Poetry For a Change Anthology

September 5, 2018

“makes for fascinating reading and gives an excellent insight into what lies behind the poems we enjoy and their writers.” Parents in Touch

“packed with an exciting variety of poems for children by a top team of fantastic poets.” BookTrust

“Irresistible, for all ages.” Guardian

Poetry For a Change is our brand new National Poetry Day anthology, and we’re very proud of it! Published by Otter-Barry Books, it is available now. Featuring artwork by National Poetry Day’s official illustrator for 2018, Chie Hosaka, this is a book to read and enjoy not just on National Poetry Day, but every day of the year and we feel sure it will spark off new poems in the fizzing brains of young readers, writers and performers.

Poetry For a Change features original poems by each of the following poets: Deborah Alma, Joseph Coelho, Marjorie Lotfi Gill, Remi Graves, Brian Moses, Rachel Rooney, Liz Brownlee, John Canfield, Sally Crabtree, Chrissie Gittins, Sophie Herxheimer, Cheryl Moskowitz, Jan Dean, Matt Goodfellow, Michaela Morgan, Abigail Parry, Rachel Piercey, Joshua Seigal, Roger Stevens, Jon Stone and Kate Wakeling.

The introduction features a specially included poem by Imtiaz Dharker, Front Door.

Each featured poet has also chosen a favourite poem to share, providing readers the chance to (re-) discover works by Lola Ridge, Christina Rossetti, W.B. Yeats, Shakespeare and Paul Laurence Dunbar among others at the same time as discovering new and inspirational poems.

We are also delighted that our partners at CLPE have created special teachers notes around the anthology, typically excellent resources to provide a whole school poetry focus. You can find them here.

Don’t forget to let us know how you celebrated National Poetry Day: email photos to us poetryday@forwardartsfoundation.org or simply use the hashtag #NationalPoetryDay on social media.

Find out more about Poetry For a Change.