A lot has happened since my last blog post. First, we were granted funding by Arts Council England for a further two years - hooray! And our final report for 2017-2019 was accepted. Preparing funding bids and final reports takes a lot of time, but all the hard work has paid off, and we'll be providing poetry events and activities through public libraries in the West Midlands for a while longer.
We've chosen our next lot of poems for poetry postcards, and these will be in your libraries from early October. And we're about to start judging the 2019 poetry competition - 99 entries this year!
Summer is a quiet time for Poetry on Loan, but it's back with a vengeance now. Here are some events to look out for:
14-Sep-19 lunchtime Brierley Hill Library, Dudley: Poetry walk around town with Emma Purshouse
14-Sep-19 11 - 2 Bell Green Library, Coventry: Poetry on demand / talk / performance - whatever seems right - by Spoz
3-Oct-19 7:30 - 8:30 Hereford Central Library: Poetry postcards launch part 1, with Jeff Pehlpes, Sarah leavelsey, Emma Purshouse and Brenda Read-Brown
3-Oct-19 4:30 onwards Balsall Common Library: School performance with a slot from Spoz
8-Oct-19 all day Coundon and Jubilee libraries, Coventry: Poetry on demand with SPoz
9-Oct-19 7 pm Stourbridge Library: The Pandemonialists (Emma Purshouse, Steve Pottinger and Dave Pitt) play Pass the Poem Parcel
10-Oct-19 10 - 1pm Core Central Library, Solihull: Poetry on demand with Spoz and Brenda Read-Brown
12-Oct-19 10:30 City Central Library Hanley (stoke-on-Trent): Poetyry postcards launch part 2, with Steve Pottinger, Cathy Whittaker, Mandy Ross and Jane Seabourne
17-Oct-19 5pm Onwards Wolverhampton Central Library: Open mic with guest poet Jonny Fluffypunk
26-Oct-19 10:30 - 1 Wolverhampton Central Library: Paperverse - poetry and papercrafts with Marion Cockin and Jeff Phelps
9-Dec-19 12:30 - 3 John Lewis, Birmingham: Poetry on Demand with Spoz and Brenda Read-Brown
There's more, too, but I dont have all the details yet - keep a lookout!
And do let us know if you come across poetry books you'd like to tell everyone about. My favourite recently has been The boy who couldn't say his name, by John Lawrence.