Santo Domingo Poetry Week 2026 Set for October 19–24

The XV Santo Domingo International Poetry Week will take place from October 19 to 24, bringing poets from the Dominican Republic and abroad to Santo Domingo for a week of readings, literary discussions and cultural activities.

Organized by the Fundación Espacios Culturales and the event’s organizing committee, the program will open on Monday, October 19, with a meeting between organizers, invited writers and members of the media at the Centro Cultural Taíno Casa del Cordón in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City.

Program Opens With Readings and University Events

The official opening is scheduled for Monday afternoon at the auditorium of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), the country’s oldest public university. The ceremony will include formal addresses followed by the first poetry reading of the week.

Tuesday, October 20, will feature a reading honoring Salomé Ureña, one of the most important figures in Dominican poetry and education. The activity is scheduled at the Instituto de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña (ISFODOSU), an institution dedicated to teacher training.

Later that day, simultaneous poetry readings will be held at UNPHU, UNIBE, PUCMM, APEC and UCE, extending the festival beyond its principal venues and bringing participating writers directly into several of Santo Domingo’s university communities.

A panel devoted to the relationship between cinema and literature is also scheduled for Tuesday evening at the auditorium of Funglode. Additional activities are expected to be announced as preparations for the festival continue.

International Poets Join Dominican Writers

The international program includes writers from Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean. The announced participants are Gabriel Chávez Casazola of Bolivia, William Ospina of Colombia, Rodrigo Carrillo of Guatemala, María Baranda of Mexico, Sonia Betancort of Spain, Nancy Morejón of Cuba and Carmen Rojas Larrazábal of Venezuela.

The program also lists Danilo Manera of Italy, Paolo de Lima of Peru, Bulgaria’s Tanya Yavasheva and Daniela Aleksandrova, Chilean poet Roxana Miranda and French poet Hélène Dorion.

Dominican participation will include established poets and writers such as Alberto Garrido, Alejandro Águila, Alexei Tellerías, Alfonso Quiñones, Andrés Ulloa, Ángela Suazo, Aquiles Julián, Arelis Albino, Arismendy Rodríguez, Augusto Bueno, Belié Beltrán, Carlos Sánchez, Carmen Pérez Valerio, Carmen Sánchez, César Zapata and Daniela Cruz.

The wider Dominican delegation includes Enegildo Peña, Fari Rosario, Faustino Medina, Fernando Cabrera, Geraldo Castillo, Homero Pumarol, Isis Aquino, José Ángel Bratini, Juan Carlos Mieses, Julio Cuevas, Karina Castillo, Lery Laura Piña, Lorenzo Araujo, Lisette Vega de Purcel, Solangel Román, María Elena Guiliani, Guillermo Sterling and Rosa Santos.

Other participating poets listed by the organizers are Ninoska Velázquez, Juan Colón, Amarilis Cueto, Liza Collado, Mario Lebrón, Valentín Amaro, María Luisa Tavárez, Petra Saviñón, Coralis Ramírez, Lorenzo Amparo Báez, Rolando Bodden, Carmen Michel, Ramón Saba, María Isabel Díaz and Juan Freddy Armando.

A Festival Built Around Cultural Exchange

The week is designed to place Dominican poetry in direct dialogue with writers from different literary traditions. Readings at universities and cultural institutions will give audiences multiple opportunities to encounter the visiting poets while also showcasing contemporary Dominican voices.

The festival’s organizers include Mateo Morrison, president of Fundación Espacios Culturales; José Mármol, president of the organizing committee; and writers and cultural figures including Soledad Álvarez, Ángela Hernández, Plinio Chahín, Basilio Belliard, José Enrique Delmonte, Denisse Español, Jochy Herrera, Ibeth Guzmán, Bileysi Reyes and coordinator general Galia Ascencio.

The event is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, October 24, although the organizers have not yet announced the venue for the closing ceremony.

With activities distributed among universities and cultural spaces throughout Santo Domingo, the 2026 edition continues a longstanding effort to make poetry a meeting point for Dominican writers and international literary communities.