From 21 to 23 August, the Coastal Poetry Festival will take place at the PAiR residency in Pāvilosta. Its three-day programme will bring together poetry readings, an open-air film screening, a film concert, a comics workshop for children and young people, and an evening of poetry and music.
The festival will explore the coast as a landscape, a living environment, and a carrier of cultural memory, bringing together poets, artists, actors, musicians, and film researchers. All festival events are free of charge.
Festival events
- Friday, 21 August
The festival will open at 20:30 with the open-air film screening “Poetic Wanderings Along the Baltic Sea”.
The programme will present a multifaceted view of the Baltic Sea coast through documentary films made during different periods. Through poetic observations of the environment and personal stories, the coast will emerge as a landscape, a living environment, and a carrier of cultural memory, revealing its layered significance across different historical and social contexts. The programme will begin with an introduction by film researcher Zane Krūmiņa.
- Saturday, 22 August
At 17:00, a poetry reading will feature Ivars Šteinbergs, Kirils Ēcis, Kyle Dacuyan (USA), Ausma Perons, and Lote Vilma.
Four Latvian poets representing one of the most active generations in contemporary Latvian poetry will take part in a traditional-format reading. Although Kirils Ēcis and Ausma Perons published their debut collections only last year, their creative work has already been widely recognised. Ivars Šteinbergs and Lote Vilma, meanwhile, are the authors of several books for both adults and children.
They will be joined by Kyle Dacuyan, a poet and performance artist from the United States who has worked extensively with New York’s The Poetry Project and will be a resident at PAiR in August.
At 21:00, the groups Alejas and Long Live Children, together with Dāvis Gauja, will present the film concert “Moments & Eternities. B4 Content”.
“Moments & Eternities. B4 Content” is an audiovisual evening of memories and a meditative tribute to the deepest corners of the Latvian internet, celebrating our endless desire to pause, capture, share, and move forward. The work is a collage of materials found online and created during a very specific period, which its authors refer to as “BC”, or “Before Content”—a time when the internet did not yet serve the attention economy but was simply a place for sharing.
- Sunday, 23 August
At 11:00, poet Roberts Vilsons and artist and poet Lote Vilma will lead a comics workshop for children and young people of all ages.
Through simple drawing and creative-writing exercises, participants will develop their imagination and explore the process of creating a comic, from the initial idea to the finished work. No previous experience is required.
The festival will conclude at 17:00 with an evening of Lorca’s poetry and music, featuring New Riga Theatre actors Guna Zariņa and Gerds Lapoška, as well as musicians Ilze Grunte, Andris Grunte, and Dace Ignatova.
The programme will be based on the poetry concert “A Knife Stuck in the Heart”, bringing together the poetry of celebrated Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and the music of legendary Latvian singer-songwriter Haralds Sīmanis. The performance combines Andalusian, Romani, and world-music influences. It is rooted in the 1980s production “The Scream”, in which Lorca’s poetry met Sīmanis’s original music.
Programme
- 21 August, 20:30 — open-air film screening “Poetic Wanderings Along the Baltic Sea”
- 22 August, 17:00 — poetry reading
- 22 August, 21:00 — film concert “Moments & Eternities. B4 Content”
- 23 August, 11:00 — comics workshop for children and young people
- 23 August, 17:00 — an evening of Lorca’s poetry and music
Festival team
- Curator: Henriks Eliass Zegners
- Organiser: VV Foundation
- Participants: Zane Krūmiņa, Ivars Šteinbergs, Kirils Ēcis, Kyle Dacuyan (USA), Ausma Perons, Lote Vilma, Alejas, Long Live Children, Dāvis Gauja, Roberts Vilsons, Guna Zariņa, Gerds Lapoška, Ilze Grunte, Andris Grunte, and Dace Ignatova
Visitor information
- Dates: 21-23 August 2026
- Venue: PAiR residency, Ernesta Šneidera laukums 11, Pāvilosta
- Admission: Free of charge, with advance registration: https://forms.gle/yf4k99Y4FLwaDd7o8
