The next few months look exciting for Global Poetry System as literature organisations around the UK get involved in finding poems in their area through a series of workshops and events.
Southbank Centre has partnered with Apples and Snakes, Academi, Litfest, Wordquake, Verbal Arts Centre, Scottish Poetry Library, Dylan Thomas Centre and NALD to set up projects that help map our poetic landscape.
Some projects have already got underway. Year 6 pupils in Abergavenny have been finding wonderful examples of poetry in the area with the help of Academi. Once these finds are mapped they should ensure that Abergavenny is one of the hottest spots on the GPS map!
Verbal Arts Centre in Derry has also taken to the streets, armed with digital cameras and audio recorders, gathering found poetry during workshops and poetry walks. They’ve even given us a sneak preview of what are some really beautiful pieces! Watch this space.
Dylan Thomas Centre has hosted a poetry evening where audience members made dada poetry from newspaper clippings and by recording their favourite lines of the night in a composite poem. These will be posted on GPS soon.
Lyricist, musician and spoken word poet Ruckus is leading summer workshops to gather poems from the Derby area for Apples and Snakes. This is bound to result in some exciting posts, so looking forward to seeing those.
Staff at Scottish Poetry Library are gearing up for a busy few weeks as they lead poetry walks round Edinburgh, tour other libraries across the city and help GPS make links between poetry around us and poetry online with special ‘Twitterature’ events as part of the West Port Book Festival. GPS hope to be there too, helping people to connect with the site and making the most of exhilarating Edinburgh!
In October , Litfest in Lancaster and Wordquake’s Beverley Literature Festival in Yorkshire will be in full swing. GPS will be a great way for people to be directly involved in the experience of poetry at these festivals, and to map their discoveries.
Ambassadors for NALD met recently at Southbank Centre to discuss GPS and to start thinking of ways they can get people involved in the project. Thanks to all those who responded with poems they had found or remembered themselves.
Filed under: Global Poetry System | Tagged: Academi, Apples and Snakes, Dylan Thomas Centre, Global Poetry System, Litfest, NALD, Scottish Poetry Library, Twestival, Verbal Arts Centre, Wordquake
