Presentation
Poetry is often the work of solitary souls because of the singularity of the poet’s voice, a singularity that creates style. A Swiss Poetry House is intended to provide a physical meeting place: it will bring together poetic writers from Switzerland and beyond, creating a synergy and a wealth of poetic talent and giving solid support to these essential creators of tomorrow’s world.
The Swiss Poetry House is a physical location for working on a number of issues relating to the conservation, creation and dissemination of poetry. Operating at both intercantonal and international level, the project is intended to be interdisciplinary and multilingual. The choice of a “house” is decisive, because it is part of a terrain, a landscape and a country. We felt it was important to determine a geographical location and to inscribe it in the earth and in matter, to build walls around its home.
The activities that will be developed here, with Swiss poetry as the driving force, are part of a temporal logic. They include keeping a trace of the past, with the Library and Conservation, and promoting what is being created today, with the Publishing and Translation of poetry, interdisciplinary projects and artistic residencies. And finally, to give poetry a place in the future, with events for schools.
The Swiss Poetry House devotes all its efforts to bringing together Switzerland’s poetic forces, promoting them and helping them to bring their projects to fruition, with the aim of creating a network that supports all of Switzerland’s poetic players, enabling them to connect with international poetic players. Through a room open to the public, it dedicates a space to live poetry (readings, performances, etc.), with the idea of reconnecting poets with their audience in a direct form by encouraging encounters and exchanges. The aim is to help promote Swiss poets who have received little or no recognition, and to encourage the emergence of new poetic talent.
