Turkey’s most long-standing poetry and literature festival, the ‘International Istanbul Poetry and Literature Festival,’ will meet with literature enthusiasts this year between September 28 and October 5, 2025, within the scope of the Istanbul Culture Road Festival, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Organized by the Poetry Association, with Doğan Hızlan as its Honorary President and chaired by poet Adnan Özer, the focus of this year’s ‘International Istanbul Poetry and Literature Festival’ will be the question, ‘Why Poetry Still?’

ADNAN ÖZER: IN THIS SAVAGERY WHERE UNIVERSAL MORALITY IS NOT RECOGNIZED, WE WILL SEEK THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ‘WHY POETRY STILL?’

Regarding the festival’s theme ‘Why Poetry Still?’, Festival President Özer says: “In a world of conflict and without an international legal order, the conscience of societies is also under pressure. In this savagery where universal morality is not recognized, and under conditions where all digital technologies occupy people and leave no time for themselves, it is essential that we discuss why we should still write poetry and how we should resist. Because the language of poetry is the common language of humanity; a poetic text is a profound form of communication based on human empathy. Our focus is also a reference to Adorno’s statement after the Nazi genocide: ‘No poetry after Auschwitz.’ Today, we are almost in similar conditions; in this environment where Nazism-like brutalities are displayed in another form, the question ‘Why Poetry Still?’ is important.”

GUESTS OF THE FESTIVAL

The 16th International Istanbul Poetry and Literature Festival will host many foreign guests this year, such as Ana Blandiana from Romania, Abbas Beydun from Lebanon, Venko Andonovski from North Macedonia, Paolo Agrati from Italy, and Selim Babullaoğlu and Akşin Yenisey from Azerbaijan. From Turkey, Turan Koç, İbrahim Kamberoğlu, Oktay Taftalı, and Metin Celal will be guests at the festival.

HONOR AWARDS TO TURAN KOÇ AND ANA BLANDIANA

This year’s honorary awards of the festival will be presented to master poet Turan Koç, whose poems and articles have been published in magazines such as Edebiyat, Diriliş, Mavera, and Hece, and who has produced many works on the possibilities of the Turkish poetic language alongside his academic identity, and to Ana Blandiana, an iconic figure of the Romanian Revolution and a powerful pen of Romanian poetry.

The event venues and programs of the festival will be announced in the coming days.