Final of the Poetry Tournament 2026

After two semifinal tournaments held on April 10 at the Knjižnica Kočevje and on April 24 at AKC NAMA, twelve poets advanced to the finale of the Poetry Tournament, where they will compete for the title of Knight or Lady of Poetry.

The finalists are:

• Anja GRMOVŠEK DRAB (Škofljica)

• Samo KREUTZ (Ljubljana)

• Milan NOVAK (Maribor)

• Klemen PISK (Tržič)

• Enja PODBOJ (Mirna)

• Alja PUŠIČ (Maribor)

• Sanja REJC (Spodnja Idrija)

• Peter REZMAN (Plešivec)

• Vesna ŠARE (Zreče)

• Štefan TITAN (Tropovci)

• Helena ZEMLJIČ (Metlika)

• Barbara ŽVIRC (Prevalje)

The guest poet will be last year’s Knight of Poetry, Jure Jakob. The event will be hosted by Nino Flisar, the project coordinator, and Alenka Jovanovski.

The expert jury, consisting of Dr. Irena Novak Popov, Dr. David Bedrač, and Franci Novak, will select the Knight or Lady of Poetry, who will permanently receive a hand-forged rose created by artistic blacksmith Miha Krištof, a cash prize of €1,000, and a book gift. The audience will also choose their favorite poet through a public vote.

On this occasion, an anthology of the finalist poems will be published and gifted to all visitors.

Organizers: Klub kulturnih ustvarjalcev KU KU, Kreacija s.p.