RUSTED BARBS SHINE IN NICARAGUA


Nominee for the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature Ernesto Cardenal reading newspaper at the Festival.


The pen is mightier than the sword. It's even been known to take on the machine gun. Nigel Benson talks to David Howard about the power of poetry.
From the Otago Daily Times today.

Corrupt government? Check.
Guns and drugs? Check.
Iambic pentameter? Pass the AK47.

If you were playing a word-association game, you probably wouldn't link Nicaragua with poetry.
But Purakaunui poet David Howard has just returned from the fifth annual International Poetry Festival in Granada.
Howard was the only New Zealander of 130 poets from 54 countries invited to V Festival Internacional de Poesia de Granada 2009.
The five-year-old festival is billed as one of Latin America's largest cultural events. Nicaragua has a proud history in poetry and has been a poet's haven since Rubén Dario (1867-1916), considered the father of modern Spanish poetry, started jotting down his existential angst in the late 1800s.
Read the full piece at the ODT.