The Hebrew word for ‘address’ is Ketovet, which is also the name of the diverse band of poets who founded Poetry Place: Shai Dotan, Gilad Meiri, Lyor Shternberg, Dorit Weisman and Ariel Zinder, who have many books to their credit and are the winners of numerous literary prizes.

In addition, the group now serves as a cooperative national editor for the Israeli pages of the Poetry International Web, a Dutch Internet project for world poetry in translation (and a sister project of the veteran Rotterdam Poetry Festival), working with English editor, the poet and translator Lisa Katz.
http://international.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=5
Poetry Place has not served as a private address, exclusive to the members of Ketovet, but as a nurturer of Israeli poetry, and a conduit to world poetry; joining PIW is a natural step toward the Poetry Place's goal of “spearheading cultural and social change, which includes changing attitudes toward poetry and poets”.

A bit of history: beginning in 2002, the Poetry Place has offered low-cost poetry workshops in Jerusalem, as well as writing workshops for people with special needs, whether psychological or physical, which are now run countrywide, and workshops designed for at-risk youth through the local municipal juvenile affairs department.

Once a month Poetry Place holds a free, three-hour-long workshop for the general public, offering writing practice and poetry discussions. The workshops draw a wide variety of participants, reflecting the pluralism of the Poetry Place. They include residents of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods: religious and secular, young and elderly.

The Poetry Place is a venue for poetry readings by veteran and new Israeli poets and translators, and discussions about poetry, most often punctuated by musical performances. In 2009-2010, its Poetry Encounters Series invited audiences to listen to and question Israeli poets as varied as Ronny Someck, Miron Isaacson, Yudit Shahar, Agi Mishol and Dori Manor.   And it has an international reach, in May 2010 hosting Polish poet Tomasz Jastrun, winner of the 1983 "S Prize" from Underground Solidarity for his poetry during Poland's martial law period in the early 1980's; and in previous years, pairing Polish poet Adam Zagajewski with musical interludes by Jerusalem native Jasmine Levy, a young singer of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) music – a surprising match that delighted both sides, as well as the overflowing audience – and on other occasions, New Zealand poet Tusiata Avia, and the Catalan poet Joan Margarit.


The Poetry Place occupies a unique spot in Israel's literary landscape, and especially in Jerusalem's inner city life, combining the cultivation of an appreciation for poetry, support for disadvantaged sectors of society, and the fostering of culture in Jerusalem's urban center. It has a well-defined contemporary, literary-cultural agenda, which it promotes through participating in numerous literary and arts festivals, leading workshops for creative writing, and publishing critical essays on its website. The Poetry Place has provided a warm and welcoming home for lovers of poetry since it was founded in 2002.

Summary of Poetry Place Activities since 2002

Regular Poetry Readings have been held each month in the Lev Ha'ir Community Center. The Poetry Place is a much sought-after platform for Israel's poets, not only because of the consistently high quality of its events, but also because of the large and discriminating audience that attends our evenings, and the regularity of our poetry evenings. These evenings are open and free to the public, in accordance with our agenda.

Workshop Series: In the course of 2006, for example, we conducted 15 writing workshops and master classes, and we continue to do so to date. This is an unprecedented number of writing workshops for Jerusalem. Some of those attending have special needs whether psychological or physical; some workshops are designed for at-risk youth (in Jerusalem and Holon through the local municipal juvenile affairs department) and more. Each year several of our graduates are accepted into the prestigious "Helicon" Poetry Workshops.

Reading and Writing: Once a month we hold a three-hour-long workshop for the general public, offering writing practice and poetry discussions. Some participants make the trip to Jerusalem to attend the workshop, from locations as far as Hadera.

Festivals: The Poetry Place has produced multimedia poetry events and poetry readings as part of the International Jerusalem Poetry Festival (2003, 2006); the Metulla Poetry Festival (2006); the Hakhel Succot Festival (2002, 2005, 2006); Poetry Days in the Desert at Sdeh Boker (2002-2006, 2009); the Sound of the Word by the Hazira multimedia stage (in 2005-2007 as co-coordinators); and the Women's Festival in Holon (2006).

Our Website: The leading Internet literary journal in Israel, it has operated regularly for the past three years. More than three thousand people visit the site each month. It is the only literary site in Israel that regularly publishes poetry criticism each month. One of the site's features is an exhibit of Portrait-Poems (portraits of poets alongside their signature poems). An exhibit was formerly on display at the Lev Ha'ir Community Center.

Street Poetry 2006: The Poetry Place was among the initiators of this project. The Ketovet group served as the project's literary editorial board.

Poetry in the Community: The Poetry Place holds literary-social events throughout the year, both in Jerusalem and in development towns in the Negev (Yerocham, Mitzpeh Ramon and others), which include poetry reading evenings and workshops, all free to the public.

Television Magazine Program: A 29-minute pilot for a TV series on poets was created featuring one of Israel's leading poets, Agi Mishol. It has been screened at poetry festivals and on community cable television.

Ketovet Poetry Collections: 2010 saw the publication of the second edition of the Ketovet Hebrew poetry journal. In 2008, Even Hoshen Press published an anthology of original work by the members of Ketovet.