For National Poetry Day 2017 in association with Frances Lincoln and Amnesty International UK, we ran a special competition asking children to write a poem inspired by the theme of Freedom, and in particular John Lennon’s immortal song Imagine, which is now the basis for a beautiful picture book, illustrated by Jean Jullien. Thank you…
A free poetry anthology of wonderful poems – old and new – on the theme of “freedom”. 17 of the poets in this eBook – created by Macmillan Children’s Books with Forward Arts Foundation – are National Poetry Day Ambassadors. This crack team of poets are out on poetry business every day of the year,…
This year, National Poetry Day will be launched from Hull, in honour of its status as city of culture. Hull, with its proud abolitionist history, via celebrated son William Wilberforce, is also behind this year’s NPD theme: FREEDOM. In May, the Hull No Limits Learning team invited National Poetry Day to run a poetry festival…
Poet, short-story writer, bookseller and vlogger Jen Campbell shows us how to share poems on National Poetry Day.
Guest continuity announcers took over Channel 4’s on-air continuity on 6th October 2016 as the broadcaster celebrated National Poetry Day. The clips below feature Vahni Capildeo, Nancy Campbell and Devika Seasons. Also featured are eighteen-year-old Vivien Urban, from Hungary and nineteen-year-old Shukria Rezaei from Afghanistan. After moving to the UK at the ages of 11 (Vivien) and…
BBC Local Radio and the Forward Arts Foundation, along with the 40 stations of BBC local radio in England, marked National Poetry Day 2016 by each broadcasting a poem commissioned from 40 #BBCLocalPoets. Each poet adopted the voice of a characteristic local landmark or mascot: from Lincolnshire sausage (Gemma Baker, BBC Radio Lincolnshire) to Essex’s infamous A12…
We’ve created 16 shareable slides of poetry so you can say it with a poem all over social media on #NationalPoetryDay.
National Poetry Day and the BBC are joining forces this year to discover and celebrate the nation’s great local words in 12 specially commissioned poems – one for each of the 12 BBC regions in England. From today and taking their cue from National Poetry Day’s 2017 theme – Freedom – BBC Local Radio across…
Our partners at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) have announced the 2017 shortlist for the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA). This is the 15th anniversary of the CLiPPA which encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children. This year’s shortlist reflects the breadth and depth of poetry for children…
Since 2014, writers Imogen Lycett Green and Barbara Doherty have pioneered the use of poetry in Narrative Workshops at the Brighton Health & Wellbeing centre, an integrated NHS practice in East Sussex. Reading, discussion and expressive writing in response to poetry have been proven to increase emotionaland physical resilience. Narrative Workshops help people who are…
Poetry sales continued to grow in 2017 ahead of World Poetry Day (21 March), with writers driving interest on social media a possible reason reports The Bookseller.
Annual sales of poetry books are set to surpass £10m for the first time since records began. Read about it on The Bookseller.
Poems from 18 year-old Vivien Urban and 19 year-old Shukria Rezaei will replace the introduction on the Channel 4 idents throughout the day. Please read here.
National Poetry Day and BBC Local Radio have teamed up to challenge stereotypes and celebrate the distinctive natures of the regions that together compose the United Kingdom. From now, inspired by National Poetry Day’s 2019 theme of Truth, BBC Local Radio stations from Derby to Devon, Lancashire to London, plus BBC Radio Wales and Scotland,…
HRH The Prince of Wales will launch National Poetry Day Celebrations with a reading of Seamus Heaney’s poem The Shipping Forecast. Please read here.
The Prince of Wales, Joanna Lumley and PJ Harvey and 40 BBC Local Radio poets get ready to enjoy, discover and share poetry. Please read here.
Hear HRH Prince Charles launched National Poetry Day 2016 with a reading of ‘The Shipping Forecast’ by Seamus Heaney HRH The Prince of Wales celebrated National Poetry Day 2016 with a reading of one of Seamus Heaney’s poems, ‘The Shipping Forecast’, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. The recording was been specially created for Seamus…
Hear extraordinary personal journeys and discover some of the newest and brightest poets from across the globe. Please read here.
Forward Arts Foundations commissions new poems from the five poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection. Poets were invited to respond to the National Poetry Day 2016 theme of ‘messages’. The Felix Denis Prize for Best First Collection celebrates the best books of poetry from new poets publishing in the UK. The prize…
5 October 2016 National Poetry Day calls on the nation to “say it with a poem”. Press release here.
Forward Arts Foundation asked the poets shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection to create a new poem on the theme of ‘messages’ to celebrate National Poetry Day 2016. Not only did the poets respond with written poems, they sent us audio recordings, films and a digital text generating engine! Download as PDF file…
Free The Word on National Poetry Day This year, we celebrate the poetry in England and Scotland’s favourite local words through National Poetry Day, which worked with the BBC, Hull City of Culture and 13 poets on the creation of 13 new poems. Each poem riffs on a different dialect word that deserves to be…
Forward Art’s Foundation and Macmillan Children’s Books have created ‘Messages: A National Poetry Day Book’ to celebrate National Poetry Day 2016 and encourage readers to ‘say it with a poem’. Fourteen National Poetry Day ambassadors have contributed new poems and nominated old favourites, including Matt Goodfellow, Rachel McCrum, Deborah Alma, Brian Moses, Liz Brownlee, Michaela…
29 August 2016 National Poetry Day calls on the nation to “say it with a poem”. Press release here.
WIN a National Poetry Day schools kit – posters, badges and books In schools all over the country it’s the day when poetry breaks out of the classroom into the corridors, the canteen, the sports field, and beyond. To kick-start the countdown, we’re offering schools all over the UK the chance to win a special…
A free poetry anthology of wonderful poems – old and new – on the theme of “messages”. The fourteen poets in this eBook – created by Macmillan Children’s Books with Forward Arts Foundation – were all National Poetry Ambassadors. Download: mobi file (Kindle) epub file PDF file Contributors include: Deborah Alma, Liz Brownlee, Paul Cookson,…