Expedition Poetry: Thuy On and Şafak Sarıçiçek

For World Poetry Day 2022, two UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature, Melbourne (Australia) and Heidelberg (Germany), come together for ‘Expedition Poetry’, a virtual translation project that transcends borders,  

Five poets from each city were invited to participate in a series of workshops where they were given the opportunity to exchange, collaborate, and engage on original works and their translations. 

Each paired with a counterpart from the other city, the poets shared their workshop experiences and poetry in a series of videos.  

In the video above, Thuy On (Melbourne) and Şafak Sarıçiçek (Heidelberg) read their work and discuss the challenges and surprises of translating poetry from across the globe.

UNESCO adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard. As a part of the 2023 global celebration of World Poetry Day, the UNESCO Creative Cities of Literature, coordinated by the city of Granada (Spain), will undertake a joint celebration themed ‘Poetry for Life’.