Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, June 18, 2026 – Puerto Vallarta’s International Poetry Week is giving part of its stage to young local writers today, with the presentation of Letters from Vallarta Teenagers, an anthology of 22 stories and narratives written by students in the city.
The festival began Monday, June 15, and continues through Sunday, June 21, with readings, workshops, school visits, music, and public poetry events in Puerto Vallarta.
The anthology is part of Thursday’s program and grew out of the “Hazle al cuento” writing workshop, a local project connected to classroom reading and writing work.
A festival reaches beyond the stage
For many readers, Poetry Week may sound like a downtown cultural event. This year’s program is also moving through classrooms, where visiting poets have been meeting with secondary school students.
That is where this story becomes more local. The week is not only bringing writers to Puerto Vallarta. It is placing Vallarta students inside the literary conversation.
The student anthology, Letras de adolescentes vallartenses, in Spanish, collects stories and narratives from young writers who participated in the workshop and a school literacy calendar. The project was coordinated by Puerto Vallarta poet and educator Raúl Gibrán, who has become one of the city’s most active promoters of local literature.
Gibrán told students he could not take them on his travels, but he could bring the poets he met along the way into their schools. That line fits the spirit of the week: make literature feel close enough to touch.
The student work gives the week a local center
Puerto Vallarta’s first International Poetry Festival has included poets from Mexico and abroad, with public activities scheduled from June 15 to 21. Earlier festival announcements listed Los Arcos del Malecón as the opening site, with free admission and readings from national and international writers.
PVDN reported before the festival opened that the program was designed as a free cultural week, not a closed literary conference. That public-access approach matters in a city where many cultural events compete with beach tourism, private venues, and short-stay entertainment.
The student anthology adds something different. A public reading can fill an evening. A printed collection gives young writers something they can keep, share, and point to later.
The week’s school activities have also brought students into contact with writers, music, storytelling, and poetry as a living practice. Students have been introduced to classic and contemporary voices, including Rosario Castellanos, César Vallejo, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Ramón López Velarde, Hugo Gutiérrez Vega, Luis Armenta Malpica, and Mario Bojórquez.
A mural honoring Bojórquez was also unveiled at Escuela Secundaria General 105 as part of the week’s activities.
Puerto Vallarta’s literary scene is becoming more visible
Puerto Vallarta is more often described in terms of tourism, beaches, food, and public festivals. Poetry Week shows another part of the city’s cultural life, one that has been growing through teachers, local writers, reading rooms, workshops, and school projects.
Gibrán’s role in that work is not new. His publisher, Mantis Editores, describes him as a Puerto Vallarta-born poet, professor, and reading mediator whose work has reached readers beyond Mexico.
That background helps explain why this festival has placed schools inside the program, rather than treating them as an afterthought.
The festival continues through Sunday, June 21. Anyone planning to attend the remaining events should confirm the latest schedule via the Festival Internacional de Poesía Puerto Vallarta or the Instituto Vallartense de Cultura channels, as times and venues for multi-day cultural programs can change.
