In the poetry week – this week – people read poetry. Or one reads about poetry. Or do both. The latter has been possible for years in the excellent Poetry newspaper, in which poets interview poets, poets write about poems and poets publish their sometimes very early verses. A boring affair? Far from. If you want to know what Alfred Schaffer (the new columnist) thinks about dogs, you can find it here. If you want to know how Carl Norac learned French with a robot, read the interview Mustafa Kör had with him. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld talks about his cumin splitters, Ramsey Nasr about his We were under the spell. Peter Holvoet-Hanssen and Anne Loïse van den Dool, among others, publish their latest work there.
The Poetry newspaper is now 46 years old, but still offers a diverse and current overview of poetry in the Netherlands and Flanders every two months. It will also do so as a digital platform from this month. And that’s nice. Because who once the Poetry newspaper reads will find that they return to it more often: for a quote, a discussion or an early version of a poem that has become famous.
Poetry newspaper. Poetry Center Ghent; € 10.