The School of Humanities and Social Sciences the First congress Spanish Poetry Journals (1976–2026)

On April 16 and 17, the First congress Spanish Poetry Magazines (1976–2026) was held to mark the 50th anniversary of Río Arga. Poetry Magazine, which has been published continuously in Pamplona since 1976, making it the longest-running poetry magazine in Spain. The meeting co-organized by the magazine, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Navarra, and the Diario de Navarra Foundation.

The University of Navarra hosted the morning sessions of meeting, while the afternoon sessions took place at the Nuevo Casino Principal. The congress, which featured prominent academics and poets from the current literary scene, was organized around seven presentations and six roundtable discussions (“50 Years of Illustrators from Río Arga, ”“Poetry Magazines of Northern Spain,” “Navarran Magazines,” “Poetry Magazines of Southern Spain,”“Río Arga: History and developmentand “Culture and the Media”). The academic activities were rounded out with a recital by young poets, serving as a prelude, and a colloquium the “Relationship Between Journalism and Politics,” featuring Julián Quirós, director ABC, and Miguel Ángel Riezu, director Diario de Navarra.

The opening ceremony of congress, presided over by Julia Pavón, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, featured Luis Colina, secretary of the Diario de Navarra Foundation, and Juan Ramón Corpas Mauleón, director Río Arga. In her presentation remarks, the dean emphasized that “magazines have been—and continue to be—laboratories of freedom: fragile yet enduring spaces where poetry tests its future. Within them beats a cultural history that does not always appear in textbooks, but which has sustained entire generations of readers and writers.” She also underscored the importance of meeting a forum for “recognizing poetry’s capacity to create meaning.”