The festival website, in English, is here, while a PDF of the programme is here.
The festival's guests of honour will be Israeli poet Agi Mishol and German poet, editor and the chair of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Michael Krüger.
The pair presented themselves to the Slovenian audience on the eve of the festival at Ljubljana's National Gallery, where they were joined by Swedish poet with Iranian roots Athena Farrokhzad, the author of the Open Letter to Europe.
Farrokhzad wrote the Open Letter to Europe at last year's festival in cooperation with the Berlin-based Allianz Kulturstiftung. The idea of addressing institutions, politicians, media and Europeans about the most burning social issues was received so well that it will be continued this year as well.
This time the letter will be translated to numerous languages and published in different media.
The festival will this year focus on Spanish poetry, which will be represented in Ptuj by Carlos Aganzo, Mercedes Cebrian and Erika Martinez.
It will also celebrate the work of Slovenian poet Jure Detela (1951-1992), whose collection of poems was recently published by Beletrina.
Literary evenings and wine tasting events, where even some Spanish wines will be offered, will be complemented by private readings, a programme for children, museum workshops for adults, piano and poetry evenings, concerts of contemporary music and and concerts by well-known Slovenian and Austrian musicians.
Singer-songwriter Vlado Kreslin, who will take the stage with his band Mali Bogovi, will also participate in the festival as a Slovenian guest poet alongside Ivo Svetina.
Four poets from the European platform Versopolis, set up by Beletrina and supported by the EU programme Creative Europe, will also present their work - Marija Andrijašević from Croatia, Pernilla Berglund from Sweden, Valentina Colonna from Italy and Johanna Venho from Finland.
The festival, which is attended by 6,000-9,000 visitors every year, has been spread to several other towns around the country as well as to some Slovenian-inhabited towns in the neighbouring countries.
