Distinguished Invited Lecture
Tuesday 10 November 2026, 5pm, The Shtepps.
All welcome.
Jean- Pierre Siméon is a French poet, novelist, playwright and critic (born in Paris in 1950).
He is the author of many poetry collections, novels, plays and essays.
Translations of his works have been published in many countries including China, Germany, Portugal, Turkey and Romania. The most recent (his essay In Praise of Poetry) was translated into Spanish (Mexico) in 2026.
He founded the literary magazine Arpa in 1976 and in 1986 created La Semaine de la poésie in the Auvergne region, later to become the nationwide event Le Printemps des poètes of which he was the director from 2001 to 2017.
He became an arts and culture advisor to the Secretary of State for Education in 2001.
He is currently the Director of Poetry Collections at Éditions Gallimard.
In 2022 he was awarded the Grand Prix de poésie de l'Académie française.
He has received many international awards, the most notable being The Golden Wreath (The Struga Poetry Evenings Festival) and The Golden Magnolia (The Shanghai International Poetry Festival).
Department of French
Roinn na Fraincise
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