Jonathan Sellars: Taking Poetry for a Spin

I first got the idea of using a Spinning Wheel of Poetry after shadowing the brilliant poet Justin Coe. Justin had a wheel he occasionally used in workshops and advised that unveiling it to a room …

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Gaby Morgan: Summertime – a Few Poetry Snapshots of Summer

Anna Wilson’s poem about her tortoise, Hercules, coming out of hibernation is all of us shaking off the colder months and turning towards the sun. The Labours of HerculesI lift the box lid,push asi…

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Brian Bilston: Why Writing Poetry for Children is Much Better than Having to Write it for Adults

Brian Bilston – Revealed! I had a new book come out recently. It purports to be “an alternative guide to writing and enjoying poetry”: a fondly facetious exploration of the “craft” of poetry,…

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Robert Schechter: The Caterpillar Prize Judging

We are thrilled to have a blog by this year’s Caterpillar Prize judge, Robert Schechter, and the announcement of the winners! I want to thank Rebecca O’Connor for continuing to sponsor …

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Mark Bird: Finding Solace Through Poetry

A year ago, Air India flight AI171 crashed, killing all but one of the passengers and crew. The morning after, our headteacher at Barlby Primary School asked the Early Years team to meet him as soo…

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Attie Lime: Lighting the Spark

At the end of a recent school visit, a teacher showed me videos of children outside in the drizzle, performing poems they had created themselves that morning. She told me that during their forest s…

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Andrea Reece: Books for Keeps – Taking Poetry for Children Seriously

Brandford Boase Award 2024 Books for Keeps has been taking children’s literature seriously since its launch in March 1980 and that includes poetry written for children. It might seem unnecessary to…

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Pie Corbett: Observing and Capturing Experience

Skeleton leafLifeless like tissueLaces neatly threadedGentle, fragileThe silk delicate embroideryThe veins spreadingNetwork carefully stitchedBony like witch’sFingersBackbone gentle andTenderSally,…

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Penny Thomas – A Profile

Who are you and which publishing house do you work for? Penny Thomas, I’m the editor at Firefly Press children’s and YA publisher. How long have you been editing poetry for children and how many ch…

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Penny Thomas – A Profile

Who are you and which publishing house do you work for? Penny Thomas, I’m the editor at Firefly Press children’s and YA publisher. How long have you been editing poetry for children and how many ch…

childrenspoetrysummit.com

Marilyn Singer: Not Just the Facts – Nonfiction Poetry

The Dewey Decimal system puts poetry in the library’s nonfiction section. Yet a lot of people think these genres have nothing in common.  Heck, I used to think they had nothing in common.&nbsp…

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Sean Taylor: The CLiPPA Prize List and the Importance of Poetry for Children

I’m fresh from the online announcement of the shortlisted books for the 2026 CLPE Poetry Award 2026 (aka the CLiPPA.) This featured five poems read aloud, and it was a spellbinding selection of wha…

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Rhiannon Oliver: Lights, Camera – Poetry!

It was March 2020, and I was in technical rehearsals at The Riverfront Theatre, Newport, readying for opening night, when the theatres, and everything else, were suddenly closed. I had spent much o…

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Rhiannon Oliver: Lights, Camera – Poetry!

It was March 2020, and I was in technical rehearsals at The Riverfront Theatre, Newport, readying for opening night, when the theatres, and everything else, were suddenly closed. I had spent much o…

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Roger Stevens: Having Fun With Poetry in Schools

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of visiting schools over the last thirty years or so has been working with teachers, helping them to teach using poetry more effectively. As I’m sure both …

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Jon Biddle: Using Poetry to Build a Classroom Reading Culture

This week and next week we have two blogs for teachers, the first from Jon Biddle, showcasing how he has used poetry to create and inspire a rich reading culture in his school, and the second by Ro…

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Brian Moses: Writing Ray

I Am Ray’s Imaginary Friend concerns a young boy who finds that his family have to leave the village he loves and move to a busy town. Ray has always found changing circumstances difficult to cope …

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Billie Manning: Extraordinary Voices – The Tower Hamlets Junior Slam

Hello, I’m Billie, Learning and Participation Coordinator at The Poetry Society. Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working on the Tower Hamlets Junior Slam, a long-running partners…

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Neal Zetter: Talking Up Poetry

I have three issues with children’s poetry in bookshops: there’s not enough of it, the variety of the books on sale is limited, and if it is stocked, its profile is too low. Many smalle…

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Pie Corbett: Writing with Jonathan

I met Jonathan a few years ago; he was a good poet-friend. We decided to do some co-writing online. Our first rule was that there was no pressure and we’d only do it when it was fun. No obligation.…

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Brian Moses: Poetry Inspired by Signs

As writers we are all ideas detectives, on the hunt for different things to inspire us. Sometimes it’s the conversations that we overhear or something we read in newspapers or online. Sometimes it’…

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Stephen Lightbown: The Second Book Challenge

© Paul Blakemore In 2026 I’ll be publishing my second poetry collection, again with Troika books sometime in the summer. I never thought I’d have been in a position to write one children’s collecti…

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Christmas Poems 2025 Part Two

L. B. Here is week two of the Christmas and winter poems our brilliant children’s poets from the UK and abroad have kindly sent us. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year to…

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