Letter from the Director: Winter 2007/8

With a distinct sense of wonder and adventure, 28 poets approached the gates of Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 16th of October and were directed in to the red-carpeted entrance. What followed was rather extraordinary: six grand rooms in the Palace – the Ball Supper Room, the State Dining Room, the Blue Drawing Room, The Music Room, the White Drawing Room and the Green Drawing Room – slowly filled up with 200 schoolchildren and the poets, in pairs, proceeded to engage them for an hour and a half of writing, reading and reciting poetry.

What was the day for, you might ask? Each year, Buckingham Palace opens its doors to bring in school children to experience a themed day, including a reception with the Queen. Last year, the theme was Music, and the previous year saw a day devoted to Science. This year, it was “Poetry Day at the Palace”. In advance of the day itself, pupils were presented with images of five objects from the Royal Collection. They used these objects as inspiration for an original poem which they then brought with them. As for our role, the Poetry Society arranged for 28 poets to come into Buckingham Palace – 14 established poets were paired up with 14 talented young poets whom we selected from previous winners of our Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and Londonwide Slam Championship projects. Together, they led workshops focusing on the redrafting and performance of poems.
    
After an inspirational morning, we gathered in the Grand Ballroom for a reading by poet laureate Andrew Motion, followed by young poets Jay Bernard, Kayo Chingonyi and Helen Mort. Professor Motion then invited the audience to proceed into the Picture Gallery where they were greeted by Her Majesty the Queen. It seemed as if most of the young people in the room enjoyed a few words with the Queen; it took 45 minutes for her to make her way through and at the end she graciously awarded one of the young budding poets a prize for the most interesting poem, selected by the Poetry Society and Professor Motion.

For me it was a rare treat to see professional poets at work, and understand the power that language can affect on young people's imaginations. As we move on to greet the new year I'd like to welcome two new Trustees to the Poetry Society board, Robyn Bolam and John Richmond, both of whom will contribute skills in education policy, libraries and media as well as their insights as poets. I would also like to thank the outgoing Trustees – Keith Bennett, Colette Bryce and Edmund Matyjaszek – for their time committed to the Poetry Society, and wish them well in their future work.

The new year also sees our Publications Manager Janet Phillips return after her maternity leave with new family member Imogen! We are grateful to the excellent cover provided by David Sharpe, whom we are sorry to see depart but wish him well – and hope to build new relationships with him – in his new post as Production/Design Editor of Library and Information Update at CILIP. 

On to 2008 – National Year of Reading (and this includes poetry as much as possible, so do jump on board that campaign in your region); National Poetry Day has already announced its theme of “Work” and a date of 9th October 2008 – the 2nd Thursday of the month; count-down and run-up to our centenary; and an exciting year of events launched on the 31st of January with our Annual Lecture by Eavan Boland. Hope to see you at some point along the way, thank you for continuing to support the work of the Poetry Society with your membership.  It makes a lovely, thoughtful holiday or year-round gift as well!