The Royal Mail is postmarking millions of items of mail nationwide with
National Poetry Day on 6 October: an honour reserved only for special occasions and significant events.
St Pancras International station is to become Poetry Central for the day, in partnership with the
Betjeman Poetry Prize, Poet in the City and Maslaha.
Poetry-printed train tickets will be distributed to travellers and poet
storytellers will be stationed throughout St Pancras engaging passing
commuters and visitors in immersive poetry experiences
using new and old Landais (a form of poetry written in Afghanistan).The Betjeman prize-giving
this afternoon, hosted by poet Imtiaz Dharker, will see six young talents recite their work, alongside a reading from
Joanna Lumley. The evening will bring live poetry pop-ups, interactive events, and performances from poets
Bridget Minamore and Sabrina Mahfouz. London’s underground stations –
notably Covent Garden and Oval – will be sharing poems with travellers throughout the day.
In Staffordshire, Sally Crabtree, the world’s first
Poetry Postie, is using carrier pigeons to fly verse across the
skies. In Edinburgh, a highly unusual answerphone is turning anonymous
messages into poems: in Bradford, poetry films will feature on the
Bradford Big Screen in Centenary Square, while in
Antarctica, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey will share a
climate change poem by
Nancy Campbell with the only audience available for miles: penguins.
In Wales four young poets will
be locked up to compose 100 poems in twenty four hours, on subjects
chosen by the public. The participants in Literature Wales’
Her 100 Cerdd will take suggestions via social media and BBC Radio Cymru, posting the results online.
In Scotland, 380,000 poetry postcards have been given away by the
Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, while in Glasgow, the Big Issue
is working with Glasgow Libraries to mobilise poets, librarians, street vendors and
Creative Scotland colleagues to give poetry readings at 30 different locations around the city.
In Northern Ireland, Funeral Services Northern Ireland celebrates National Poetry Day with the finals of the
Ireland National Poetry competition at the Parliament Buildings in Stormont.
“A poem can reach places that prose just can’t” says
Susannah Herbert, National Poetry Day director. “That’s why we’re
inviting all with anything important to say today, to say it with a
poem. It can be new or old, utterly original or a familiar favourite. It
can be deep and dark, funny or memorable. By
enjoying, discovering or sharing a poem – words that draw attention to
themselves - you change the nature of the national conversation.”
Expect impromptu pop-up poetry
festivals in thousands of unexpected places, from shops, streets and
offices to doctors’ waiting rooms and postal sorting offices. J K
Rowling, Paul McCartney, Stephen Hawking, George RR
Martin and Ellen DeGeneres are among the hundreds of thousands of
poetry-lovers who last year shared poems they loved on National Poetry
Day via Twitter. The hashtag #nationalpoetryday had a 522 million
reach, trending across the globe on the day.
National Poetry Day is
co-ordinated by the Forward Arts Foundation, a charity that celebrates
poetry and promotes it as part of everyday life.
With Macmillan Children’s Books,
it has nominated 14 poets as National Poetry Day Ambassadors, with
special responsibility for igniting enthusiasm nationwide by visiting
schools, organizing events and competitions and
writing new work on the theme of Messages. Their new poems have been
collected as a
free downloadable eBook Messages: A National Poetry Day Book
available from the National Poetry Day website, alongside posters,
lesson plans and specially commissioned ‘Say it with a poem’ images from
artist Sophie Herxheimer.
or join the conversation #NationalPoetryDay on:
Twitter @PoetryDayUK
Instagram: nationalpoetryday
PARTNERS
Forward Arts Foundation (FAF) is
the independent charity behind National Poetry Day and the Forward
Prize. It is supported by Arts Council England.
England’s leading organisation
for performance poetry and spoken word has a national reputation for
producing exciting, engaging and transformative work in performance and
participation.
The Centre for Literacy in
Primary Education (CLPE) believes that poetry is a fundamental element
in the development of children’s literacy. It supports teachers with
free teaching resources and run a shadowing scheme
alongside its children’s poetry award, CLiPPA.
First Story brings talented,
professional writers into secondary schools serving low-income
communities to work with teachers and students to foster creativity and
communication skills.
Literature Wales is the National
Company for the development of literature in Wales. Its many projects
and activities include Wales Book of the Year, an annual Literary
Tourism programme, the National Poet of Wales and
Young People's Laureate for Wales.
A leading UK poetry charity that
programmes over 40 live poetry events a year, promotes poetry to new
audiences and makes new connections for the art form.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a
national resource and advocate for the art of poetry, with a special
focus on Scottish poetry. It distributes 300,000 poem postcards around
Scotland for National Poetry Day each year.
The UK’s largest arts centre,
occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant
cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. It is the home of
live literature in the UK, with a thriving year-round
programme of readings, talks and events unrivalled by any other
organisation in the capital.
The UK’s largest provider of
poetry education, providing inspirational teaching and ways to share
poems with other supportive poets
Founded in 1909, the Poetry
Society aims to advance the study, use and enjoyment of poetry, and
publishes the leading poetry magazine, Poetry Review. The Society also
runs the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, Young
Poets Network, the National Poetry Competition and the Ted Hughes Award
for New Work in Poetry.
NATIONAL POETRY DAY EDUCATION RESOURCES
National Poetry Day education resources, available online at
www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk,
includes free downloadable activity packs for libraries, teachers and
parents, encouraging children to write, read and share poetry. The
exercises relate to the National Poetry Day
2016 theme of messages, and have been prepared by a variety of
organisations including Apples and Snakes, First Story, CLPE, Literature
Wales and the Poetry School.
