Today marks World Poetry Day
March 21 marks World Poetry Day. The United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared World Poetry Day to be observed annually on March 21. This declaration took place in 1999 in Paris, France during UNESCO’s 30th Session.
As the United Nations official website informs, one of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
The observance of World Poetry Day is also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.