Michael Marks Poets in Residence Program

CHS & Michael Marks Charitable Trust

CHS GR PIRThe Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, in collaboration with the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, a UK based foundation, created the Michael Marks Poets in Residence program in 2009. Each year, UK poets who win the “Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets” in London and Edinburgh (a.k.a. the Callum MacDonald Award) become “Michael Marks Poets in Residence” at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece. As resident poets, they spend two weeks between historic Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi, and Athens where they participate in local cultural activities.

In addition, the award-winning UK poets participate in several other cultural activities, meeting with renowned and aspiring Greek poets and immersing themselves in the Greek landscape and in Greek culture, both ancient and modern, which gave rise to the humanistic civilisation of Europe and the world.

The continued aim of the CHS is to improve the range of activities of the poetry residence program. In 2014 the program was also linked with the poetry and translation “Paros Symposium” held every summer in Athens. The participation of the UK poets in the symposium enhances their opportunities to meet other poets and translators from Greece and elsewhere, including the USA, and become acquainted with their work, share views and experiences and participate in cultural events.

Get acquainted with the awarded poets who participated in this project: