Arts
To celebrate National Poetry Day’s 25th anniversary, join Scottish poet, writer and teacher Kate Clanchy as she reads and discusses her favourite poems, and the lines of poetry that speak truth to her. An award-winning poet, novelist and non-fiction writer, Kate was born in Glasgow and lived in London’s East End for several years before moving to Oxford where she is now writer-in-residence at Oxford Spires Academy, a comprehensive where the children speak over 30 languages. Winner of prizes including the Forward Poetry Prize and Scottish Arts Council Book Award, her recent book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me looks back over her 30-year career in teaching, and she writes for various national newspapers and BBC Radio. Sharing and discussing poems including Poem by Simon Armitage (specially read by Simon himself), When I Came from Nepal by Mukahang Limbu and The Wild Swans at Coole by W. B. Yeats, she talks about women poets, her experiences in how pupils write poems and respond to them, and the process of writing authentically. Tell Me The Truth About Life: A National Poetry Day Anthology, curated by Cerys Matthews, is published by Michael O’Mara Books. Share poems that speak a truth to you via Twitter using #TellMeTheTruthAboutLife.