administered by the
association "Poésie dans la Cité" since 1998.
In the world of books and
reading, the aim of the Center is to make poetry accessible to everyone.
Its strategy is to provide a public space for artistic and literary life
- a place where authors, artists, literary professionals and the public
can explore poetry by way of discussion, debate and reflection.
The Center also focuses
on that poetry which is embedded in the cultural life of locales,
departments and regions. This thrust fits, moreover, into a significant
network of European and international partnerships.
The Centre Européen
de Poésie d’Avignon is the beneficiary of treasures accumulated
over nearly thirty years. Today it is a wellspring of literary resources
with its stores of thousands of books and reviews of French and
international poetry. It has, as well, more than three hundred original
manuscripts of French and foreign contemporary poets.
It is also considered an
artistic and pedagogical laboratory. Here, in a milieu accessible to
students and the adult public, pilot projects are hatched by innovators
whose desire is to question the nature of contemporary poetry.
This experimental
atmosphere supports the development of multi-field projects centered on
poetry. It promotes truly living poetry and finds many bridges which
artists and poets raise between their respective fields of creation.
The Center is sensitive
to the fabric — cultural, educational and social — of the place
where it lives; it collaborates regularly with the structures,
establishments and associations of its environment. It takes steps to
battle against illiteracy and exclusion.
Centre Européen de
Poésie d’Avignon is a charter member of the Féderation
européenne des Maisons de Poésie - réseau international.
**2006,
our 20th year**
**2006, our 20th year** 
