For the festival's anniversary, a team has taken on the task of curation. Günter Blamberger, the founder of Poetica, together with poet and translator Uljana Wolf and dramaturge Michaela Predeick are responsible for the Poetica 10 program.

Uljana Wolf (1979) is a German poet, translator, and essayist. Her debut work kochanie ich habe brot gekauft (2005) was awarded the Peter Huchel Prize in 2006. Since then, she has published falsche freunde (2009), meine schönste lengevitch (2013) and muttertask (2023) amongst other works, and her poems have been translated into 15 languages. Her texts are often inspired by language games and the blending of languages, as well as themes such as language politics, migration, and identity. In addition to her own writing, she translates primarily from English and Eastern European languages. She’s a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature and the Academy of Arts Berlin. Among her many awards is the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, which she received in 2022 for her collection Etymologischer Gossip. Essays und Reden (2021).

Günter Blamberger (1951) is the founding director of Poetica. From 1995 to 2021, he held the chair of Modern German Literature and served as Director of the Morphomata International Center for Advanced Studies from 1996 to 2021 at the University of Cologne. From 1996 to 2021, he was the president of the Heinrich von Kleist Society and has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature since 2015. His biography on Kleist, which was published by S. Fischer Verlag, was selected as the top humanities title by the jury of the German Book Trade Association in 2011. The University of Cologne honored him with its Research Prize in 2016 and he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2019. Recent publications include Von der Faszination ästhetischer Ideen und der Macht poetischen Denkens (2021) and Literatur ist Freiheit (in: Paragrana 32/1, 2023).

Michaela Predeick (1987) is the dramaturg of Poetica. She studied Art History, German Language and Literature, as well as Theater, Film, and Television Studies at the University of Cologne. She has worked in the dramaturgy department at Schauspiel Köln under the direction of Karin Beier and at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. Since 2019, she has been a research associate at the University of Cologne, where she’s pursuing her PhD on figurations of depression in contemporary literature and theater. She also regularly curates and moderates literary events and is a founding member of unruly readings—a series for literature and performance. Recent publications include Therapy Flowers (2020); together with Daniela Danz and Günter Blamberger: Poetica 9: Nach der Natur (2024).

Lina Atfah (1989) is a Syrian poet and journalist. After studying Arabic Literature in Damascus, she worked for various newspapers and cultural magazines. Her poems address social and political issues, which led to conflicts with the Assad regime and forced her to flee. Since 2014, she has lived in Wanne-Eickel, Germany. In 2017, Atfah participated in the translation workshop that resulted in the anthology Deine Angst – dein Paradies. Together with Nino Haratischwili and other German authors, she has collaborated on the Weiterschreiben project. Her first German-language poetry collection Das Buch von der fehlenden Ankunft was published in 2019. Atfah is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Little Hertha Koenig Prize (2017). She received the Ruhr Prize for Literature in 2023 for her bilingual volume of poetry Grabtuch aus Schmetterlingen.

Radna Fabias (1983) is a Dutch poet and translator who was born and raised on the Caribbean island Curaçao. She studied at the HKU University of the Arts in Utrecht and made her debut as a poet with the collection Habitus in 2018, which was awarded all the major poetry prizes in the Netherlands and Belgium, including the Herman de Coninck Prize and the Grote Poëzieprijs. Her debut volume has been translated into numerous languages, including German by Stefan Wieczorek in 2022. The Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant named her the Dutch Literary Talent of the Year in 2019. Radna Fabias is also active as a translator and has made Dutch translations of Warsan Shire and the Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück.

Hiromi Itō (1955) is a Japanese poet, essayist, and novelist. She studied literature at the Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and rose to prominence as a poet in the 1980s with her work that explores themes such as the body, pregnancy, language acquisition, and death. Itō is one of the most significant contemporary voices in Japanese letters. In 1997, she moved to the United States and has since divided her time between the continents. She is also an illustrator, critic, and lecturer at Waseda University in Tokyo. Her works that have been translated into English include Killing Kanoko (2009), Wild Grass on the Riverbank (2014), as well as the novel The Thorn Puller (2022). Her work has received international acclaim, including the Takami Jun Prize (2006) and the Hagiwara Sakutarō Award (2008).

Michael Krüger (1943) is a German writer, essayist, and publisher. Since the 1960s, he has had a decisive influence on German literature as a poet, novelist, and essayist, as well as an editor of the literary yearbooks and journals such as Tintenfisch or Akzente. As a publisher and translator, he led Hanser Verlag until 2013, introducing renowned international authors to Germany and acting as an advocate of poetry—in particular through Edition Akzente and Edition Lyrik Kabinett. To him, literature has always meant hospitality and freedom, as evidenced by his recent book Verabredung mit Dichtern (2023). He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including the Peter Huchel Prize (1986), the Eichendorff Literature Prize (2017), and, most recently, the title of Poeta Laureatus of the Literaricum Lech (2023).

Lebogang Mashile (1979) is a South African poet, playwright, artist and activist. Born in the USA to South African exiles, she returned to South Africa in the 1990s, where she is today regarded as a generation-defining poet. In 2003, she made her acting debut in the film Hotel Rwanda, which was nominated for three Oscars. Her poetry debut In A Ribbon of Rhythm (2005) won the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and was translated into German in 2010 under the title Töchter von Morgen. Mashile's work is characterized by themes such as feminism, Pan-Africanism, spirituality and decolonization. She has also released two spoken word albums: Lebogang Mashile Live (2006) and Moya (2016). In addition to her poetic work, Mashile has participated in numerous highly acclaimed theater productions. Her most recent projects include Breaths of Joburg (2023) and (R)Evolution of Words (2024). The latter was created in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture to introduce students to the world of poetry. The piece, co-curated by Jade Bouwer and Quaz Roodt, was a highlight of this year's Poetry Africa Festival. In 2022, Mashile was awarded the South African Literary Award for Body of Work, which recognizes her outstanding contributions to South African literature and poetry.

Fiston Mwanza Mujila (1981) is a Congolese-Austrian author of novels, poetry, and plays. He studied literature and humanities in Lubumbashi and has been living in Austria since 2009, where he served as the city writer of Graz in 2009/10. He made his poetry debut with Poèmes et rêvasseries (2009), which was followed by Craquelures (2011) and Le fleuve dans le ventre (2013). His first novel Tram 83 (2014) has been widely translated and received numerous awards, including the International Literature Award – Haus der Kulturen der Welt (2017). In 2021, he published the anthology Das Schwarze Europa. Kontinentaldrift and his poetry collection Kasala pour mon Kaku et autres poèmes, which was released in a German translation in 2022 as Kasala für meinen Kaku und andere Gedichte. The English translation of his latest novel The Villain's Dance (La Danse du Vilain) was a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024. Mwanza Mujila received the Prize of the Literature Houses in 2024.

Sergio Raimondi (1968) is an Argentine writer, publisher, and essayist. He studied literature and was a member of the Mateístas poetry group. Raimondi teaches contemporary literature at the Universidad Nacional del Sur and acted as the cultural commissioner in Bahía Blanca from 2011 to 2014. With his debut collection Poesía Civil (2001), which was published in German as Zivilpoesie (2005), he revitalized Argentine literature. His works address the impacts of industrialization and immigration, which is inspired by his many years of work at a port museum in Bahía Blanca. He is also the co-editor of the magazine Vox Virtual. In 2019, he gave the Berlin Poetry Lecture, which was published in a bilingual volume as Problems with Writing an Ode to the Pacific Ocean. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (2007), and was part of the DAAD artists in residence program in 2018.

Claudia Rankine (1963) is an American poet, playwright, and educator. She studied at Williams College in Massachusetts and at Columbia University in New York City. Since her poetry debut Nothing in Nature is Private (1994), she has published five more volumes of poetry and several plays. Her long poem Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) was a finalist for National Book Award and was published in German in 2018. In her writing, which combines poetry, essays, and visual art, she explores racism and identity. Her most recent publication is Just Us: An American Conversation (2020). She is a founding member of the Racial Imaginary Institute and member of the Academy of American Poets. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her work, including the PEN Center USA Poetry Award (2015) and the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry (2016). Rankine was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2019 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

Monika Rinck (1969) is a German poet and essayist. Her first book of poems Verzückte Distanzen was published in 2004 and was followed by Honigprotokolle (2012), Alle Türen (2019), and Wirksame Fiktionen (2019), amongst others. Most recently, she published her poetry collection Höllenfahrt & Entenstaat in 2024. Rinck translates from Hungarian (alongside Orsolya Kalász), Slovenian, and English, and has received numerous awards for her translations. In 2013, she received the Peter Huchel Prize, and in 2015 the Kleist Prize followed. She has taught at the Leipzig Literature Institute and was professor at the Institute of Language Arts in Vienna before becoming a professor of literary writing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2023. She has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin since 2012 and a member of the Germany Academy for Language and Literature since 2014.

Sasha Marianna Salzmann (1985) is a German author, essayist, and dramaturg. Born in Volgograd, Salzmann lived in Moscow until 1995 before their family emigrated to Germany. Salzmann studied literature, theater, and media as well as dramatic writing in Hildesheim and Berlin. Salzmann worked for several years as a writer-in-residence, dramaturg, and artistic director of the STUDIO Я at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Salzmann’s works address identity, migration, and the dissolution of traditional gender roles. Their debut novel Außer sich (Beside Myself) was published in 2017. It was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Literary Prize and has been translated into 16 languages. Their second novel, Im Menschen muss alles herrlich sein (2021), Salzmann received the Prize of the Literature Houses and the Hermann Hesse Prize. Salzmann’s collected work has been honored numerous times, most recently with the Kleist Prize in 2024.

Sjón (1962) is an Icelandic poet and novelist. His poetry collection Gesang des Steinesammlers was nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2007. His latest poetry collection is Næturverk (2022), in German Nachtarbeit (2022). Sjón’s poems have been translated into 20 languages. His novel The Blue Fox (2003) received the 2005 Nordic Council Literature Prize, and the English translation of his novel CoDex 1962 (2016) was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award. Additionally, he is the author of children’s books, film scripts, plays, and song lyrics. He has written lyrics for the Icelandic singer Björk and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2001 for »I’ve seen it all« from Lars von Trier’s Film Dancer in the Dark. In 2023, Sjón received the Nordic Prize from the Swedish Academy and currently serves as the president of the Icelandic P.E.N. Center.

Yoko Tawada (1960) is a Japanese-German poet and author based in Berlin, who writes in both Japanese and German. She studied literature in Tokyo, Hamburg, and Zurich, eventually earning a doctorate. English translations of her fiction include Memoirs of a Polar Bear (2016), Three Streets (2022) and Suggested in the Stars (2024). Her most recent poetry collection in German Portrait eines Kreisels was published in 2022. Additionally, Tawada writes essays, plays, and radio plays. She has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature since 2012 and a member of the Academy of Arts since 2023. She is the recipient of numerous prizes and fellowships, including the Akutagawa Literary Award (1993), the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize (1996), the Goethe Medal (2005), the Yomiuri Prize for Literature (2013), the Kleist Prize (2016), as well as the National Book Award (2018) for her novel Kentoshi, which was written in Japanese and published in the United States under the title The Emissary. 

Aki Takase (1948) is a Japanese pianist and composer. After studying music in Tokyo, she began performing concerts and recording in the USA and Japan. She has taught at the Berlin University of Arts and was a visiting professor at the School of Music Hanns Eisler. Takase performs concerts all over the globe and works closely with the writer Yoko Tawada. For joint projects, such as Hokusai (2019), Tawada’s poetic images and Takase’s vibrant piano melodies join forces in a unique dialogue between word and sound. Takase has receive numerous awards, including the Berlin Jazz Prize (2018), the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize (2021), and the German Jazz Award (2021) in the category of piano and keyboard instruments. She was also nominated for the German Jazz Award in the category of Live Act of the Year in 2024.

Jan Wagner (1971) is a German writer, translator, essayist, and critic. He studied English literature in Hamburg, Dublin, and Berlin. His first collection of poems Probebohrung im Himmel was published in 2001 by Berlin Verlag. This was followed by several other collections, including Achtzehn Pasteten (2007), Australien (2010), and Die Live Butterfly Show (2018). His collection Regentonnenvariationen (2014) was the first poetry title to receive the Leipzig Book Fair Prize. In 2019, he co-edited Grand Tour with Federico Italiano, which compiled recent European poetry. His most recent publication was his poetry collection Steine & Erden (2023). Jan Wagner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Anna Seghers Prize (2004) and the Georg Büchner Prize (2017). In 2022, Wagner was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Bielefeld University. He is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry.