From 14 March to 16 April, an exhibition “The magic of poetry”, devoted to World Poetry Day, runs in the Documents of International Organizations Reading Room.
Every year on 21 March UNESCO celebrates the World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day (document 30C/82) was adopted during the UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999.
Poetry has a thousand faces and always springs from the depths of the culture of peoples. Poetry is not merely a means of communicating or transmitting information, for, as poets work constantly on the language, poetry also enlivens human discourse and always reveals the original brilliance of culture. Poets convey a timeless message. They are often key witness to history’s great political and social changes. Their writings inspire us to build lasting peace in our minds, to rethink relations between man and nature and to establish humanism founded on the uniqueness and diversity of peoples.
According to the UNESCO’s decision, the main objective of this action is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities. Moreover, this Day is meant to support poetry, return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, promote teaching poetry, restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music, painting and so on, support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art but one. In today’s world there are unfulfilled aesthetic needs. Poetry can meet this need if its social role of interpersonal communication is recognized and it continues to be the means of arousing and expressing awareness. The initiative of a global action in favor of this Day would be a good impetus to national, regional and international poetic movements.
Every year World Poetry Day expands its geography. The number of countries, cities, and literary organizations involved in this process, which consists of a variety of activities, is growing. On this Day around the world are organized festivals, quizzes, competitions and performances of poets both famous and just starting people.
Every year, World Poetry Day is widely celebrated in the Republic of Belarus. In this country poetry is in a great demand. It is approved by a huge number of actions which are held annually with the active participation of libraries, museums, associations, publishers, media outlets and local authorities. Belarus will have a true celebration of poetry on 21 March. There will be conferences, round tables and debates, where young and old people can read poetry to each other. The meetings with authors and presentations of new collections of poetry will be organized within the framework of this Day. In Belarus 2012 has been proclaimed as the Year of a Book, and this year World Poetry Day will be celebrated more active. This decision was made to enhance the role of books and reading in modern society, education of the younger generation love the artistic way, the development of national literature, provide state support for national publishing. The announcement of this Year in Belarus approves that our government concerns about spirituality of our society, the development of the Belarusian literature and culture.
The exhibition contains more than 60 editions in Russian, Belarusian and English: books, periodicals, pamphlets and booklets.
The exhibition includes the following sections:
- Poetry and its role in preserving and promoting heritage and cultural diversity of peoples;
- World poetry;
- Russian poetry;
- Belarusian poetry and its development prospects.
The exhibition can be interesting for linguists, philologists, the staff of cultural institutions and art historians, as well as a wide range of readers interested in poetry and cultural diversity.
Contact phone number: 293-27-34.
Useful references:
- World Poetry Day
- Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of World Poetry Day (2011)
- Resolution of the 30th session of UNESCO General Conference, adopted on 15 November, 1999
- Report of the international survey on the proclamation of World Poetry Day
- International Year of Rapprochement of Cultures (2010)
- International Mother Language Day (21 February )
- International Year of Languages
- Indigenous languages
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