March 21st is World Poetry Day, an annual celebration of poems and poets adopted by UNESCO.
In 1999, during its 30th General Conference in Paris, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared March 21st as World Poetry Day. The aims are to support “linguistic diversity through poetic expression” as well as increase “the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.”
World Poetry Day is the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.
UNESCO, World Poetry Day
Reference:
World Poetry Day. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2019 from https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpoetryday.