The recital series Poets Di(n)versos The poetry festival returns to A Coruña with a new session at the Ágora Sociocultural Center auditorium. This initiative, promoted by the City Council and open to the public free of charge, has established itself as one of the most stable and renowned poetry events in Galicia.
This time, the program brings together two creators who represent very different worlds but are connected by the poetic word: the Greek author Dimitra Christodoulou and the Galician woman residing in Switzerland Carmen Villar AlonsoTogether they will bring the voices of contemporary Greece and Galician emigration in Europe closer to the public, with a recital that can also be followed live through the official YouTube channel of Poetas Di(n)versos.
A landmark poetry series in A Coruña
El Poets Di(n)versos cycle It is organized by the A Coruña City Council and has the literary direction of the poet and National Poetry Prize winner. Yolanda CastañoThe sessions are held in the auditorium of Agora Sociocultural Centre and they last for several months, with a program that extends until June and combines national and international voices.
The next meeting will take place this Monday 16 of February, starting at 20:00 p.m., with Free entry until capacity is reached. In addition to the in-person format, the recital can be followed live through the cycle's YouTube channel, making it easier for readers from outside A Coruña—and even from other European countries—to listen to the poems without traveling.
As the Councillor for Culture and Tourism has emphasized, Gonzalo CastroThe City Council promotes this program as a "cycle of excellence" that brings "the best of national and international poetry" to the community and helps fill municipal spaces with "quality culture." In this way, Poetas Di(n)versos has become a regular showcase for contemporary poetry, with a special focus on the diversity of languages and origins.
This edition of the cycle began in January with the participation of the Nigerian writer and Nobel Prize winner for Literature Wole soyinkaHer presence at the Agora was highlighted by the mayor. Inés Rey, who identified him as a role model of civic engagement and defense of freedom of expression, in a session that filled the auditorium and set the international tone for this year's programming.
Dimitra Christodoulou: one of the great voices of contemporary Greek poetry
The international guest for this session, Dimitra ChristodoulouHe was born in Athens and trained in Law and Philologya profession she combined for years with teaching in secondary schools until her retirement. Critics place her within the so-called Generation of the 70s in Greece, a group of authors who renewed Hellenic poetry from the end of the 20th century.
Throughout his career he has published 17 books of poetryestablishing herself as one of the most recognized voices in her country. Among her most cited titles are Just before (2005), who became a candidate for the Greek National Poetry Prize, and Limes [Fame] (2008), a work with which he finally obtained this state award, one of the most prestigious in the Greek literary field.
His subsequent work has maintained a constant presence in awards and criticism, with books such as The minimum bread gives awareness (2014) o Vinte and four blows and silence (2019), titles that have been finalists or have received various awards in their country. The author is also part of the Greek Society of Authors, which underlines its importance in the Hellenic literary landscape.
Beyond poetry, Christodoulou has also worked on prose and translationShe has translated ancient Greek lyric and dramatic poetry into modern Greek, and her poetic work has been translated into several languages, allowing her books to circulate throughout various European countries. Her participation in Poetas Di(n)versos aligns with the series' focus on opening its program with voices that have a solid international track record.
Carmen Villar Alonso: poetry, journalism and memory of Galician emigration
The other protagonist of the recital is Carmen Villar Alonso, journalist, writer and photographer who lives in Zurich and is part of the Galician emigration in Switzerland. Granddaughter of A Raia and daughter of the diaspora, her creative work has become increasingly linked to the migratory experience and the construction of memory through poetry and image.
In the field of journalism, she is a regular contributor to the newspaper Faro de Vigowhere he maintains his opinion column What are the rumors about?This section led her to be a finalist in the XXII Francisco Fernández del Riego Journalism Foundation Award In 2025, an award that values both literary quality and a personal perspective on Galician reality.
His work as a columnist has also been recognized with the IV Xoán Vicente Viqueira Prize through one of his texts, consolidating a writing style that moves between journalism, sociocultural reflection, and a very marked poetic sensibility. In parallel, since 2018, Villar Alonso has been developing a daily photopoetic project on social media, in which he combines images and short verses as a form of creative diary.
That online project continues and expands the experience of The thousand and one days, work that led to his first individual book, published by the publisher Xerais in 2023. From then on, his name has begun to resonate strongly in the Galician literary circuit, both for his solo proposals and for his collective collaborations.
Villar Alonso is part of Comadres das Letras, a collective with which he has participated in books such as Let's tell each other (2023) and Cherries stolen (2025). Her poems, short stories, and plays have also been published in magazines and specialized platforms such as Dorna, chiasmus o Common Wordas well as in the project Natives, where his entire work is collected photo-poem collection E na Arcadia xea.
A bridge between Greece, Galicia and the Europe of the diaspora
The encounter between Dimitra Christodoulou y Carmen Villar Alonso On the stage of the Agora, a dialogue is proposed between contemporary Greek poetry and Galician voices writing from outside the country. In a single session, the Hellenic tradition, a reinterpretation of classical antiquity, and the tensions of the present in Greece converge with the experience of those who live the Galician emigration to Switzerland and they look at Galicia from a distance.
The Poetas Di(n)versos program for this date follows a familiar theme: offering combinations of voices that, despite coming from very different backgrounds, share a special focus on issues such as identity, collective memory, and geographical displacement. In this way, the recital becomes a meeting point for cultures, languages, and life experiences.
In terms of audience, the hybrid format —in-person with free entrance And streaming via YouTube allows the series to continue growing beyond the local area of A Coruña. People interested in European poetry, readers from the Galician diaspora, or simply curious to discover new voices can access the session without geographical restrictions.
With this quote, Poets Di(n)versos reinforces its position as one of the literary cycles of reference in GaliciaBoth the quality of the guests and the continuity of its programming are noteworthy. The participation of international figures like Wole Soyinka and the presence of female creators working from geographical or linguistic peripheries illustrate the A Coruña City Council's commitment to an open and diverse culture.
This Monday's session at the Agora is presented as an opportunity to hear firsthand the work of two renowned authors, explore the richness of the poetry being written today in Greece and in the Europe of Galician emigration, and see how a stable cycle like Poetas Di(n)versos can continue to broaden horizons without losing its roots in the city.