Eighteen poems, fourteen countries and eleven languages join forces at the 49th Poetry International Festival’s opening event, The Nation of Poetry. Poetry is always and inevitably at the heart of our reality, influenced by its direct surroundings and affecting those surroundings in return. At the same time, poetry needs only a few words to bring forth entire worlds, a single poem creating a universe all to itself. The Nation of Poetry offers a first introduction to the poets of the 49th Poetry International Festival, an expedition to eighteen worlds in just one night, with poems about identity alternating with surprise acts.