Poetry Parnassus Festival 2012 – A fabulous finale to London’s Cultural Olympiad

If you’re looking for something cultural to do in London this June then look no further than the Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre.

This truly unique event will see a poet from every nation that is competing in this year’s Olympic Games read at the poetry festival.

This week-long event will be the largest poetry festival ever to be held in the UK. Asides from hearing readings from the poets of the 204 nations that are competing in London this summer, which will be read in their native languages with translations available on printouts as well as being projected onto large screens, visitors will be able to attend workshops to learn about the poetry of the different nations present at the Southbank Centre.

Interest from poets around the world to be part of the Poetry Parnassus festival 2012 was phenomenal, with the Southbank Centre receiving more than 5,000 nominations from the public and poetry organisations across the globe.

The Poetry Parnassus event is part of the London 2012 Festival, a huge cultural celebration that is taking place in London to coincide the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

Throughout the summer Londoners and visitors to the capital will be able to take their pick of what cultural event to attend, including art exhibitions, dance performances, Shakespeare plays and free music concerts. Some of the world’s leading artists and performers are taking part in this one-off event, including Damon Albarn, Leona Lewis, Toni Morrison and Plan B.

This prolific cultural event is the finale of the Cultural Olympiad, a programme of various cultural events that has been running in London since 2008.