Helicon presents the 14th edition of the Sha’ar International Poetry Festival from December 9 – 12, 2015. Sha’ar is the Arabic word for poem and the Hebrew word for gate, the festival opens a gate through poetry for dialogue, art and thought. Taking place for the first time in a new venue, the Holon Mediatheque, this year’s theme is On the Edge of the Street.
Artistic Director Yakir Ben Moshe stated: “We chose to devote this year’s theme to Sfat Harehov (the word safa has two meanings in Hebrew: edge and language) – in terms of language, the language of the street, and as a place, on the edge of the street. In this spirit we selected the participating poets. Israeli culture and poetry has changed in recent years. There are more poems published that describe situations happening on the street, as a social arena and as a personal arena, employing language that does not hesitate to include expressions of street language. The new poetry is usually not written in formal, distant language, but rather grows from the street and is written ‘at street level’ with rich musicality.”
The full program is available on the Helicon website. Some highlights:
Wednesday, December 9th – Opening Night
18:30 World Mosaic – a marathon of poets, each reading in his or her own language.
20:00 Hosted by Yossi Tsabari, with performances by Dana Ivgy and the Street Philharmonic. Poets reading: Erez Biton, Roy Hassan, Noam Partoum, Víctor Rodríguez-Núñez.
Thursday, December 10th
18:00 – Poetry, rap, spoken word, monologues and music
20:00 – Two sessions (the next starts at 21:30) Three Israeli poets meet with three German poets – poetry reading and discussion. Some of these discussions will take place in English.
Friday, December 11th
19:00 Poetry Hyde Park – open mic, anyone can come and read!
20:30 Poetry Blind Date – Three poets – Anat Levin, Agi Mishol, Shahar Mario-Mordechai will respond to questions with poems. Hosted by Keren Mor.
Saturday, December 12th
19:15 Shimon Adaf and Víctor Rodríguez-Núñez – poetry reading and discussion. The event will take place in English.
20:30 Closing Night with poets: Almog Behar, Sigal Ben Yair, Rodolfo Hessler (Spain), Tehila Hakimi, Adi Keisar. Hosted by Yossi Tsabari, with music by Tigris Afro-delic power pop.
Admission to all events is free, except Children’s Poetry Workshops that are 15 NIS per child. To order tickets for Children’s Poetry Workshops, call: 03-5021552. Opening and Closing Night events require advance registration on the Sha’ar website.
Mediatheque, 6 Golda Meir Blvd, Holon (across from the Holon Mall)
Sha’ar is initiated, produced and directed by Helicon, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Holon Municipality, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Goethe Institute, the German Foreign Ministry, and The Berlin Festival in the context of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany.
Artistic Director: Yakir Ben Moshe; Artistic Director Children’s Workshops: Ohad Veber; Translation Workshop and International Guests: Ziona Shamai.
