Credit: Laurent Gaudé

The sixteenth edition of the Printemps des Poètes festival will take place next weekend from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 April 2023 across Luxembourg.

Launched in 1999 in France, the Printemps des Poètes has since made its way across borders. Printemps des Poètes Luxembourg offers the Luxembourg public a variety of events with contemporary, multilingual poetry from all over Europe. 

Taking the stage this year will be twelve poets from different countries: Laura Accerboni (Italy), Martina Caluori (Switzerland), Nuria Contreras Coll (Catalonia/Spain), Santos Dominguez Ramos (Spain), Donatien Garnier (France), DR Congo (Austria), Mathias Ospelt (Liechtenstein), Cosmin Perţa (Romania) and Elise Schmit (Luxembourg). Their poetry will be mostly read in translation (in French and German), for Luxembourg audiences.

The festival’s opening evening will take place on Friday 21 April at the Kulturfabrik in Esch-sur-Alzette. There will be poetry readings from 19:00, followed by readings from the winners of the Concours Jeune Printemps 2023 (The Luxembourg Poets Spring Festival). The latter is a multilingual poetry competition for secondary school and university students. Lisa Ducasse will provide live musical accompaniment.

Next on the agenda will be a big poetry evening at the Abbaye de Neumunster (neimënster) on Saturday 22 April 2023 from 19:00, with lectures by a multitude of national and international poets. There will be a break with a buffet meal and Pol Belardi will provide live musical accompaniment. The event will feature an Ernster book stand on Friday and Saturday as well.

The festival will end on Sunday 23 April, with a poetry morning from 11:00 at Galerie Simoncini, paying tribute to Anise Koltz (1928-2023), and the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie 2018 (Goncourt Poetry Prize 2018), followed by more readings.

Free entry.