The 27th Roldanillo Women’s Poetry Meeting began Friday in southern Colombia.
The meeting features many of Colombia’s prominent women poets who will perform their poetry throughout the festival. The festival will last until July 20 and will be held in the Rayo Mueseum in the town of Roldanillo in the department of Valle del Cauca.
Many of the presentations will highlight Colombia’s rich ethnic diversity. Indigenous members of the Embera and Guambiano tribes will perform in their native language and Afro-Colombian “dark-soul” poets will perform in the style of their African heritage.
The annual meeting was first started in 1984 by Agueda Pizarro, who continues to direct the event today. Pizarro said that she founded the meeting because she felt that women’s poetry was a dying art in Colombia and she felt compelled to bring it back to the public’s attention.
“I came to the conviction that women’s poetry was a ‘lost continent’ unknown to the majority and marginalized by the world,” said Pizarro. “[Creating the meeting] was an act of ethics and solidarity with my gender.”
The meeting has been held in Roldanillo every year since 1984.