London Welsh Literature Festival From Wales, Bloomsbury And Beyond 3rd to 5th October 2013

Thursday 3rd - Saturday 5th October
London Welsh Centre,
157-163 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8UE

This October, Literature Wales will catch the London train to the London Welsh Centre, where the inaugural London Welsh Literature festival will be held. As the hub for promoting social and cultural activity within the Welsh community in London, the Centre will host the very best of Welsh writing across three days in the heart of the city.

As the festival take place during the week of National Poetry Day, they’ll be sending both their Young People’s Laureate for Wales, Martin Daws, and Bardd Plant Cymru, Aneirin Karadog to the centre to meet with school children for a poetry and performance workshop. Both laureates will also join up with poets Joe Dunthorne, Rufus Mufasa and Molly Naylor on the Saturday for an afternoon of quick-paced, punchy performances.

As a preview of Wales-wide and world celebrations of the centenary of Dylan Thomas in 2014, the festival will host an event with Thomas’ granddaughter and honourable Patron of DT100 Hannah Ellis. She’ll be joined by leading Welsh poet and novelist Owen Sheers for this Saturday evening event.

Other highlights of the festival will include a discussion on Welsh identity with this year’s National Eisteddfod Crown winner and former Londoner Ifor ap Glyn, journalist and author Jasper Rees and writer Peter Daniels; a conversation with BBC News presenter Huw Edwards; music from acclaimed string quartet The Kane Players; and an evening to remember the Senghenydd Mining Disaster featuring Boyd Clack.

Click here to read more on this story on the Literature Wales website.

To book tickets for events taking place on Saturday 5th October call 0207 837 3722.

The London Welsh Literature Festival is organised by the London Welsh Centre in partnership with Literature Wales.

National Poetry Day 3rd October 2013

 
National Poetry Day is a nationwide celebration of poetry for everyone, everywhere: from assemblies, bus-queues, cafes, greengrocers, hospitals, ice-rinks to waiting-rooms, yacht clubs and zoos.
It’s a day when poetry slips off its dust-jacket and takes to the streets. It’s a chance for people to use poetry to say things that can’t be said in prose.



This year's theme is ... water and National Poetry Day is Thursday 3rd October 2013.

NPD have seized on Coleridge's great phrase - 'Water, water, everywhere' - as inspiration for this year's National Poetry Day.

Make of it what you will: there are almost as many poems on the subject as there are drops in the sea. We will be posting some of them on this site, together with ideas from you on how to turn water into lines. NPD challenge participants this year to smuggle poetry into the most unlikely places: not just in libraries and classrooms, but on fishing boats and ferries, via postcards, mobile phones and announcements on station platforms.

Check out www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk for lots of ideas and enjoy looking round their new-look site!

Guest Blog from Pete Cardinal Cox, Poet & Writer

For National Poetry Day I was well away from the local poetry scene in blustery Newquay for my Nephew’s wedding. I did however take the opportunity of the long train journey (made longer on the return by having one cancelled) and quiet times in the surfer hostel I stopped in to start a new poetry cycle. At the moment I’m at the stage of sending out the first few fruits of this harvest to see if it has the potential of interest from publications. More on this in later postings, perhaps.
 

One of the other things that I have been writing for a few years now are articles for the local arts cinema. I first went to one of its screenings over thirty years ago (it was a Russian film, halfway through they came out and admitted they had shown the reels in the wrong order) and been a regular attendee for twenty. With every screening they give away a sheet of notes about the cast and crew and an article relating to the film in some way. These articles are usually cribbed from some source or other, production information, for instance. A few years back I thought that for a few films I could try and cobble together an article for them. Good practice for me, something original for them. Some seasons there might only be one film that I’ll contribute something to (this season it was a list of ten British-ish animators to accompany a screening of an Aardman Animation film) but some seasons I might manage a handful.

Unfortunately I have to report another death in the small press scene. Stephen Owen, who edited the quirky and idiosyncratic “4^th Dimension” died earlier this year. He had published work by me in the past and I’d hoped to have that honour again. Our thoughts are with his family.

A magazine that has been going for many years and yet only just come to my attention is the Maidenhead based publication “South”. It recently produced its forty-fifth issue and has an editorial policy that ensures it picks the best poems, not just work from familiar names. To find out more go to its website at www.southpoetry.org

© Pete Cardinal Cox

Our Recommended Poetry Reads for National Poetry Day 2012

‘The Rhyming Rabbit’
By Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks
Published by Macmillan Children’s Books
RRP £6.99 (large format paperback)
ISBN 9780330544016
Reviewed by Lynsey Evans

‘The Rhyming Rabbit’ is yet another fabulous book from the brilliant Julia Donaldson. Join the Rhyming Rabbit on his journey under and overground trying to find someone who’ll appreciate his rhymes, as the other rabbits don’t like them. He meets creatures along the way, such as a worm who can’t hear Rhyming Rabbits poem, to mole who tells him to shut up. The Rhyming Rabbit feels sad until he meets a poetry-loving sheep who makes up rhymes with Rhyming Rabbit.

This is an adorable book, packed full of rhymes, it has a great pace and Rhyming Rabbit finds someone who shares his love of poetry in the end. I love this book, my daughter really enjoyed the adventure and the fantastic illustrations, which even have sparkles on some pages! Anything that encourages the reading and enjoyment of poetry in young children is a winner for me, and I cannot recommended or champion this book enough!!

Very Highly Recommended for pre-school readers +

‘A First Poetry Book’
By Pie Corbett and Gaby Morgan
Published by Macmillan Children’s Books
RRP £6.99 (paperback)
ISBN 9780330543743

The first in a brand-new series of poetry books created with KS1 teachers and students in mind, but packed with glorious poems that will appeal to a wide audience. This topic-based collection features brand-new poems about fairies, mermaids, princesses, monsters, mythical creatures, dinosaurs, pets, transport, families, seasons, school, people who help us, pirates, the senses, space, feelings, holidays and festivals, minibeasts, food, where we live, nature, friends and the past.

Highly recommended for readers aged 5+

‘iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility’
Edited by Allie Esiri and Rachel Kelly
Published by Canongate Books
RRP £20 (hardback)
ISBN 9780857865571

If you need cheering up... If you need guidance... If you want to laugh... If you need courage... Sometimes only a poem will do. In this magical new collection of our best-loved poems, selected and introduced by the creators of the bestselling app iF Poems, discover the joy, solace and beauty of poetry with your family. Whether you're after a poem that is charming, funny, sad, silly, magical, sleepy, long or short, there's something in here for everyone. From Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat to Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade to Eliot's Macavity the Mystery Cat, these are poems to pass down the generations. A favourite poem will stay with you for life, and this beautifully illustrated collection for children aged 0 to 90 is sure to delight and entertain for years to come.

“There is little that is as deeply satisfying than the apt poem. It's like chocolate for the soul. Except less fattening. It resolves the nervous system, captures the elusive experience of being alive so we may always have it and never lose it. Give your child an appetite for poems and they will never be bored” - Helena Bonham Carter on iF Poems

“This gorgeous and electrifying anthology should be on the shelf of every child in Britain” - Carol Ann Duffy

“The iF anthology of poems - both beautiful and useful. What more could anyone want?” --Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times

Highly recommended for readers 11+

Bright new stars: Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2012 announced

National Poetry Day 4^th October 2012

Fifteen bright new stars rise out over the literary landscape with the announcement of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2012 -  taking place on this years’ ‘Stars’ themed National Poetry Day, 4th October.

Young poets aged 11-17 were chosen by judges Helen Mort and Christopher Reid from an enormous constellation of talent; a record 7,351 young poets entered this year from a total of 46 countries. This year’s winners (the 15 Top winners and 85 Commended poets) come from as far as USA, New Zealand, Nigeria and Thailand. With such fierce global competition, to be selected by the judges as one of the top 100 (15 Overall Winners and 85 Commended) is truly to shine out above the rest.

Since it began 15 years ago, the Award has kick-started the career of some of today’s most exciting new voices, including this year’s judge Helen Mort, who first won the award aged just 13. The Award represents a career-changing achievement for many, and it is now firmly established as the key award for young poets aged 11-17. The phrase ‘Former Foyle Young Poet’ is now commonly found in professional biographies as alumni continue to make their mark on the wider literary world, appearing on bookshelves and at festivals the world over.

All 100 winning poets will attend a prize giving ceremony at Royal Festival Hall in London on Thursday 4^th October (National Poetry Day) where they will meet judges Helen Mort and Christopher Reid. The top 15 Foyle Young Poets of the Year will attend a residential writing week at the Hurst Arvon Centre in Shropshire or receive a poet visit to their school (age dependent). All 100 winning poets will receive book prizes and become Youth Members of the Poetry Society, the UK’s leading poetry organisation.

Overall Winners
 
Naomi Hamilton, 16, Northern Ireland, ‘The Wilderness’
Conor Mckee, 17, Kent, ‘Hemingway’s Thirst’
Clare Carlile, 17, Sheffield, ‘The Everyday Hymn’
Tallulah Hutson, 16, London, ‘The Accident’
Abigail Setchfield, 18, Bedford, ‘Reduced’
Emily Burns, 17, Pittsford New York, ‘Minutaie’
Sarah Fletcher, 17, London, ‘Brighton’
Jessica Kelham-Hohler, 17,London, ‘Jim’
Phoebe Stuckes, 16, West Somerset, ‘Reach/Throw/Wade/Row’
Sonja Moore, 16, San Diego USA, ‘The Frame’
Jesse Rodrigues, 13, Maine USA, ‘Fire Knows’
Flora de Falbe, 16, London, ‘Five  things about the lake’
Dillon Leet, 16, London, ‘Birthday Present’
Phoebe Boswall, 17, Kent, ‘Baking’
David Carey, 17, London, ‘The Apple Tree’

For further information on the Award please visit http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/fyp/.

National Poetry Day 2012

This year's National Poetry Day is on Thursday 6th October 2012 and this year's theme is 'Games'.

For free teaching resources and plenty of ideas please visit www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk.

Of course, if you would like to book a poet for your event, for a workshop or performance for National Poetry Day (or any other time!) get in touch at info@bookapoet.co.uk.