A sound file of Helena Bonham Carter reading ‘Battle of the Sexes‘ from Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, by Liz Brownlee, Jan Dean and Michaela Morgan, and A Poem for Every Day of the Year ed. by Allie Esiri.
Category: Uncategorized
Live Canon Children’s Poetry Competition
Children! School teachers! Live Canon have a Children’s Poetry Competition for young people aged 5-18 – the deadline is January 21st, 2018.
Entries are judged in four categories by school year: years 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-13.
Poems can be entered by individuals, or by schools.
100 winning poems will be published in their 2018 children’s anthology and all contributors will receive a complimentary copy. The winner in each age category will receive a £50 book token. There’s also a prize for the school who send the best set of entries.
Details here: Live Canon Poetry Competition
Animation Workshop Inspired by the Famous Children’s Poems of Colin West
6 children aged 9-12 had an amazing opportunity – making short animation films inspired by Colin West’s great poems for children. Facilitated by BAFTA – winner animator Nandita Jain and award-winning filmmaker Helmie Stil. Each film premiered on a big screen during the Filmpoem Festival at Depot cinema in Lewes.
It’s National Poetry Day!
Come and see all the poems and poetry videos we have for you!
Freedom Poem for National Poetry Day by Liz Brownlee
Shape Poem Competition Date Extended
The Poetry Society’s Young Poets’ Network are asking for shape poems – and the deadline has been extended! Details here: Shape Poem Competition.
14 or under? Shape Poem Competition Reminder!
Don’t forget the Foyle Young Poets’ competition challenge ends this Sunday. All details on the Young Poets Network.
Haiku for Young People
Haiku are poems written with a limited number of syllables (not necessarily 5-7-5, fewer is often better), in the present tense, comparing sensory images of nature. There are no opinions or judgements from the author – limited adjectives, and mostly no adverbs, similes, metaphors or personification. They do not rhyme.
They can capture your heart, transporting you to the reality of that moment for the poet. The haiku is not complete, until it is read and understood by the reader.
Alan Summers is a Japanese poetry expert, a widely published and translated haiku poet, and a tutor & workshop leader. I have done workshops with Alan – he has a quietly extraordinary way of inspiring the ability to write haiku! (Which, in my case, mostly disappears a few hours later!)
Alan and his talented wife, Karen Hoy, have kindly sent some young people-accessible haiku.
painting fences
a wish to be the green
of dragons
Alan Summers
northern lights
a boy makes a ladder
out of his telescope
Alan Summers
almost lost
in the shimmer of water
several ducklings
Alan Summers
woodfire
flickering in the silence
corralled horses
Alan Summers
Kilimanjaro
looking for the peak
and then looking higher
Karen Hoy
Publications credits for haiku in order:
Alan Summers: Brass Bell theme: Colorful Haiku (May 2017)
Alan Summers: Blithe Spirit 24.3 (August 2014)
Alan Summers: Presence 42 (2010) (This haiku was hand carved into a river boulder on the Haiku Pathway, Katikati, North Island, New Zealand.)
Alan Summers: Modern Haiku vol. xxvi no. 3 (USA 1995)
Karen Hoy: Part of This Lion Country sequence (Serengeti) Presence issue 57 March 2017 ISSN 1366-5367
Wanted – A Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate!
Could you be Young Poet Laureate?
Applications are open for Young Poet Laureate 2018
Are you aged 13 – 17?
Would you like to develop your poetry writing skills?
Could you perform to audiences?
Then apply to be Warwickshire’s Young Poet Laureate.
The position of Young Poet Laureate is unique, giving the appointed person an opportunity to work with Warwickshire Libraries.
Our poet laureate takes part in events and activities across the county under the mentorship of a professional poet.
Warwickshire Young Poet Laureates have performed on the radio, on film, at festivals and led their own poetry workshops.”
Details here: Warwickshire Libraries.
Young Poets’ Competition!
Calling all young poets, the #ArtSpeaks competition is now open. £500 prize for the best poem inspired by Art UK http://bit.ly/2sGgznK
See Art Uk’s Twitter: @artukdotorg
Poetry Roundabout 