The Italian Cultural Institute will participate to the 29th edition of Poetry Africa, the annual international poetry festival curated by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban (5-10 October 2026). The festival provides a vital platform for the celebration and critical reflection about the contribution of poets in the movement for social change both nationally and internationally.
Italy will be represented by Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, a Somali Italian poet, novelist, playwright, librettist and oral performer. Born in Italy to a Somali father and an Italian mother, Farah grew up in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. She attended an Italian school there until the Somalia Civil War broke out in 1991. She has published three novels, Madre piccola (Little mother), Il comandante del fiume (The commander of the river), and Le stazioni della luna (The stations of the moon).
Ubah Cristina Ali Farah will also participate to a series of conferences in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Poetry Africa will also host the World Poetry Slam Championship 2026 (8-10 October), in which the IIC will participate with the presence of Gabriele Ratano, an actor and performance poet based in Rome. Italian Poetry Slam Champion 2025, in the same year he placed third at the European Poetry Slam Championship in Berlin, representing Italy.