Versopolis October Newsletter

Dear Versopolis friends,October has arrived, draped in golden light and crisp air, inviting us deeper into the embrace of autumn when poetry becomes our companion on long evenings and misty mornings.This month, we prepared a brand new podcast, Poetry of Rivers, featuring Austrian poet Siljarosa Schletterer, a fresh video conversation with Belarussian Valzhyna Mort, as well as a new Versopolis Class.Autumn brings with it a slowed down season of gatherings, so we invite you to discover two poetry festivals in Druskininkai, and Prague.With poetic regards, Your Versopolis Team

EMPATHY: AN EXPLORATION OF THE OTHER THROUGH POETRYNew Versopolis Class
Welcome to the ninth class of the Versopolis Traineeship, a series dedicated to expanding the horizons of poetic and literary practice. This session, Empathy: an exploration of the other through poetry features poet, teacher and thinker Elisa Biagini, who invites us to rethink empathy not as sentiment, but as a rigorous artistic method and ethical stance.What does it mean to write with the Other rather than about the Other? How do poems resist the market’s demand for a single, brandable ‘I’ and instead open to a chorus of selves – human and more-than-human?>> Find out more

POETRY OF RIVERSVersopolis Podcast #32
Siljarosa Schletterer is a multi-awarded Austrian poet from Innsbruck, where she leads writing workshops and co-organizes the international poetry festival W:ORTE. We spoke about the sizes of poetry shelves in Slovenia and Austria, and about her deep fascination with rivers. In her first poetry collection, flussdiktate, rivers are at the heart of her work, appearing through GPS coordinates that mark the exact places where she encounters them.>> Listen here

WHEN ORDINARY LANGUAGE IS NOT ENOUGHMy Life With Poetry with Valzhyna Mort
In this episode of My Life with Poetry, we meet Valzhyna Mort (1981, Belarus), a poet, translator, and professor at Cornell University, who has been living in the United States for nearly two decades. Writing both in her native language and in English, she is the author of three acclaimed collections: Factory of Tears (2008), Collected Body (2011), and Music for the Dead and Resurrected (2020), the latter chosen by The New York Times as one of the best poetry books of the year. Her work has earned her prestigious honors including the Crystal of Vilenica, the Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Rilke Prize.In this interview, Valzhyna reflects on the importance of selection after observation, her very first urge to write poetry as a child, the many beautiful gifts poetry has brought into her life, being an obsessive reader and listener, and why reading across generations is vital to becoming a good poet, the role of foolishness in poetry, and the joy of meeting friends and fellow poets at festivals.>> Listen here

OCTOBER FESTIVALSDruskininkai and Prague
October invites us into a slowed down season of festivals, where poetry lights up European cities and fills us with renewed energy. Each gathering becomes a meeting place of voices and visions, reminding us that poetry is not only read but lived.

Druskininkai Poetic Fall — Druskininkai, Lithuania | 1 – 5 OctoberIn the first days of October, Druskininkai turns into a haven for poetry. Amidst autumn forests and mineral springs, Druskininkai Poetic Fall gathers voices from near and far, weaving verses that linger like mist over the Lithuanian lakes.

Prague Microfestival — Prague, Czech Republic | 31 October 2025 – 2 NovemberAt the end of October, Prague Microfestival transforms the city into a crossroads of contemporary literature. Over three days, international and local voices come together creating a vibrant space where experimental art and poetry meet.>> Find out more

AUTHORS OF THE WEEKBelgium
But is it poetry?
by Else BoerAround 2016, when Instagram still consisted mostly of photos of coffee and duck face selfies, poems started appearing on my feed. I was intrigued. Poetry always seemed a bit complex to me.                                                                                              >> Read moreSwipe poetry: Sylvia Plath, Lot Weijers and TikTok’s poetry culture
by Jeroen DeraFew poets, more than sixty years after their death, continue to capture the public imagination on such a scale that they are shared tens of thousands of times on social media. Sylvia Plath, however, is among the great exceptions.>> Coming Oct 6th

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MOVED BY VERSOPOLIS
Voices from Vienna, Rotterdam and Zagreb
With its new look, Moved by Versopolis continues to share experiences and highlights of poets and their time at festivals across Europe.This autumn, Bejan Matur brought her powerful voice to the Literature&Wine Festival, where poetry intertwined with taste and conversation. Diana Anphimiadi shared her lyrical imagination at Poetry International, connecting audiences through language and rhythm. And Jacqueline Saphra joined the spirit of renewal at Goran’s Spring, celebrating poetry’s ability to cross borders and generations.Our Moved by Versopolis posts are featured on Facebook and Instagram – join us there for more poetry highlights.                                                                              >> Visit profile

WEBINAR SERIESResponsible Digital Practices in Cultural Sector
Versopolis is proud to join forces with Aerowaves and the European Dance Development Network (EDN) to launch a new long-term initiative exploring how the cultural field can use digital tools more responsibly. This collaboration will offer a series of four annual webinars, designed to help cultural professionals navigate the environmental, social, and organisational impact of digitalisation. Curated by sustainability consultant David Irle, the programme will move from practical tips to systemic reflection, creating a shared checklist for sustainable digital practices.                                   
First Webinar: Responsible Digital Practices in the WorkplaceMonday, 13 October | 10:00–11:30 CET | Online
The opening session focuses on reducing the environmental impact of everyday digital office routines (emails, cloud storage, websites, hardware use) while improving team organisation and wellbeing.
Speaker: Gwendolenn Sharp — founder of The Green Room, expert in sustainable mobility and digital transition in the cultural sector.
Registration is free but required. Apply by Thursday, 9 October to secure your spot. Participants will receive the Zoom link on Friday, 10 October.>> Apply here

VIR: Versopolis