Fundación Jesús Serra and the ACEC organize the event "Voces Nuevas Poéticas" to encourage new authors in this genre

"On February 13th, the Barcelona Ateneu (Athenaeum) will host the event "Voces Nuevas Poéticas," in which the winners of the 2018 Fundación Jesús Serra Poetry Contest will take part. The action is part of the new collaboration agreement between the ACEC and the Foundation of Grupo Catalana Occidente."

Fundación Jesús Serra, in collaboration with the Asociación Colegial de Escritores de Cataluña (ACEC) has launched the "Voces Nuevas Poéticas" cycle, an initiative that provides a launching pad for new authors in the genre of poetry. The day will be held at the Barcelona Ateneu on February 13th at 7:00 p.m., and will be attended by Ricardo Fernández Esteban, member of the ACEC, as moderator, with the participation of two of the winners of the 2018 Fundación Jesús Serra Poetry Contest, Amparo López and Adrià Ibáñez, who will talk about their work with David Castillo, renowned writer, poet and member of the Contest's jury, who will also gloss them.

Collaborating agreement between ACEC and Fundación Jesús Serra

The recent agreement signed by both parties aims to promote the Fundación Jesús Serra Poetry Contest and disseminate the art of poetry through various cultural activities and is aimed at school children and culture lovers.

Through the agreement with the ACEC, a series of activities have been launched, such as the program "Poetízate. Poesía en la escuela," in which students from 20 schools in Catalonia will host poetry recitals in their classrooms by Josep Pedrals, poet and rapporteur, and David Castillo. With this activity, they will attempt to introduce a love of writing, promote poetic creation and encourage young people to participate in the Contest set up by Fundación Jesús Serra.

The agreement has also included new features within the Contest that will help meet the goal of promoting poetic creation. One of the first actions has been to incorporate David Castillo, writer, poet and literary critic, who has twenty published works to his name and nine awards that support his work in the field of writing, as a new member of the jury. David will complete a cadre of renowned writers and professionals from the world of culture, among which are Josefa Contijoch, Elena Medel, Alejandro Krawietz and Ricardo Fernández Aguilar.

"2019 has become a turning point for the Fundación Jesús Serra Poetry Contest. We want to get closer to society and publicize our cultural initiatives with informative activities that will surely be well received. We want the Poetry Contest to continue growing as it has done in each of the editions, so that we can become a benchmark in the field of culture," says Federico Halpern, president of Fundación Jesús Serra.

XII edition of the Poetry Contest

The Fundación Jesús Serra Poetry Contest is celebrating its XII edition this year with the aim of promoting the creation of poetry in both Spanish and Catalan. In the eleven previous editions, a total of 11,000 poems by authors from more than 30 countries have been presented, as well as Spain, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Belgium, Croatia or Qatar.

The contest is divided into three categories, depending on age: ”A” (participants from 18 years of age), “B” (between 14 and 17 of age) and “C” (between 10 and 13 years of age). The only requirement is that the poems be composed in Spanish or Catalan (a prize is awarded in the language and age category), with no restrictions on the subject or nationality, eliminating territorial and artistic barriers. The prizes will be €2,500 for the "A" category, €1,500 for the "B" and €800 for the "C". In total, Fundación Jesús Serra has allocated almost €10,000 for the promotion of poetry.

The deadline for the submission of poems ends next April 30th and must be done through the website www.poesiafjs.com.