Voice of Greece, ERT’s international radio service, celebrates World Poetry Day—observed globally on the first day of spring, 21 March—with a curated series of broadcasts exploring poetry as both art and living expression.
At 10:00 (Athens time), “Ariadni’s Thread” presents the episode “When Rappers Grew Wings”. Ariadni-Sofia Kouri joins Yolanda Tsiampokalou (aka Sadahzinia)—former member of the hip hop/low bap group Active Member and author—Giorgos Nikas, conductor of Social Waste, and Pantelis Boukalas, distinguished journalist, author, scholar and poet, in a conversation on how the postmodern condition is reshaping artistic creation.
At 11:00 (Athens time), Hercules Economou, in “Greek Music Express – Musical Suburbs”, celebrates the day with a selection of recent releases by composers working with poetry set to music—bridging past and present. Later, at 14:00 Athens time, singer, songwriter and author Katerina Dinou will be a special guest in the Voice of Greece studio on the program “Folk Paths” with Elena Falirea, on the occasion of the recent publication of her poetic novella “Ξύλινο Παιχνίδι” by 24 Γράμματα.
At 17:00 (Athens time), “Narratives – Stories and Fairy Tales for Children and Grown-Ups”, hosted by Maria Karagiannaki Iona, brings World Poetry Day into dialogue with the historic anniversary of 25 March. The program features readings from the anthology “1821 in Greek Poetry” (Kedros Publications), edited by ERT journalist and prose writer Ilias Gris. The volume gathers 140 poems by 109 Greek poets, written over a span of 190 years, all reflecting on the Greek War of Independence.
Immediately afterwards, at 18:00 (Athens time), “The Words of Others”, with Vasia Tzanakari, welcomes poet and translator Danae Sioziou. Together, they explore questions such as whether today’s teenagers can still be engaged by poetry, what place poetry holds in a contemporary world that often seems poised on the edge of dystopia, and what it is that allows us to recognize a poem as truly “good.”
In addition, throughout the day, Voice of Greece will also broadcast selected works by award-winning poets featured in its series “The Poet of the Week”, including Titos Patrikios, Krystallis Glinyadaki, Kyriakos Charalambidis, Dimitra Kotoula, Giorgos Markopoulos, Anna Griva, among others.
