Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance, according to the legendary poet Carl Sandburg. The four leading poets who are with us today – Marius Burokas (editor-in-chief of the Vilnius Review, and a poet from Lithuania whose work has been translated into several languages), Guy Helminger (an award-winning poet, playwrite and novelist from Luxembourg), Yu Youyou (a young rising star in China’s poetry scene), and Zhai Yongming (a legendary Chengdu poet who was described by an international award jury as “one of today’s greatest international poets”) – come from very different backgrounds but they are united in their ability to paint vivid pictures with words, and to create those echoes that invite shadows to dance. They will share some of their favourite work and discuss what it means to be a poet in the world today.