Annikki Poetry Festival

The Annikki Poetry Festival will be held in the courtyard of the Annikki Wooden Quarter in Tampere, Finland, on 6 June 2026 from 11 am to 10 pm. The festival will celebrate Finland’s linguistic diversity and international atmosphere with the theme Babel Finland. The programme will shed light on the great cultural wealth and diversity of experiences that various language areas and traditions have brought to Finnish poetry, literature and culture.

Once again, the festival will offer a high-quality selection of Finnish and international performers: poets, prose writers, music artists, intriguing combinations of poetry and music, multi-arts performance, children’s programme and visual arts in the unique setting offered by the wooden quarter built over 100 years ago.

The perfomers are Ánnámáret, Hassan Blasim, Monika Fagerholm, Hilja Grönfors, Satu Kankaanpää & Juhana Salonen, Daniil Kozlov, Kölö & Satu Kae, Katariina Lillqvist, Ox Maló (AR/AT), Tania Nathan & Sointi Jazz Ensemble, Nihkee & Saarten tyttäret, Risto Rasa, Regina Roze (MX), The Shameless Shongololo Band, Vy Tram, Tenzin Tsundue (IN/Tibet), Tomas Venclova (LT) and Suvi West.

In 2003, the residents of the Annikki Wooden Quarter in Tampere, built over 100 years ago, founded a poetry event in their yard. Since then, the Annikki Poetry Festival has developed into one of Finland’s biggest and most international poetry events and unique cultural festivals. The poetry festival is organised by volunteers every two years.