Poetry Press Conference

What if the world were interpreted through the voices of poets? At Poetry International, we invite you to the Poetry Press Conference, a daily program where Dutch and international poets engage in conversation about the pressing issues of our time. How is the world doing? And where are we headed? 

From climate and conflict to hope and transformation – these unique press conferences provide answers not in numbers and analyses, but through the power of poetry. Whether you're a journalist, a poetry enthusiast, or simply curious: come listen, ask your questions, and experience how poetry makes sense of the world. Live at Poetry International, every festival day.

Participating festival poets on this day are Lyuba Yakimchuk, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Diana Anphimiadi and Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer.

Lyuba Yakimchuk

Lyuba Yakimchuk is a Ukrainian poet, writer, playwright, and performance artist. She grew up in Pervomaisk, Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, and earned her Master's degree from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2011. Her work is praised for its bold language, and she was named one of the hundred most influential people in the Ukrainian arts by The New Voice of Ukraine.

Yakimchuk has published two poetry collections, including Apricots of Donbas (2015), which describes the war in Ukraine and was awarded the International Poetic Award by the Kovalev Foundation in New York. Her poetry has been translated into more than 25 languages and has appeared worldwide in publications like The New York Times and BBC. She performed her poem Prayer at the 2022 Grammy Awards. 

Lyuba Yakimchuk’s attendance in this event was made possible by the Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds and Ukranian Institute.

Diana Anphimiadi

Diana Anphimiadi is a Georgian poet, linguist, teacher, and writer. She holds a master's degree in general linguistics from Ivane Javakhishvili State University, where she is currently pursuing her PhD. Anphimiadi has published four poetry collections. Her debut Chocolate (2008) won the Tsero Prize and the Saba Prize for best debut. Her poetry in English has been published in Beginning to Speak (2018) and Why I No Longer Write Poems (2022), which received the PEN Translates Award. 

Her poetry gives abstract thoughts a body and brings classical myths back to life using contemporary means. In addition to poetry, Anphimiadi has written two cookbooks and several children's books. Her work has been translated into several languages, including German, Russian, and Greek, and is featured in anthologies such as Je suis nombreuses (2021), a French anthology of work by female Georgian poets.

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (1968) is a versatile Dutch writer and poet, known for his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and translations. He has published over forty works and received prestigious awards, such as the C. Buddingh’ Prize, the Libris Literature Prize, and the VSB Poetry Prize. His work often explores the boundaries between fact and fiction, focusing on the blurring line between fantasy and reality in modern society. 

Pfeijffer studied classical literature and received his PhD in 1996 on Pindarus. Since 2008, he has lived in Genoa, where his poetry is characterized by the musicality of classical forms. His novel La Superba (2013) was internationally praised and sold worldwide. 

In addition to his literary work, he is a playwright and was recognized for his essays on migration and his poetry collection Idyllen. Recent works include the novel Grand Hotel Europa (2018) and Alkibiades (2023), in which he examines the vulnerability of democracy. 

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley is a Liberian poet, memoirist, writer, professor and human rights activist. She is currently a professor of English, Creative Writing, and African Literature at the Pennsylvania State University.  

Her debut poetry collection, Before the Palm Could Bloom (1998), was followed by Becoming Ebony (2003), which won the Crab Orchard Award. Her latest collection, Praise Song for My Children (2020), won the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize.  

Jabbeh Wesley’s poetry deals with themes such as the African Diaspora and hybrid identity, home and displacement, femininity and motherhood. As a survivor of the Liberian civil war, she gives a voice to the voiceless.

Her poems have appeared in Harvard Review, Prairie Schooner, and The New York Times Magazine. She has won the Edward Stanely Poetry Prize and the Levinson Prize. Her work has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Italian, Finnish, and Hebrew.