Take a seat at the main reading by poets Iya Kiva and Ra\u00fal Cisneros. This is the moment to get to know both the poetry and the person behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iya Kiva (1984, UKR) is among the most important contemporary Ukrainian poets and documents the war from within. With clear, rhythmic poetry, she describes how war permeates everything: memories, everyday actions, and even language itself. Her poems record what might otherwise be rewritten and offer her fellow citizens a comforting voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ra\u00fal Cisneros (PER) comes from the farming community of Pariamarca in Ayacucho, Peru, where he worked as a farmer, livestock herder, and baker before studying language and literature. He writes in Quechua, the largest Indigenous language family of the Andes. In his poetry, he weaves Pachamama, water, seeds, and rituals together with memories of migration and life in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Host Jelle van Riet opens the main reading with a short introductory conversation. After that, both poets will read from their own work, sharing a personal selection of brand-new poems, their response to the festival theme, or a surprising gem from their oeuvre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"event_date":"2026-06-07","footnotes":""},"venue":[266],"event_type":[97],"route":[],"class_list":["post-1205","event","type-event","status-publish","hentry","venue-lantarenvenster-5","event_type-reading"],"acf":{"event_location":266,"event_location_source":{"label":"Locatie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":266},"event_category":[97],"event_category_source":{"label":"Categorie","type":"taxonomy","formatted_value":[97]},"language":["english"],"language_source":{"label":"Voertaal","type":"select","formatted_value":[{"value":"english","label":"Engels"}]},"spoken_languages":"Ukrainian, Quechua, English","spoken_languages_source":{"label":"Gesproken talen","type":"text","formatted_value":"Ukrainian, Quechua, English"},"language_label":"spoken","language_label_source":{"label":"Label","type":"select","formatted_value":"Gesproken talen"},"subtitles":["english","dutch"],"subtitles_source":{"label":"Boventiteling","type":"select","formatted_value":["Engels","Nederlands"]},"has_interpreter":false,"has_interpreter_source":{"label":"Tolk NGT\/Schrijftolk","type":"true_false","formatted_value":false},"poets":[384,221],"poets_source":{"label":"Dichters","type":"relationship","formatted_value":[{"ID":384,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2026-03-02 17:14:37","post_date_gmt":"2026-03-02 16:14:37","post_content":"\n
Ra\u00fal Cisneros (PER) comes from the farming community of Pariamarca in Ayacucho, Peru, where he worked as a farmer, livestock keeper and baker before studying language and literature. He is the first poet ever at Poetry International Festival to write in Quechua, the largest Indigenous language family of the Andes. In his poetry, Cisneros intertwines Mother Earth goddess Pachamama, water, seeds and rituals with memories of migration and life in the city. As co-founder of the collective Estirpe de Ayacucho, he works as an actor, storyteller and musician on community theatre and arts education projects in Quechua and Amazonian communities. His book project Despidiendo Aromas<\/em> explores the return to mother, birthplace and community against the backdrop of pandemics and ecological crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where you might know this poet from<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Iya Kiva (1984, UKR) is one of today\u2019s most important Ukrainian poets and documents war from the inside. All the worst-case scenarios you might see listed on an emergency-preparedness leaflet, we live through in Kiva\u2019s poems. With clear, rhythmic verse, she shows how war seeps into everything: into her memories, her everyday actions, even into language itself. Her poetry is testimony, to record what might later be rewritten. It is her way of offering a consoling voice to her compatriots.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n