National Poetry Day 5 October

The theme for this year’s National Poetry Day is ‘Refuge’. National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration on the first Thursday of October that encourages everyone to make, experience and share poetry with family and friends. Each year we come together because voices, words and stories help to bridge understanding in our community.

• 66.5% of children and young people agreed that writing poetry made them feel better during lockdown. The National Literacy Trust (2020)
• Poetry is an important vehicle to explore individual identity and the identity of others. CLPE The Power of Poetry (2017)
• More than half of children and young people surveyed (54%) told us they do not currently engage with poetry. The National Literacy Trust (2018)
• Poetry is the most common way for secondary students to encounter a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic author and single poems are the easiest texts to insert into the curriculum. The Runnymede Trust and Penguin Random House Lit in Colour Report (2020)

The National Poetry Day campaign aims to showcase new voices and celebrate diversity; to promote the vital role that poetry plays in all our lives – poetry has the power to bring people and communities together and to foster love of language and the sharing of poetry.