Marpoética Returns to Marbella: Poetry Where You Least Expect It

In a museum, a theater, or a Roman villa, poetry infiltrates unexpected spaces in Marbella from this Friday until Saturday, April 5th with Marpoética. The festival returns for its eighth year with the challenge of finding poetry in unexpected encounters, merging verses with science, music, or journalism. The opening is a clear statement of intent: singer Luz Casal will chat this March 28th with molecular biologist Carlos López-Otín at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella (8:00 PM) to kick off eight days of activities.

From that moment on, the Central Library Fernando Alcalá, the Hospital Real de la Misericordia, the Contemporary Spanish Engraving Museum, or the Villa Romana de Río Verde will become havens for poetry. On March 29th and 30th, the cycle "Poesía en pie," coordinated by Alberto Conejero and dedicated to object theater, will take place. It includes three critically acclaimed and audience-applauded plays: 'Things Easily Forgotten,' 'Entrails,' and 'A Wheel that Turns.' These are small-scale performances, some so intimate they are designed for only five spectators, seeking emotional connection and intimacy with the audience through shows that blend the poetic and the theatrical.

That same weekend, the Poetic Dialogues will also begin, featuring significant international participation. The first of the talks will bring together Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra and Spanish Juan Gómez Bárcena at the Central Library Fernando Alcalá on March 30th. On April 2nd, the conversations will move to the Hospital Real de la Misericordia with Peruvian writer Martín Rodríguez Gaona and RNE journalist Carolina Alba. In the same venue, on April 3rd, the dialogue between Argentine writer based in France, Ariana Harwicz, and Mexican Álex Reyes will take place. Finally, on April 4th, Spanish authors Ignacio Elguero and Azahara Alonso will close the cycle.

Another notable figure in this edition is Daniel Freidemberg. At 80 years old, the Argentine poet will visit Marbella coinciding with the first publication in Spain of his collected poetry. Freidemberg will lead a workshop on March 29th and 30th, sharing his experience from over half a century of poetic production, under the title 'Reading and Thinking Poetry.' The following day, March 31st, he will offer a recital at the Contemporary Spanish Engraving Museum.

Additionally, playwright and Prince of Asturias Award winner Juan Mayorga will star in a dramatized reading of his play 'The Great Hunt' on April 1st. Afterwards, he will converse with journalist Antonio Lucas at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella. Marpoética's programming will be completed with recitals from poets like Luz Pichel, María Salgado, Nadia Fabo, Alejandro Pedregosa, and the duo Versonautas, and with exhibitions 'Spring Outburst' and 'Tribute to the Poets,' which will be displayed at the Hospital Real de la Misericordia and the Contemporary Spanish Engraving Museum.

The final touch will be on April 5th at the Teatro Ciudad de Marbella by Argentine journalist Leila Guerriero, considered one of the leading figures in narrative journalism in Spanish and whose latest book, 'The Call,' won this year's Zenda Narrative Prize.

Guerriero will engage in a new hybrid talk between journalism and poetry with Marpoética's literary director, Javier Vicedo. An evening that will close with the music and art of the young flamenco star María Terremoto.

The Marpoética Festival also calls on children and youth in the Palabra del Mar cycle, coordinated by poet Carla Nyman and dedicated to poets under 35 years old. They will share their poems and thoughts about contemporary thinking with the youth of Marbella. Among the guests will be journalists Berta Gómez and Andrea Gumes and poets Ania Otaola, Álvaro Cruzado, Eduard Olesti, Óscar García Sierra, Carmen Rotger, and the recent National Young Poetry Prize winner, Lola Tórtola.

Directed at high school students in Marbella, the activity Visiting the Classics also repeats this year, a recital of classical Greek and Roman poetry that will take place on April 3rd at the Villa Romana de Río Verde, led by young Malaga poet and philologist Pedro J. Plaza.