Poetry on the street and at home
Poetry has the power to reveal the breadth and depth of the human experience. By encouraging people to engage with poetry as writers or readers, this initiative invites everyone to share ideas and experiences related to identity, belonging, and living together. From submitting a poem and voting for a favourite to discovering and experiencing poetry throughout Utrecht, there are many ways to participate and reflect on what it means to feel at home.
Street poetry invites you to pause and reflect.
Poetry/ Spoken Word Competition - Utrecht: Your place, your words
What does feeling at home and living together in Utrecht mean to you? Through Utrecht: Your place, your words, you were invited to reflect on that question by submitting a poem or spoken word piece.
To ensure that everyone could participate, submissions were divided into two age categories: 18 years and younger and older than 18 years.
The competition is now closed.
Be inspired by street poetry
In the Netherlands, poetry is literally on the streets, including in Utrecht and the surrounding area. Take a look at Straatpoëzie (in Dutch) and go explore the street poetry walks (also in Dutch) by our master students.
Poems selected from the Utrecht: your place, your words competition will be presented at the University Library City Centre during the Lustrum Festival on 12 September 2026, and displayed at locations throughout the city and region for the rest of the year.
Find all upcoming activities and exhibitions listed here as events.
Language is the key to an accessible society and citizenship.
About the initiative
Poetry on the street and home has been made possible in part through the support of Institutions for Open Societies and the support of project initiators Kila van der Starre and Hanneke van Eijken.