21 March: International Poetry Day: when words bring people together
Every 21 March, the world celebrates International Poetry Day, established by UNESCO in 1999 to recognise the universal value of the poetic word. It is not merely a literary occasion: it is an invitation to rediscover poetry as a form of knowledge, freedom and shared understanding between cultures in dialogue.
Poetry has accompanied human communities for millennia, preserving their memories, emotions, struggles and hopes. In an age dominated by speed and force, the poetic word offers us a space for waiting and listening, for trusting that from every word another word may be born, until it gives form to what we might think unspeakable and which, instead, awaits only our voice. Words unite great authors and forgotten voices, peoples who resist the forces that seek to marginalise and destroy them, and children who learn to name the world by relying on wonder, on the marvel of being in the world.
Safeguarding linguistic diversity and linguistic originality is certainly the aim of this Day, on which everyone can have a voice, whether they wish to celebrate oral traditions or to promote creativity and, through it, offer a space in which to express the richness of their own identity. Recognising the role of poets who, throughout history and today, shed light even on the shadowed areas of humanity.
If we were to ask whether poetry can solve the world’s many problems, we would have to answer in the negative; yet it is certain that it makes the world we live in more bearable.
The search for and utterance of the word, which seeks to reveal our true selves and to open us up to others in a continuous exchange of poetic glances, certainly saves us from dryness and banality; it allows us to be reborn anew each time, and hopefully as more human beings.
At Craft World, the poetry marathon will take place on 21 March 2026; the morning is dedicated to schools, and from 7.30 pm it will begin in the Garden of the City of Women in Noilab, with Lorenza Colicigno, who has been organising and hosting the event for several years now, moving from sim to sim in search not only of poems, but above all of avatars/people who express their creativity and human richness through them.
You can register for the marathon by sending a notecard to Lorenza Colicigno, stating your region and preferred time slot.
