2024 marks the 940thanniversary of the birth of Li Qingzhao (1084-c.1155), one of the best known female writers in Chinese history.

To commemorate the famous Song Dynasty (960-1279) poetess, the 1st International Qingzhao Poetry and Arts Festival will be held between June 20 and 27 at the poet's birthplace, today's Zhangqiu district of Jinan in Shandong province, according to a news conference on Wednesday.

Themed on "What Springs Forth", the weeklong event will take place at the Zhangqiu Mingshui Ancient City, a newly opened tourist destination where Li's former residence is located, with dozens of springs gushing all year round.

During the festival, renowned poets, artists, critics, and translators from home and abroad will gather at the ancient city to engage in a wide array of activities, including poetry readings, academic seminars, and international poetry salons, according to the event organizers Jinan Zhangqiu Mingshui Ancient City Tourism Development Co Ltd and the Dingdu Cultural Arts Foundation.

Highlighting poetry as a medium connecting various art forms, the festival also encompasses painting, music, theater, and cinema, whose content embodies poeticness, said Weng Yunpeng, curator of the festival.

"We hope to build Qingzhao Poetry and Arts Festival into a rich, multifaceted event which engage and resonate with various groups of audiences," he said.

Therefore, a host of public-facing activities, including poetry theaters, poetry and folk music concerts, poetry film screenings, art exhibitions and a poetry market, will be held during the event.

With a focus on freshness, experimentation, and futurism, the festival's organizing committee has designed a series of programs for young people. For example, artist-in-residence opportunities will be provided for young artists, poetry workshops will be held for youngsters to pique their interest in poetry writing and appreciation, and two poetry awards for young poets and university students will be presented after meticulous selection.

"Regarding the young poet awards, we'd better not make it a general award for good poets or poetry achievements," said the festival's academic director Jiang Tao, a Chinese language professor at Peking University, via a video speech at the news conference.

"Instead, we should use our judging process to discover and reward those who have true breakthroughs in concepts, aesthetics, language, and even in terms of the relationship between poetry and society, as well as those who can truly alter the scenery of and even break new ground in the existing landscape of contemporary poetry," he added.

Meanwhile, international poets and translators such as Eleanor Goodman, Nick Admussen and Li Jinjia will be invited to attend the festival and translation workshops on promoting translation between Chinese poetry and poetry of foreign languages will be held during the event.

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