Welcome to Poetry International Web, a worldwide forum for poetry on the internet. PIW brings you news, essays, interviews and discussion, but, first and foremost, hundreds of poems by acclaimed modern poets from all around the world, both in the original language and in English translation.

In keeping with the spirit of the web, it is a truly international collaboration of, at present more than twenty editors in more than twenty different countries – you will find them in the drop-down menu to the left. Each of these countries maintains its own national domain within PIW, with its chosen “Poet(s) of the Quarter”, interviews and other relevant articles.

The Poetry International Foundation in Rotterdam has provided a substantial amount of the poems from its archive, as well as an interesting collection of video material, Camera Poetica. The Defence of Poetry lecture series, given and simultaneously published on-line during the annual Poetry International Festival invites poets of world-renown to defend their discipline.


Funds and sponsors
Poetry International Web is made possible by grants and donations from the following funds and institutions in The Netherlands and abroad:

- European Commission Culture 2000 programme (exploitation site as a whole)




- Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Netherlands (feasibility study)
- Netherlands Culture Fund (HGIS) (construction site)
- Prince Bernhard Culture Fund (construction and exploitation site)



- Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS) (construction and exploitation national sites of Colombia, Croatia, Zimbabwe)





- Van Beuningen Peterich Fund (construction and exploitation site)
- City of Rotterdam (exploitation national site of Morocco)
- Lira Fund (international domain)





- National Committee for International Cooperation and Durable Development (construction and exploitation national site of South Africa)

 



- Rotterdam Art Foundation (RKS)





- This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.


http://www.ozco.gov.au


- Flemish Literature Fund (construction and exploitation national site of Belgium)




- The Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF)




- "Poetry International Web: poetry with visuals and sound" is co-financed by the Digital Pioneers Development Fund


http://www.digitalepioniers.nl



Thanks
Poetry International Web would like to thank the following individuals in The Netherlands for their important contributions to the site: Dick Broer, Henk van der Waal, K. Michel and Louis Stiller.



Partners
Poetry International Web is a collaboration between organisations and individuals in countries all around the world:
- Australia: Michael Brennan
- Belgium: Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren (Tom van de Voorde)
- China: Yu Jian, Simon Patton
- Colombia: Prometeo (Gloria Chvatal, Fernando Rendón)
- Croatia: Milos Đurđević
- India: Arundhathi Subramaniam
- Ireland: Munster Literature Centre (Patrick Cotter)
- Israel: Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Gabi Hadar, Elisabet Mizrachi, Rami Saari, Lisa Katz)
- Italy: Department of Linguistics and Comparative Literature, University of Cassino (Roberto Baronti Marchió, Franco Buffoni, Valerio Magrelli)
- Japan: Yasuhiro Yotsumoto.
- The Netherlands: Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (Thomas Möhlmann, Henk Pröpper)
- Portugal: Direcção-Geral do Livro e das Bibliotecas (Ana Castro, Assunção Mendonça, Paula Morão, Luís Miguel Queirós)
- Ukraine: Kateryna Botanova
- United Kingdom: The Poetry Society (Andrew Bailey, Jules Mann)
- Zimbabwe: Weaver Press (Irene Staunton, Chirikure Chirikure)
- Rotterdam: Poetry International Web Foundation


Management
Poetry International Web is managed by the central bureau of the Poetry International Web Foundation and by an increasing number of national editors.
The Poetry International Web Foundation was founded in 2001 and shares the same Board of directors - Piet Holthuis, Jan Hendrik van Dorp, Tineke Drenthe, Robert Anker, Annette Portegies, Maarten Asscher, Wynold Verwey - and managing director - Bas Kwakman - as the Poetry International Foundation, which has been organising the Poetry International Festival since 1970. The bureau has a co-ordinating function and is responsible for the content and maintenance of the international domain on the Poetry International Web. The central bureau consists of a content editor, Michele Hutchison, a project leader, Madea Le Noble, and a web editor, Jan Willem van Hemert.
Each country has a national editor who is responsible for the content and maintenance of his or her national domain on the site. National editors can make use of an editorial board for advice. The size of the country in question or the number of important literary organisations present may make such a board necessary. It is up to the National Editor to assemble such a board and to determine the character and the frequency of its co-operation.


Content
Poetry International Web is a magazine, platform and guide in one. The website offers:
- poetry from a growing number of countries
- an international poets' archive
- national and international poetry news
- essays and other articles on poetry
- information on important national and international poetry organizations
- links to other poetry websites

Poetry International Web will serve as an inspiration for the Poetry International Festival, and vice versa. The annual festival, which takes place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is generally considered to be the most important poetry festival in the world. The poets' archive of the festival is being gradually being added to the website's archive.


Structure
Poetry International Web consists of several country domains and one central, international domain, each with its own home page. These domains can be reached from every webpage by a drop-down menu, and the international home page also lists all participating countries. A search option, Contact, About and FAQ can be found on every webpage.
Each domain has three standard sections: links, organizations and latest additions. Furthermore, the international domain features news and the ‘Poem of the week’, and each country domain its ‘Poet(s) of the quarter’.


Motivation
Poetry and information about poetry from foreign countries is often inaccessible due to the language barrier. The internet is an international network which makes it the ideal vehicle for the international promotion of poetry. The multimedia technology of the Internet creates not only new possibilities for international promotion (pictures, sound, linking, interactive features) but also for the international exchange of poetry and poetry-related matters.
Poetry International Web has five objectives : 
- to make good poetry from as many countries as possible accessible to an international readership;
- to encourage poetry translations;
- to stimulate the international exchange of knowledge about poetry
- to establish an international community of poetry readers;
- to provide an international directory of (information about) good poetry for readers around the world.


Future
In the future, Poetry International Web will continue to grow exponentially:
Every three months at least, each participating country will post a new issue of Poet of the quarter, with approximately ten poems in the original language and in English translation. In combination with the Poetry International Festival archive (35 poets and 350 poems each year) there is an exponential growth of the poets' archive on Poetry International Web.
New country domains are added each year. In 2003 Israel, Italy, South-Africa and Ukraine joined the site. India followed in May 2004 and Japan in January 2006.
The international domain and the country domains will grow in content (new sections) and by addition of multimedia features (sound, video, real-time). Poetry International Web will also expand its infrastructure (new ways of cross-linking content) and user-friendliness (customising options, more e-mail features).


History

The idea for an international poetry magazine was developed by the Poetry International Foundation in 1998. Two years later, in June 2000, several poetry magazine editors from around the world were invited to the 31st Poetry International Festival to a seminar in which the plans for an international poetry magazine on the internet were shaped.
Over the next few months, a feasibility study was conducted by the Poetry International Foundation. Further research was done to determine the desired content, form and organization of an international poetry website, as well as its (financial) feasibility.
In February 2001, after an extensive advisory procedure, professionals were appointed to edit the country domains on Poetry International Web.
In collaboration with the United Nations, Poetry International Foundation organized an international conference on the web magazine a month later, in New York. Twenty poets, editors of poetry periodicals and other poetry professionals from the United States and the rest of the world attended. The plans for the site were enthusiastically received by all.
A further seminar during the 32nd Poetry International Festival in June 2001 was to all extents and purposes the first (preparatory) editorial meeting of Poetry International Web. All of the national editors were invited to attend the seminar, and most of them came. In this four-day seminar programme many practical problems were addressed.

On November 28, 2001, Poetry International Web Foundation (PIW) was founded to manage the project. The construction of the Poetry International Web site began at the beginning of 2002. That May, the European Union granted 190,000 euros for the maintenance of the central international domain of Poetry International Web for a period of three years. Editors of Poetry International Web gathered during the Poetry International Festival for another seminar on the website, five future editors from Argentina, Indonesia, Ireland, South Africa and Sweden joined in.

Poetry International Web was finally launched on November 6, 2002.