The 22nd annual National Poetry Day will take place on Thursday 6 October 2016, promising a mass break-out of poetry and verse in venues and public spaces all around the UK.
Each year schools, groups and ordinary people from across the country are encouraged to “say it with a poem” and this year’s theme is “messages”.
The Scottish Poetry Library are marking the day by giving out 380,000 commemorative poetry postcards to passers-by on the Royal Mile, as well as unveiling the result of their Mixed Messages project which asked the public to phone in and leave answerphone messages to be turned into poetry.
Meanwhile Glasgow Libraries have collaborated with Creative Scotland, Big Issue and various libraries and street venues to host up to 30 poetry reading events all around the city.
The celebration of poetry will continue on social media, where the hashtag #NationalPoetryDay is being used to promote spontaneous, local and online poetry from around the world. Last year J.K Rowling, Professor Stephen Hawking and Ellen Degenerous, among others, marked the day with a tweet.
National Poetry Day is organised by the Forward Arts Foundation and was launched in 1994. The foundation also awards the Forward Prizes for Poetry, the nominees of which have been commissioned to write poetry on this year’s “messages” theme.
To register a National Poetry Day event and find out more about this year’s programme, visit their website.
Reporter and Student Journalist at Edinburgh Napier University.
