Author Archives: FAF Admin

Refugee Action Podcast for NPD

The Expert By Experience podcast gets an episode focused on poetry, and 2023’s National Poetry Day theme, REFUGE Poems penetrate our souls and touch the deepest parts of our hearts the way perhaps thousands of articles or news pieces cannot do so. Poets can communicate emotions directly to many and are an excellent tool for…

Dean Atta’s Poem to Become Animated Short supported by the BFI

To celebrate National Poetry Day, poetry and stop-motions fans are being given the chance to join Dean Atta and the filmmakers of ‘Two Black Boys in Paradise’ at a special crew screening in 2024. This captivating project – which received early development support from actor Ian McKellen – draws inspiration from the poignant words of…

The Story of ‘This Is We’: Finding Refuge in Writing

Amber Lone speaks to National Poetry Day about how Safety4Sisters, an organisation that fights for the rights of migrant women in the North-West, found Refuge in creating a book of poems. “The Safety4Sisters writing group came about after the women they supported asked for an safe space to explore writing.  They began meeting over Zoom,…

Lemn Sissay is a National Poetry Day Ambassador

We are thrilled to welcome Lemn Sissay as an Ambassador for National Poetry Day. Lemn is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has authored collections of poetry and plays and his memoir My Name Is Why was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. “Poetry is the syntax of the soul. Poetry is not a minority sport. It is…

Why we chose to share ‘The Story of Squiddly Diddly’ by Theodora Shillito

Natasha Ryan from the Poetry Society explains why they chose to share the poem ‘The Story of Squiddly Diddly’ by Theodora Shillito – a commended poet in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2020. When The Poetry Society was invited to contribute an educational resource for National Poetry Day, we decided to use…

Why we chose to share ‘Drifted Away, Together’ by Jacob Hill

Jessica Fear from First Story explains why they chose to share the poem ‘Drifted Away, Together’ by Jacob Hill who took part in their creative-writing programme.  The theme of choice is deliciously broad. It is, of course, something we generally take to be positive: more choices are good, fewer choices are bad. Choice is freedom….

Why we chose to share ‘More Pointless Questions’ by John Agard

Charlotte Hacking from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) explains why they chose to share the poem ‘More Pointless Questions’ by John Agard. This poem links perfectly to the National Poetry Day theme of Choice, as it is all about the potential impact of the choices we make as humans on the natural…

Ten Troika Poets Collaborate for National Poetry Day 2021

As National Poetry Day is upon us in less than a month (7 October), we are excited to share some fun children’s resources in collaboration with Troika Books that will make your National Poetry Day the best.    Troika Books is a small independent children’s book publisher set up in 2019, who publish a wide…

National Poetry Day and UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages

2019 was the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages. We teamed up with our partners at Scottish Poetry Library and Literature Wales to bring you these ‘truth’ poems in Manx, Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Gaelic, alongside their English translations.                           The poems are available from…

Dazzle Gradually: A Poetry Anthology for Businesses

Make the most of National Poetry Day in your office: share poetry with your colleagues! Heaven knows, working in an office isn’t easy, and no-one gets on with their colleagues all the time. Add in the stress of budgets and deadlines, and those afternoons when the WiFi goes down, and it’s a wonder any of…

Take This Pen

Be inspired by Tony Walsh’s poem, ‘Take This Pen’, to speak your truth in a poem. Share this video and inspire others: it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you are, poetry creates a space where you can speak your truth. The film, with illustrations from artist Chris Riddell, was created to inspire entrants…