BIF - Belgrade Irish Festival

Introducing Ben Keatinge, our Writer-in-Residence for 2026.

An award-winning Irish poet whose work has appeared in The Irish Times and Poetry Ireland Review, Keatinge has been building a deep connection with the Balkans for nearly two decades. He taught literature in North Macedonia, learned the Macedonian language, and travelled extensively across the region — experiences that have shaped his poetry, where history, place, and political memory play a central role.

This time, he comes to Belgrade to begin work on a new cycle of poems dedicated to Nikola Tesla.

“Tesla’s life and personality are suggestively poetic,”

says Ben, and it is precisely this intersection of poetry, history, science, and modernity that will guide his stay in Serbia. During his residency, he looks forward to spending time at the Nikola Tesla Museum, visiting the Ivo Andrić Museum and the Institute for Contemporary History, exploring the city, and reading from his collection Waiting for Goran at the Broz Café: A Balkan Sequence for a local audience.

📍 Join Ben on March 14 at 14:00 at KC Grad, Braće Krsmanović 4.

His residency in Serbia is organized in collaboration with @literatureireland 🍀