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…

Sean Taylor: The CLiPPA Prize List and the Importance of Poetry for Children childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/04/16/s...

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…

Rhiannon Oliver: Lights, Camera - Poetry! childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/04/09/r...

River Song, by Gerard Benson Today is the anniversary of Gerard Benson's birthday. A poet and man very much missed.

River Song, by Gerard Benson

Today is the anniversary of Gerard Benson's birthday. A poet and man very much missed.

River Song, Gerard Benson. YouTube video by Liz Brownlee Poet

Gerard Benson's birthday today. Very much missed. youtu.be/5ZkfIpHEodo?...

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 …

Roger Stevens: Having Fun With Poetry in Schools childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/03/26/r...

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…

Jon Biddle: Using Poetry to Build a Classroom Reading Culture childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/03/20/j...

International Women’s Day 2026

Here is a poem about Anne Sullivan, a largely unsung hero and teacher to Helen Keller. This poem is from Reaching the Stars, Poems About Extraordinary Women and Girls, Macmillan - which won the N. Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards 2017 for poetry. Here is the cover,…

World Book Day!

It's World Book Day - children dressed as book characters, authors and poets making school visits, books being recommended, received, and read. Why does a focus on reading and enjoyment of reading matter in schools? A focus on reading can narrow the gaps in reading and writing…

From the Funny Files: "Today I Got a Valentine" from the book "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies" poetry4kids.com/poems/today-... #childrenspoetry #funnypoetry #poetry4kids

In days like these, I wish I was a flower #haiku #senryu #micropoetry

to be a flower
lacking brains, unmoved by pain
turning to the light

Meet Father Goose Charles Ghigna's hometown has played no small part in the more than 100 children's books he has penned.

HOORAY for the Homewood Library! Thank you for playing such a big part in my writing life over the years. Then. And now! ❤️
www.homewoodlife.com/arts-culture...

Happy #WorldBookDay 🥳📚❤️
Just off to set up the school book trail - shh - Don’t Trust Fish is number 5 - which is going to cause mayhem!

DON’T TRUST FISH!

It’s happily becoming our new 67! 😂 ❤️ #NeilSharpson @dansantat.bsky.social
#library #schoollibrary #SEMH #KS3 #GoAllIn #reading

Happy #WorldBookDay ❤️📚❤️
A little poem!
#DirigibleBalloon @northernjim.bsky.social
#readingforpleasure #reading dirigibleballoon.org/poem/World-B... #poetry #poetryforkids

Middle aged brown lady in official World Book Day merch

Bookshelf stack: The Destiny of Minou Moonshine The Girl of Ink and Stars Dream Hunters The Night Curs Magic Has No Borders Songs for Ghosts The Serpent’s Secret Greenwild

Happy #WorldBookDay to all who celebrate!
I am three school visits in, eight to go and so very happy the sun is shining!!
#kidlituk #ukkidlit #booksky

Have the best time!! xx

I've got a couple of new poems up on the Dirigible Balloon website this week including this sleepy one!

Thanks @northernjim.bsky.social

How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside: An Alternative Guide to Writing and Enjoying Poetry An Alternative Guide to Writing and Enjoying Poetry

Given it’s World Book Day, I suppose I should mention that ‘How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside’ comes out next month: a collection of new poems, which doubles up as a guide to enjoying & writing poetry.

Signed copies available through the indie bookshops and here: uk.bookshop.org/a/295/978103...

Here's a poem, for World Book Day, from my collection 'Snap!' which brings together lots of the stories that young children might know. A chance to have a bit of fun and remind themselves of them today!

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 …

Brian Moses: Writing Ray childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/03/05/b...

A-Z List of Children’s Poets Working in the UK This is an A-Z list of children’s poets from the UK! US poets tag coming soon. If you are a published children’s poet working in schools and would like to be considered for inclusion, p…

Are you a teacher enjoying a visit from an author on this World Book Day? There are lots of working poets in the UK listed on my website. And if you are a working children's poet with a published book, get in touch if you aren't on the list! poetryroundabout.com/a-z-list-of-...

It’s National Bird Day! Yes, today is National Bird Day in the UK – so here is one of the smallest birds, one of the most common birds, and the loudest singer for its size in British gardens! This poem is available …

Some of my favourite creatures are birds.

poetryroundabout.com/2025/01/08/i...

Slavka Liskova performs Susan Richardson’s Snow Geese Solstice Ten years ago, in 2015, in the run up to National Poetry Day, I made a series of films with my partner on the theme of ‘light’. Here is one of them, a beautiful poem by Susan Richardson…

Slavka Liskova performs Susan Richardson's Snow Geese Solstice poetryroundabout.com/2025/08/20/s...

Poems and Fun at the V&A – The World’s Most Joyful Museum A lovely surprise this morning – a parcel arrived, and I was thrilled to find one of the poems I wrote for Young V&A (formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood) was featured inside this be…

Poems and Fun at the V&A - The World's Most Joyful Museum poetryroundabout.com/2026/02/05/p...

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…

Billie Manning: Extraordinary Voices - The Tower Hamlets Junior Slam childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/02/26/b...

Books ready for grandson this morning

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…

Neal Zetter: Talking Up Poetry childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/02/12/n...

I used up a face scrub. It was old and stiff to get out of the tube, but went on ok. But when I tried to wash it off, it travelled around my face in squidgy lumps. I looked not glowy, but like a badly-made partly-masticated custard tart. Had to scrub it off with a towel, so now I look weathered.

Thank you! It was nothing but a pleasure!

Poems and Fun at the V&A – The World’s Most Joyful Museum

A lovely surprise this morning - a parcel arrived, and I was thrilled to find one of the poems I wrote for Young V&A (formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood) was featured inside this beautiful book. I was commissioned to write a few poems for…