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News Release2002-06 Third Annual UNESCO World Poetry Day Celebration at the National Library of CanadaOttawa, March 20, 2002 -- The National Library of Canada, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the European Union and the Griffin Trust are joining forces to celebrate the third World Poetry Day with an evening of readings of poems from Canada and each of the countries of the European Union. The celebration will take place on Thursday, March 21, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the National Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa, Ontario. The event will begin with announcement of the finalists for the prestigious $80 000 Griffin Poetry Prize, now in its second year. The Griffin Poetry Prize, administered by The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, was created to serve and encourage excellence in poetry written in English anywhere in the world and to raise public awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in society’s cultural life. By encouraging poets from this and other countries, the Griffin Poetry Prize helps to introduce contemporary collections of poetry to the public’s imagination. The evening will continue with the reading of two poems from each of the 15 participating European countries, read in the 11 languages of origin. Translations into either French or English will be provided on the screen behind the readers. March 21 was proclaimed World Poetry Day in 1999 by the General Conference of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) during its 30th session in Paris. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements." The master of ceremonies for the evening will be David A. Walden, Secretary-General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Admission is free of charge. For a list of other World Poetry Day activities, please visit the Web site of the League of Canadian Poets at www.poets.ca. -30- For more information: Pauline Portelance |