Bas Kwakman

Bas Kwakman is a writer, visual artist and Managing Director of Poetry International Rotterdam, organizer of the annual Poetry International Festival, and of Poetry International WEB, one of the most important international websites on international poetry.

Bas Kwakman was educated as an visual artist and teacher of Art History and worked as an independent artist for several years. After his studies Marketing and Management for Art and Culture he became an organiser in the field of arts: visual arts, contemporary music and literature.  Bas Kwakman worked as a Project-Manager and Marketingmanager for the two major Art Foundations in Rotterdam. In 1996 he co-founded Tortuca, a magazine and publishing house for Literature and Visual Arts and in 2003 he started working for Poetry International as Managing Director and programmer of the yearly Poetry International Festival.

After publications in numerous national and international magazines Bas Kwakman published his prose and artwork in the book Een stem van paardenhaar (A voice of the Horses’ hair, Azulpres 2014) together with poet Lies van Gasse. In March 7th 2017 his book Hotelroomstories with Hotelroomdrawings- and stories was published by De Arbeiderspers. In 2019 his book ‘In poetry & war, fifty years Poetry International Rotterdam’ will be published (De Arbeiderspers).

The Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam is for almost fifty years one of the leading festivals on international poetry in the world and is the main international meeting place of poets, poetry-professionals and poetry lovers.