity and light. Let this vital flame never fade.
—José Muchnik (Argentina / France)
The Medellín Poetry Festival is part of our struggle for freedom. Silencing it is wounding the people and the Word itself. Poetry unites the sacred and the human—it must continue to beat in every heart.
—Hugo Francisco Rivella (Argentina)
At sixteen, witnessing the Medellín Poetry Festival changed my life. Years later, reading there as its youngest poet, I felt poetry’s power to unite, heal, and awaken humanity. The Festival keeps faith in beauty and compassion alive.
—Daniela Pérez Taborda (Colombia)
In 2016, we performed at the Medellín Poetry Festival—an inspiring exchange of poems, peace, and friendship among poets worldwide. A truly democratic event, it makes Medellín the world capital of poetry.
—Augusta Laar & Kalle Aldis Laar (Germany)
The Medellín International Poetry Festival is a global beacon of poetry, vital for humanity’s spiritual and cultural evolution. It must be preserved and supported—it is poetry’s living heart and universal voice.
—Flaminia Cruciani (Italy)
The Medellín International Poetry Festival has always been a guiding light for us in Madrid, inspiring our own festival since 2005. You have our full support—please let us know how we can help.
—Pep Olona, Director, Madrid Poetry Festival (Spain)
Attending the Medellín International Poetry Festival in 2016 was unforgettable — a luminous gathering uniting nearly two thousand poets worldwide. Ending it would wound not only Colombia’s culture but the world’s shared poetic soul.
—Carolina Zamudio, Argentina, Poet and Journalist
The light of poetry still shines in Medellín — a beacon of humanity, healing, and hope. Through its verses, the city rose from pain to beauty, uniting the world’s hearts in compassion.
—Ying Xia Tang, Poet, Australia; President, Sydney International Poetry Festival
The Medellín International Poetry Festival is a vital meeting place for thought and resistance — a wellspring of poetry that offers the world its best face: peace and fraternity, from continent to continent, from one culture to another.
The world needs such confluences, these encounters, this magnificent space of poetic solidarity.
—Jean-Luc Raharimanana, Poet, Madagascar
