UCLy Esdes Poetry Competition

From 1 February to 1 April 2026

To mark Esdes CSR Day on 28 April 2026 as part of UCLy's 150th anniversary celebrations, we are inviting all UCLy students to take part in a poetry competition.

In these turbulent times, with their moments of crisis, threat and hope, there are also seeds of redemption and renewal.

Participants should draw inspiration from the following verse from the poem Patmos by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843):

“And yet, where danger is,

there grows also that which saves” 

The poems we are looking for will thus echo Paul Klee's figure of the angel flying towards the future while turning his back on it.

Angelus novus
1920
Jerusalem, Israel Museum
© The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Elie Posner
 
Three prizes will be awarded to the winners, who will read their work aloud in public and on video on 28 April 2026.
We invite you to read the competition rules below: https://www.esdes.fr/ucly-esdes-poetry-competition-2/