The first edition of Bajo 35. Ibero-American Meeting of Poets was held in Pspread Umbria and Moguer, from May 16 to 18, with great success and demonstrated the value of poetry as a powerful tool for social communication. The meeting brought together the poets youths most relevant of the current literary scene -under 35 years of age- who, through poetry, established a regenerative dialogue about the challenges we face as a society and, in particular, those facing their generation.
The links between activism, politics, philosophy and literature; the influence of social networks in our way of reading and writing and in the birth of a new orality that crosses the screens; society’s rapid shift towards new identities (and the role of traditional ones); the approach to illness and mental health; or the resignification of love, one of the universal narrative forces, are some of those current themes that focused the different conversations of this event, held at the Barceló Punta Umbría Mar hotel.
What beats them as a generation
For three days, through panel discussions and other experiences -such as a live poetry workshop or an open micro space inspired by the sea- this new generation of authors, editors, disseminators and critics spoke, in turn, with other poets with a consolidated career, such as Raquel Lanseros, angelo nestore, Ignacio Vleming, Almudena Vidaurreta, Antonio Orihuela, María García Eloy, Vanesa Pérez-Sauquillo and Alejandro Simón Partal, establishing an intergenerational dialogue. The result is a portrait of the interests and concerns, of what unites them, and ultimately, of what beats them as a generation, with the conviction that the synergies created in this meeting will mark young Spanish poetry for years to come. .
Among the participants were names such as Ismael Ramos, National Youth Poetry Award 2022; Munir Hachemi, El Ojo Crítico Prize for Poetry 2022; or Rosa Berbel, Andalusia Critics Award for Best Opera, as well as Andrea Valbuena, Begoña M. Rueda, Félix Moyano, or Alejandro V. Bellido. Among the Latin American poets residing in our country, María Gómez Lara, Sofía Sánchez or Yeison F. García stood out.
As an exceptional guest, the poet Ana Rosetti participated, considered a key figure in contemporary Spanish poetry and a benchmark for the current generation. Rosetti, who shared her trajectory and recited some of her most emblematic poems, pointed out that “if one wants to understand the poetry of this country, one must read, as a precept, Diary of a recently married poet by Juan Ramón Jiménez” .
Keep alive the spirit of Juan Ramón Jiménez
Precisely, Bajo 35 took place within the framework of the delivery of the Juan Ramón Jiménez Ibero-American Poetry Prize, and seeks to keep alive the Juan Ramonian spirit of giving voice to young people, as well as the transatlantic vocation of the Nobel. This first edition becomes the largest meeting of young Latin American poets held in Spain, reaffirming Huelva as a land of poets and underlining the value of poetry as a social meeting point that transcends literature.
The meeting, organized by the Huelva Provincial Council and coordinated by Cooltural Plans, consisted of eight panel discussions, seven of them held at the Hotel Barceló Punta Umbría Mar, and the last one at the IES Juan Ramón Jiménez de Moguer, in front of their students. In addition, the poets performed a recital at the Juan Ramón Jiménez Birthplace, in Moguer, for the students of the IES Francisco Garfías, before attending the delivery of the Juan Ramón Jiménez Ibero-American Poetry Prize, which this year has been awarded to Argentina Romina Berenice Canet.
Also notable in the program of activities was the performance of Adrián Delgado, winner of the Juan Ramón Jiménez Song Contest in Spanish, organized by Casa Limón, the Mediterranean Music Institute of the Berklee College of Music (Boston), and its director Javier Limón; the Cervantes Observatory at Harvard and the Diputación de Huelva. Delgado interpreted his musicalization of the poem “Distinto”, by Juan Ramón Jiménez.
Bajo 35 culminated in the attendance of the poets at the delivery of the Juan Ramón Jiménez Ibero-American Poetry Prize, in Moguer, which this year went to the Argentine Romina Berenice Canet for her book “La maleza”.
