The Southbank Centre’s A Poet In Every Port is set to launch on Friday 29 May at Great Yarmouth’s Out There Arts Festival with ambassador Roger McGough making a special guest appearance.
The mobile National Poetry Library – unveiled this week – will travel to 11 coastal locations across the UK, from North Uist (16-17 Jun) and Dundee (20-21 Jun) in Scotland, to Penzance in Cornwall (6-7 Jul); Caernarfon in Wales (9-10 Jul) and Bangor in Northern Ireland (25-26 Sep). Inspired by the travelling exhibitions of the 1951 Festival of Britain, it forms a key part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary national programme.
A Poet In Every Port celebrates the UK’s diverse dialects and languages and tells the stories of the nation’s coastal communities in poetry and spoken word throughout its journey. The mobile National Poetry Library features unique poetry collections, a recording studio, and space for workshops. Visitors of all ages are free to browse the collection, take part in free workshops and watch performances by local poets.
Roger McGough, ambassador for A Poet In Every Port, said:
“This initiative, inspired by the optimistic Festival of Britain 75 years ago, is to show poetry is for everyone. Writing poetry is what helps us feel human, vulnerable and yet powerful, and above all, alive. It’s something I have loved all my life, and I can’t wait to join the mobile National Poetry Library team in Great Yarmouth to launch this ambitious UK wide journey that is sure to inspire everyone it reaches. I’m looking forward to meeting visitors to the mobile library, to explore and celebrate their local dialects and languages – and perhaps write a new poem or two!”
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, said:
“A Poet In Every Port is a key project in the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme, where we consider what it means to be the arts centre of the future, and how, through creativity and culture, we can make a difference to people’s lives across the country. After extensive planning with our partner organisations in 11 coastal towns spread across the four nations of the UK, we’re thrilled to finally start our journey in Great Yarmouth. As we launch, we’re asking everyone across the UK to get involved through our national poetry competition.”
National Poetry Competition
As A Poet In Every Port takes to the road, the Southbank Centre is launching a UK wide Word Exchange poetry competition. Word Exchange poems are short poems that celebrate the words, sayings, languages, accents and dialects from a local region. The competition invites UK residents aged 16 and over to record a video of themselves performing their poem and post it on Instagram or TikTok using the hashtag #APoetinEveryPort. Entrants can submit via the form on the Southbank Centre’s website. A winner will be selected at the end of 2026, and awarded a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform their work live on stage at the 2027 London Literature Festival. To celebrate the launch of the competition, Roger McGough has written a new Word Exchange poem, Poetry, the big fish in the Pool of Life.
Full details at Southbank Centre.
- Fri 29 – Sat 30 May – Great Yarmouth, England – Out There Arts
- Sat 6 – Sun 7 June – Weston-super-Mare, England – Super Culture
- Tues 16 – Weds 17 June – North Uist, Scotland – Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre
- Sat 20 – Sun 21 June – Dundee, Scotland – Dundee Book Festival
- Fri 26 June – Chatham, England – Estuary Festival
- Sat 27 – Sun 28 June – Southend, England – METAL Southend
- Mon 6 – Tues 7 July – Penzance, England – The Acorn
- Thurs 9 – Fri 10 July – Caernarfon, Wales – Gŵyl Arall (Another Festival)
- Sun 12 July – London, England – Southbank Centre (Poetry International Festival)
- Sat 25 – Sun 26 – July – Blackpool, England – The Old Electric
- Fri 18 – Sat 19 Sept – South Shields, England – The Word: National Centre for the Written Word
- Fri 25 – Sat 26 Sept – Bangor, Northern Ireland – Aspects Festival
At the heart of the project is a new cohort of the New Poets Collective, which has been formed to support emerging poets from each region A Poet In Every Port is visiting. They will lead the free activities in each location, working closely with the partner festivals and venues to celebrate local dialects and languages, and engage the wider community and public.
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