The largest poetry festival in the UK and a gathering of poets and spoken-word artists.

This visionary festival sees poets from all participating Olympic nations come together for a week of readings, talks and performances. Poetry Parnassus marks the first time that so many poets from so many parts of the planet have converged in one place: it is a monumental poetic happening worthy of the spirit and history of the Olympics. ‘My hunch is this will be the biggest poetry event ever – a truly global coming together of poets.’ (Simon Armitage, the poet behind the idea and Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre). Austrian poet Evelyn Schlag will be one of many poets taking part. She has written seven volumes of prose fiction, a book of essays and five collections of her own poetry. In 1997 she was awarded the Anton-Wildgans-Prize.