The Power of Poetry comes to Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

HAPPENING 18 APRIL 2026 | Wereldmuseum Rotterdam is turning poetry into a full-day public programme on Saturday 18 April, with performances, workshops, talks and intimate storytelling sessions spread across the museum. The Power of Poetry connects directly to the exhibition Poetry of the People and explores how poetry can carry identity, comfort, protest and collective strength.

_{Image: Visitors can write their own poems during The Power of Poetry. Photo: Aad Hoogendoorn.}

In Rotterdam, poetry does not always stay on the page for long. This programme leans into that idea by treating poetry as something spoken, heard, written, shared and embodied, rather than something sealed inside a book or behind a museum label.

That wider approach fits the exhibition it grows out of. Poetry of the People looks at poems from West Asia and North Africa and how poetry in those contexts is tied to identity, love and resistance. The Power of Poetry takes that foundation and opens it up into a day of live encounters, with language, music, movement and craft all part of the mix.

Poetry as resistance

The central thread running through the day is resistance. Wereldmuseum Rotterdam is framing poetry here as a form that can offer hope and connection in times marked by oppression, injustice and geopolitical tension.

A particular focus will fall on the relationship between Iran and poetry. Speakers including Kader Abdolah, Beri Shalmashi, Nafiss Nia and Asghar Seyed-Gohrab will join moderator Naeeda Aurangzeb for a conversation about how their work gives shape to hope, identity, womanhood and resistance, and how poetry can also be used to challenge the ideology of the Iranian regime.

Workshops, performances and film

The programme also opens things up beyond the panel format. Visitors will be able to join calligraphy and writing workshops, while musical interventions, a film screening and spoken word performances run through the day.

That should give the event a broader rhythm than a standard literary programme. Instead of only sitting and listening, you will also be able to move through different formats and experience poetry as something participatory, visual and performative.

Human Poet Library at the museum

One of the more intriguing parts of the day is the Human Poet Library, created with Verhalenhuis Belvédère. In that setting, poets including Benzokarim, Rotterdam’s city poet, and spoken word artist Lotte van Zaalen will share personal stories in intimate 20-minute sessions.

There will also be poetic tours through Poetry of the People led by Selin Oztekin and Soraya Shawki of Poetry Circle 010. That detail matters because it links the programme back to the exhibition itself, rather than treating the museum as a neutral backdrop.

Rotterdam city poet Benzokarim is part of the Human Poet Library. Photo: Khalid Amakran.

A Rotterdam line-up with wider reach

The line-up stretches across poetry, performance, storytelling and literature, with names including Kriticos Mwansa, Kader Abdolah, Nafiss Nia, Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Beri Shalmashi, Naeeda Aurangzeb, Tawab Safi, Sabrina Schoop, ghenwa (noiré) abou fayad, Kimia Taghavy, Jawa Manla, Rima Baransi, Sandra Pham, Motel Poëzie, Oumaima Yahiaoui, Benzokarim, Parisa Akbarzadeh Poladi, Damaris, Indra Diallo, Winterdagen, Dean Bowen, Moze Naél, Lotte van Zaalen, Munzer Al Kaddour and Daniela Montoya Jerez.

For Rotterdam, that gives the day a strong local anchor while still opening onto wider conversations about language, migration, politics and cultural memory. In other words, this looks like one of those museum programmes that feels much livelier than the phrase museum programme usually suggests.

How to get there

The Power of Poetry takes place at Wereldmuseum Rotterdam, Willemskade 25, 3016 DM Rotterdam, on Saturday 18 April from 11:00 to 18:00. The museum sits on the riverfront in Scheepvaartkwartier, an easy walk from Leuvehaven and not far from Erasmus Bridge and the Maritime Museum area.

More information is here: https://rotterdam.wereldmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/activities/power-poetry