National Poetry Day, the UK’s greatest celebration of poetry, will see verse spilling into every aspect of our lives this October, as hundreds of thousands of people, schools, libraries, pubs, bus companies, museums and railway stations prepare to share, read, write and celebrate poetry.  There will be hundreds of events across the UK and Ireland on Thursday 4 October, 2018 with the nation invited to share a poem on social media.

2018 speakers to include Val McDermid, Nicci French, Paula Hawkins, Ruth Ware, Robert Thorogood and Elizabeth Hayes

he shortlist for the Polari First Book Prize was announced at the Polari Literary Salon in London’s Southbank Centre on July 24, 2018. Now in its eighth year, the Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first book explores the LGBT experience, whether in poetry, prose, fiction or non-fiction.

Figures released from ‘Reflecting Realities’, a pioneering new study commissioned by national charity the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), show a significant need for better ethnic representation in children’s literature.

Prize received four times the number of entries this year, with a significant rise in submissions from major publishers.

The award-winning novelist Kamila Shamsie, who has just won the Women’s Prize for Fiction with Home Fire, and the novelist and non-fiction writer Susan Hill will join Andrew Holgate on the judging panel of The Sunday Times / Peter Frasers + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award, in association with the University of Warwick.