History of the Poetry School of Medellín

Ist Poetry School in Medellin

The following poets presented courses :

• Sainkho Namtchylak (Tuva) : Vocal laboratory - Voice and sound workshop.
• Wolfgang Bauer (Austria) : Poetry and theater.
• Ide Hintze (Austria) : Voice and body.
• Juan Manuel Roca (Colombia) : Appreciation of the contemporary lyric.
• Alicia Torres (Venezuela) : Poetry and the mythic imagination.
• Julie Patton (USA) : Acoustic poetry.
• Raúl Henao (Colombia) : Panorama of Iber-American Surrealist poetry.
• Haroldo de Campos (Brazil), Werner Hörtner (Austria) and Oscar Castro García (Colombia) participated as lecturers.

IInd Poetry School in Medellin

Was held between 10 and 21 June 1997, and held the following courses :

• Jean-Clarence Lambert (France) : Five commentaries on a thesis for open poetry.
• Jaap Blonk (Holland) : Sound poetry.
• Jean Portante (Luxembourg) : The silence of poetry and poetry of silence.
• Werner Hörtner (Austria) : About the work of Ernst Jandl.
• Carlos Bedoya (Colombia) : Literature and Rock.
• Eufrasio Guzmán (Colombia) : Poetry, Myth and Individualization : the poetry of José Lezama Lima.

As a complement, several lectures were given by the indigenous Arhuac from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the north of Colombia.

The poet Eugenio Montejo from Venezuela, also participated as a lecturer.

IIIrd Poetry School in Medellin

• Three sound poetry courses, directed by Dutch poet Jaap Blonk, who is an specialist in this contemporary poetry field:
  * A children´s course for kids between 8 and 11 years old (from June 8 to 11). As a result of this the kids did a performance at the opening ceremony of the Poetry School of Medellín.
  * The two adults courses were: one for beginners and a second one for advanced participants.
• Chamanism and Modern Performance Art by Sainkho Namtchylak, a Siberian soloist from Tuva, (a teacher at the Poetry School of Vienna).
• Image against Metaphore by Bernard Widder from Austria (also a teacher at the Poetry School of Vienna).
• Nomads of Pyramids by Oscar González, a Colombian essay writer.
• Spanish American Poetry by Argentinian poet Saúl Yurkievich.
• Latin American Experimental poetry by experimental poet Clemente Padín, from Uruguay.
• Translating is not betrying by Cuban poet Nancy Morejon, who is an specialist translator from French into Spanish.
• Poetry Games and Public Poetry Acts by Josée Lapèyrere, from France.

All of them under the knowledge expansión related to the viewing of plural forms to express contemporary poetry and the emerging of a vanguard spirit for poetry creation related to diverse poetry areas.

IV Poetry School in Medellin

Conferences:

• Momentos de la Poesía en Lengua Castellana by William Ospina (Colombia).
• Poesía sonora by Paul Dutton (Canadá).
• Vicente Huidobro, hambre de espacio sed de cielo by Eduardo Mitre (Bolívia).

Conversations:

• Poesía y pensamiento with José Alberto Naranjo (Colômbia).
• Poesía y sociedad with Juan Calzadilla (Venezuela).

Vth Poetry School of Medellin

June 4th to 9th, 2001

Courses:

• About poetry. By the Spanish poet Antonio Colinas.
• Vicente Huidobro, or the heavenly attack. By the Chilean poet Oscar Hahn.
• The laberynth as a metaphore and as an issue in the works of Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz and Julio Cortázar.      Directed by the poet Martha Canfield (Uruguay-Italy).
• Fernando Pessoa, Art and knowledge of a stranger. By poet Tarcisio Valencia from Colombia.
• Dante Alighiere, William Blake and André Breton, three visionary moments in the western poetic tradition. Directed by Colombian poet Raúl Henao.
• Poetry workshop for children, directed by the colombian poet of Wayuu ancestry, Vito Apshana.

Conferences:

• Edda Armas (Venezuela), Contemporary Venezuelan poetry.
• Yasuo Fujitomi (Japan), About concrete poetry.
• Enzo Minarelli (Italy), Polipoetry.
• Rita Imboden (Switzerland), Retorroman poetry.
• Juan Bañuelos (Mexico), The living metaphore. Myth and reality of literature in Chiapas.
• Elicura Chihuailaf (Chile), Indigenous poetry.
• William Agudelo (Colombia), Workshop of "the word", factory of hope. About the experience of Solentiname.
• Thomas Wolfhart (Germany), Literatur Express.
• Amanda Hopkinson (England), English contemporary poetry.
• Conversation with Américo Ferrari (Peru), about poetry translation.

VIth Poetry School of Medellín

• Dissipating encounters by Sergio Lima (Brazil).
• The Orígenes Group by Jorge Luis Arcos (Cuba).
• The Haiku by Satoko Tamura (Japan).
• Ceramics: Expressions of an ancient knowledge by Celia Cymbalista (Brazil).
• The poetic and pedagogic expression in the life and work of “The Liberator” Simón Bolívar by Juvenal Herrera (Colombia).
• Central American woman poets by Amanda Castro (Honduras).

VIIth Poetry School of Medellín

Courses:

• Briceida Cuevas, (Mexico). Mayan Poetry.
• Harold Alvarado Tenorio, (Colombia). A Disenchanted Generation.
• Cecilia Vicuña, (Chile). Ubixic of the Saying: Other lecture of the Popol Vuh.
• Rubén Izaguirre F. (Honduras). Self-Edition Workshop.
• Renato Gómez, (Peru). The orbits bone” another point of view over the poem.
• Tugrul Tanyol, (Turkey). Poetry, Meaning and Thought.
• Amancio Prada (Spain). Poetic minstrel.
• Víctor Rojas, (Colombia). Icelandic Sagas and Kenningards.

VIIIth Poetry School of Medellín

Courses:

• Martha Canfield, (Uruguay-Italy): Poetry and Ecology.
• Armando Romero (Colombia): Vanguard and Rearguard of Latin American poetry of the XX century.
• Oscar González (Colombia): Poetry and eroticism.

Conferences:

• Abdul Hadi Sadoun: The curse of Gilgamesh: The ultimate Iraqi poetry, 1980-2004.
• Desmond Egan: Modern poets from Ireland.
• Juan Manuel Roca: Luis Vidales: Not fearing laugh. In the centennial of his birth, and Colombian poetry in the second half of the XX century.
• Samuel Vásquez: René Char: The subversive power of desire.
• Luis Alberto Crespo: The region of the universe in René Char’s poetry.
• Koko Kato: The Haiku.
• Eduardo Espina: Julio Herrera y Reissig (1875-1910), an original one, a forgotten one Workshops.

• Craig Czury: Poetry workshops with jail mates.
• Nicole Cage-Florentiny: Poetry workshops with youngsters.
• Horacio Benavides: Poetry workshops with children.

IX Poetry School of Medellín

Courses:

• Esteban Moore, (Argentina): Poetry in the Beat Generation, its poetics and its legacy.
• Santiago Mutis, (Colombia): Poetry and The Plastic Arts. Links and distances.
• Alejandra Castro, (Costa Rica): The avant-garde practices. Course and workshop.
• José Gabriel Alimako and Bienvenido Arroyo (Mamo Kogui and Arhuaco from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta): Liberating spirit from the indigenous traditions of the Sierra Nevada.

Workshop: Mónica Velásquez Guzmán. (Bolivia): How to include the others in poetry?

Conferences

• William Agudelo, Colombia: The poetry workshops in Nicaragua.
• Caridad Atencio Mendoza, Cuba:Simple verses. Traces in the Ending.
• Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaragua: We are star dust.
• Ibrahim Al-Zeben, Ambassador of Palestine in Colombia: The role of culture in the struggle of the Palestinian people.
• Sergio Badilla, Chile: Transrealism: The Big Bang of poetry in the XXI century.
• Ginette Ardila, Colombia: The literary avant-garde in Colombia.
• Sam Hamill, United States: Poetry and Peace.
• José Gabriel Alimako, Bienvenido Arroyo. Mamos of the Sierra Nevada : Treaties and Primitive History; The Arhuaco Universe.

Talks:

• Poetry reading and conversation with woman poets: Ana Mercedes Vivas (Colombia), Layla Al-Sayed (Bahrein), Mónica Velásquez Guzmán (Bolivia).
• Conversation about playwrighting: Wole Soyinka (Nigeria).
• Chant of Remoteness: Conversation with Juan Manuel Roca (Colombia).
• Irak- United States. A real dialogue: Anwar Al Ghassani (Iraq), Rita Dove (United States), Ali Al Shalah (Iraq), Sam Hamill (United States).

X International Poetry School of Medellin

Courses

• Hablemos de Poesía, Antonio Porpetta (Spain)
• Poesía Quechua del siglo XX, Odi González (Peru)
• Literatura indígena de México, Jorge Miguel Cocom Pech (Maya people, Mexico)
• Poesía y poética en Miguel de Cervantes, Ricardo Cuellar (Colombia)
• Perdidos en el discurso: Jorge Isaacs, Rubén Darío y Delmira Agustini, Eduardo Espina (Uruguay)
• Creación Poética, Alberto Rodríguez (Cuba)

• Una utopía posible: cincuenta años del conservatorio de Castella, Osvaldo Sauma (Costa Rica)
• Poesía negra hoy: ¿atavismos o indulgencia?, Rito Ramón Aroche (Cuba)
• Poesía en traducción, Omar Pérez (Cuba)
• Poesía colombiana de la segunda mitad del siglo XX, Juan Manuel Roca (Colombia)
• La poesía otra forma de conocimiento. Iván Oñate (Ecuador)
• Visión poética de los indígenas Anishinaabe, Al Hunter (Anishinaabe people, Canada)
• La poesía en la lengua Zapoteca, Macario Matus (Zapoteca people, Mexico)
• Ancestralismo, memoria y transculturalidad en la poesía indígena y mestiza de Chile, Jaime Luís Huenún (Mapuche people, Chile)

• Colectivo de poetas del folio 114 de Guatemala, Doryan Bedoya (Colombia)
• La Palabra y el Cuadro, Darío Villegas (Colombia)
• Con la red de escritores escolares, Rosa María Chavez (Guatemala), Andrea Cote (Colombia), Néstor Francia (Venezuela)
• La poesía, está siempre en estado de pregunta, Fabián Casas (Argentina)
• Panorama de la poesía española a partir de los años 80, Guadalupe Grande (Spain)

• Vanguardias latinoamericanas, Julián Malatesta (Colombia)
• Apreciación de la poesía, Mery Yolanda Sánchez (Colombia)
• Escritura creativa, para los niños de la Red de Escritores escolares, Talleristas del Proyecto Gulliver (Colombia), Osvaldo Sauma (Costa Rica)

XI International Poetry School of Medellin

Workshops

• Lindantonella Solano (Colombia, Wayuu Nation)
• Fredy Chicangana (Colombia, Yanacona Nation)
• Julieta Valero (Spain)
• Hildebrando Pérez Grande (Peru)
• Antonio Armenteros Alvárez (Cuba)
• Fadir Delgado (Colombia)
• Álvaro Marín (Colombia)
• Nicolás Suescún (Colombia)
• Pedro Enríquez (Spain)
• Samuel Jaramillo (Colombia)
• Oscar González (Colombia)
• Giovanni Gómez (Colombia)
• Gustavo Garcés (Colombia)
• Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (Cuba)
• Santiago Mutis (Colombia)
• Norberto Salinas (Costa Rica)

Conversations

• Conversatorio con Gregorio Gómez (Paraguay, Guaraní Nation)
• John Fredy Galindo (Colombia), Julieta Valero (Spain)
• Fadir Delgado (Colombia), Ernesto Carrión (Ecuador)
• Nicolás Suescún (Colombia), Tatiana Oroño (Uruguay)
• Myriam Montoya (Colombia), Pedro Enríquez (Spain)
• Luz Helena Cordero (Colombia), Omar Ortiz (Colombia)
• Carlos Bedoya (Colombia), Dina Posada (El Salvador)
• Oscar González (Colombia), Dina Posada (El Salvador)
• Samuel Jaramillo (Colombia), Gustavo Garcés (Colombia)

* * *

Within the educational activities of The Corporation of Art and Poetry Prometeo, and with the support of the Foundation France Libertés, during 2006 Prometeo developed the Gulliver Project, which consists in the realization of 16 workshops of literary appreciation, stimulation of reading and poetry creation for 400 children of public schools in the 16 popular districts (comunas) of Medellín. At the end of these workshops it was published an anthology with the works realized by the children.