Laurie Anderson, in Barcelona Poetry

The new edition of Barcelona Poesia , curated by Maria Callís and Manuel Forcano, begins this Tuesday —until the 13th— with a more international program and two spectacular beacons to open and close: after the opening speech —by Jordi Oriol and Carles Pedragosa—, at Paral·lel 62, the pioneering North American interdisciplinary artist Laurie Anderson will present her project Progress .

On the other hand, the Canadian Anne Carson , one of the most relevant contemporary poets and a frequent candidate for the Nobel Prize, comes to Barcelona with two dates: on the one hand, on Monday 12 May she will present her compositions A lecture on pronouns and The Cycladics —with audiovisuals by artists James Merry and Robert Currie and dance by Aðalheiður Halldórsdóttir—, and the following day she will participate in the traditional closing ceremony of the event, the 40th International Poetry Festival, at the Palau de la Música, a recital with the Romanian Ana Blandiana, the Georgian Shota Iatashvili, the Galician Lupe Gómez, the Hungarian Márton Simon, the Valencian Berta García Faet and the Tarragonan Adrià Targa, with artistic direction by the composer Clara Aguilar.

Among other axes of this year's programming, we can distinguish the hybridization with music and a lot of tributes

Other international voices come from the Eunic Cluster—from European cultural institutes such as the Goethe-Institut, the British Council, the French Institute, the Italian Institute of Culture, and the Cervantes Institute—who will bring together poems by Gemma Gorga, Lucie Joy, Jean Poncet, Mariangela Gualtieri, and Ulrike Almut Sandig in a recital at the Museu de l'Art Prohibit. The Versopolis poetry festival network is organizing three events: on Thursday, a Portuguese translation slam with poet Maria Giulia Pinheiro and translators Melcion Mateu and Albert Roig at the Ateneu Barcelonès; and the following day, a double recital session at the Verger del Museu Marès, at 6 pm with Pinheiro and Josep Domènech Ponsatí and at 8 pm a collaboration between the musical duo L'Arannà (Anna Sala and Lara Magrinyà) and the British poet Raymond Antrobus, a reference in the poetic representation of deafness and who on Saturday at noon will participate in a recital at the Fundació Joan Brossa with Gabriel Ventura. The contest also includes the collaboration of the IEMed, which is co-organizing a recital with the Maltese poet Elizabeth Grech and the Turkish poet Adnan Özer.

Among other axes of this year's program, we can highlight the hybridization with music and a host of tributes. Among the first, on Wednesday at Marès, a concert recital of LGBTQ+ poetry by Marc Rosanes, Renán Zelada and Louise de Lune, followed by an anthology show of Llull to Blanca Llum Vidal, with the voice of Lluís Homar and voice and music of Xavier Albertí. On Thursday, Oriol Sauleda and Lulú Martorell will give a performance recital around the tarot at the Tàpies Museum , and at Marès, a concert by Ombra Brada, with the show Paüra . On Friday, at the Capella de Santa Àgata, a concert with medieval music from the time of Joan I, with the group Tasto Solo; at the Biblioteca de Catalunya, a tribute to Josep Cercós with a lied concert, and at the Museu Marès Pau Revolta , a concert by Neus Borrell and Bru Férreo with poems by Blanca Llum Vidal. On Saturday night, at the Convent de Sant Agustí, recital concert with Maria Sevilla, Anna Pantinat and Carlos Martorell, followed by performances by Les Sueques and Remei from Ca la Fresca. And still, among other shows, on Sunday at the Sala Moragues del Born, Emergències by Mireia Calafell and Nil Ciuró.

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Among the tributes, there will be those to Josep Maria Llompart, to Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, to Pere Gimferrer, in Verdaguer, to Teresa d'Arenys and to Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas.

Also of note are the young voices recital with Toni R. Juncosa and Greta Sibling and the sign language event led by Montserrat Rusiñol and Eiden Sánchez. Oh, and the literary trails.

Not to mention one of the most traditional events: the presentation of the Jocs Florals award in the Saló de Cent of the Town Hall, which on Wednesday the 7th will be received by the Valencian Joan Deusa for Ítaca arrasada (Godall) in an event in which Gemma Casamajó will review the poetic year and Jaume C. Pons Alorda will praise the work of Llompart on the occasion of the centenary of the Majorcan poet.