Thanks to everyone who took part in #NationalPoetryDay – it might just have been one of the best yet! We'd love your feedback – complete our short survey: buff.ly/TDiRAnb for a chance to win £100 in LoveReading vouchers! See you next year on Thursday 1 October 2026!

There's a huge link between poetry and some of our favourite records. From Kae Tempest to Olivia Rodrigo, these songs are inspired by poetry, or started as poems... why not check out our playlist - and suggest some of your own! buff.ly/15DmXLn #NationalPoetryDay

National Poetry Day 2025: Play

Playlist · lucymacnab · 10 items

buff.ly

Get ready! #NationalPoetryDay is tomorrow, 2 October! Let’s celebrate with joy, performance, and creativity. buff.ly/xH8h5Eb #Play

National Poetry Day - Forward Arts Foundation

The biggest celebration of poetry every year since 1994. With a different theme each year and events all across the UK.

buff.ly

And I Hear Dragons edited by @hananelizabethissa.bsky.social. An inspiring collection from Wales’ National Poet, blending myth, identity, and modern voices for young readers. Celebrating Welsh identity through the fierce spirit of mythical dragons, it tackles discrimination, pollution, and more.

2 weeks until National Poetry Day! This year's theme is 'play'. Let’s celebrate with joy, performance, and creativity! buff.ly/T2sCK6d #NationalPoetryDay

National Poetry Day - Forward Arts Foundation

The biggest celebration of poetry every year since 1994. With a different theme each year and events all across the UK.

buff.ly

To accompany “Monopoly”, we’ve created a thoughtful and metaphor-driven resource designed to help pupils connect poetry with big ideas about growing up, memory, and the unpredictability of life. 👉 buff.ly/LK2HmsO #NationalPoetryDay #NPD2025

🎩🏙️ Board games and real-life stakes Today, we’re highlighting a quietly profound poem from our official resources: “Monopoly” by Paul Farley. This poem reminds us that play doesn’t stop when childhood ends—it just changes shape. 👉 buff.ly/P8rjmrG

Harriet Tubman: Force of Nature – written and illustrated by Caroline Brewer. Powerful, poetic, unforgettable! Harriet Tubman, Force of Nature tells the story of an abolitionist and hero through stirring poems and striking collage art that bring her spirit to life!

To accompany ‘Summit of Flight’, we’ve partnered with the English and Media Centre to create a reflective and energising resource that encourages pupils to explore sport and play as forms of identity, freedom, and creative expression. 👉 buff.ly/E1PbLP7

National Poetry Day 2025 is on its way and this year the theme is PLAY! Today, we’re highlighting a powerful and moving poem from our official resources: ‘Summit of Flight’ by @InuaEllams. Find ‘Summit of Flight’ by Inua Ellams on our website here: 👉 buff.ly/FYdmArA

🐝🌀 Let your poem take flight across the page! To accompany ‘Black Bee’, we’ve created a bold and exploratory resource that helps pupils reimagine what poetry can look like: on the page and in the mind. Resource link. 👉 buff.ly/LalrpT3 #NationalPoetryDay #NPD2025

🐝✨ Buzzing through language and light! Today, we’re highlighting a strikingly visual and imaginative poem: ‘Black Bee’ by Alfonso D’Aquino. Find ‘Black Bee’ by Alfonso D’Aquino on our website here: 👉 buff.ly/tmxHGOQ

New Cemetery – Simon Armitage Simon Armitage reflects on nature, loss, and life’s quiet shifts in a wry, luminous collection set in a village graveyard. This is a collection that is sharp, human, and deeply felt, and a welcome new title from this much loved Poet Laureate.

Tiny but mighty! Pocket Book of Pocket Poems is bursting with bite-sized brilliance, perfect for pockets, backpacks, and giggle-filled moments on the go. These pint-sized poems pack big laughs, wild ideas, and just the right amount of mischief to keep everyone grinning!

💭Open up and explore the selves within! To accompany Rachel Rooney’s ‘Russian Dolls’, we’ve created a thoughtful and creative resource that encourages pupils to explore identity, voice, and emotion through poetic form. Full Resources: 👉 buff.ly/wiE8DGo #NPD2025

🧠 Layers upon layers, let’s open them up! Today, we’re highlighting a beautifully structured and thought-provoking poem: ‘Russian Dolls’ by Rachel Rooney. Find ‘Russian Dolls’ by Rachel Rooney on our website here: 👉 buff.ly/2SbeNkl #NationalPoetryDay #NPD2025

Prick up your ears—National Poetry Day is nearly here, and we’re cheering for books that burst with life—like I Hear the Trees by Zaro Weil. Over 60 joyful nature poems await, where wolves howl, berries bamboozle, beets blaze ruby-red, and haiku mice scamper for safety.

🎲🐱 Let’s leap into letter-land with a cat‑crafted poem! To accompany Brian Bilston’s charmingly absurd poem “On ‘;..p'[[[[[[[[[[[[[;’;////////////////////////3,’” we’ve created a resource that sparks curiosity, imagination, and creative mischief. Link 👉 buff.ly/SPKm3MW

🎉✏️ Words on the move and off your desk! National Poetry Day 2025 is on its way and this year the theme is PLAY! Today, we’re highlighting a delightfully playful poem from @brianbilston.bsky.social. Find “On ‘;..p'[[[[[[[[[[[[[;’;////////////////////////3,’” on our website here: 👉 buff.ly/a8UoGW3

Let’s step into the sand, listen to the sea, and play with poetry. To accompany E.E. Cummings’ poem our friends @engmediacentre.bsky.social have created a thoughtful teaching resource that helps children explore identity, imagination, and the poetry of play. Free resource here: 👉 buff.ly/Jb9yhwu

Today, we’re highlighting one of the quietly playful poems featured in our official National Poetry Day resources: ‘maggie and milly and molly and may’ by E.E. Cummings. Find ‘maggie and milly and molly and may’ on our website here: 👉https://buff.ly/ngrMdjL

Get your controllers ready, kids! We're recommending Press Start to Play by Sam Gayton. In this fast-paced, laugh-out-loud poetry adventure, Carnegie-nominated Gayton celebrates every kind of play—video games, board games, word games, even “feeling sad” games. #NationalPoetryDay

We’re soaring into one of our featured poems for National Poetry Day:‘Touch the Sky’ by Joshua Seigal (@joshuaseigal). Perfect for reading aloud, or shouting to the sky mid-swing! Read the full poem here: 👉 buff.ly/tbU4XKn

We’re celebrating the collections that demand to be heard. Like Versus Versus, edited by Rachel Boast. Bringing together the voices of 100 deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent poets, this groundbreaking anthology celebrates creativity in all its forms. #NationalPoetryDay

Playful prompts, poetry games, pure fun! Cut loose and get creative with the Poetry School and Nick Murray for an hour of playful prompts and poetry games in the lead up to National Poetry Day! Enter the coupon play50 to claim 50% off! Link to event: buff.ly/GRdZL7N

Our summer holiday poetry series continues with a few beautiful lines from Lazarus Taxa by John Burnside. Burnside, who passed away last year, left a legacy of language that continues to move and inspire. @penguinukbooks

X: 🛹🌊 Let’s draw, build, and ride the waves of play! To bring Joseph Coelho’s exhilarating poem ‘Skateboarding’ to life, we’ve created a hands-on, imaginative teaching resource filled with movement-based activities. Grab the free resource here: buff.ly/5zwTFbx

Today, we’re nosesliding into one of the poems featured in our official National Poetry Day lineup: ‘Skateboarding’ (Frances Lincoln Publishing) by Joseph Coelho. A beautiful reminder of how poetry can turn everyday games into moments of wonder. Read the poem here 👉 buff.ly/SYFZCtD

With National Poetry Day just around the corner, we’re highlighting our must-reads like This Is Not a Small Voice: Poems by Black Poets, edited by Traci N. Todd, published by @@nosycrow.bsky.social. A landmark anthology, the first UK multi-poet collection by Black poets for children!

🌳👣 Let’s wander, sketch, and splash! To bring Lucinda Jacob’s poem ‘Rules for a Good Walk’ to life, we’ve created a teaching resource packed with outdoor play, art-making, and nature-inspired poetry. Grab the free resource here: 👉 buff.ly/UlJfxec