Poetry By Heart was saddened to hear about the passing of Carol Rumens, whose poem of the week columns will be much missed. Writing about her columns, Carol said 'I feel poets owe each other (or each other’s poems) a duty of care.' Read more about Carol's life: www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Exciting news! One of my poems has just gone up on @poetrybyheart.bsky.social 7+ timeline. When I see who else is up there, I can't quite believe it. I really am a 'poetry person' now! I hope some children choose it to perform it in forthcoming competitions. poetrybyheart.org.uk/timeline/7plus

Thrilled to have a poem featured by the fantastic @poetrybyheart.bsky.social! It's a poem aimed at little kids and is a very popular performance piece. Enjoy: poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/perfor... #BookSky #KidLitUK

We had an absolutely fabulous day sharing poems and tips for learning poems by heart! Thank you for having us 🌟

It's great to see the #CLiPPA Poetry Award shortlist! It's the UK's leading prize for poetry for children, highlighting brilliant new collections for the young 📖 Congratulations to all the @theclpe.bsky.social shortlisted poets 🌟 More for schools here: r1.dotdigital-pages.com/p/1RW5-1LFF/...

"Poems are like wild, living, out-of-control things that make readers have feelings and thoughts we poets can’t even imagine. And, looking around me, I see a world in need of more wild, living, out-of-control things." Sean Taylor, shortlisted for the #CLiPPA children's #poetry award 👏👏 #BookSky

Our April calendar poems are 'Eletelephony' by Laura Richards and 'Equilibrium' by Theresa Lola 🗓️❤️ head to our website for special recordings by Erica Hesketh and Theresa Lola plus extra resources for teachers! 🗓️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/equili... 🗓️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/eletel...

The National Poetry Competition 2025 online readings are taking place tomorrow! Sign up via the link in our bio for a FREE evening of brilliant readings from our top ten winning poets, and previous winners including Mark Pajak, Imogen Wade, and Fawzia Muradali Kane. Tuesday 31 March, 7PM BST

Want to lift poetry off the page so that it can be spoken, heard and enjoyed? Try the activities that come with our Poem of the Week! This week's poem is 'Eletelephony' by Laura Richards ❤️ Explore more here: poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/eletel...

Poetry News is always excellent reading! Thank you @poetrysociety.org.uk

Happy to see a shout-out to our brand new #PoetryByHeart 4+ timeline anthology in The Poetry Society's Poetry News! These new materials will help young school pupils discover the joy of speaking poetry out loud ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/timeline/4plus

Come on down! 25 April. It's free and you don't need to book ahead. But if you do book in advance, you'll be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win a £50 spending spree at the book fair. poetrysociety.org.uk/event/free-v...

For #WorldBookNight, Poetry By Heart is encouraging everyone to join in the special #ReadingHour from 7-8pm on 23 April. Want to include poetry? Host a poem swap: find your favourite poems on the #PoetryByHeart website and exchange favourites with friends or colleagues! 📖❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk

Heartening to see 118 students from schools and colleges in Colchester honoured at the Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards, including Amelia who is recognised for her extracurricular achievements and participating in #PoetryByHeart! www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/2588218...

Big day for awards! The FCBG have revealed the shortlist for this year's Children's Book Award, the only award completely chosen by children. #FCBGCBA26 #kidlituk Find out which favourite children's authors are on this year's list and congratulations to them all🎆 booksforkeeps.co.uk/childrens-bo...

Enjoy an article by Poetry By Heart co-director Julie Blake for Right Start Online on why children benefit so much from poetry, with top tips for finding and sharing poems with children! You'll find plenty of ideas on our brand-new 4+ timeline ❤️ www.rightstartonline.co.uk/features/poe...

We're delighted to share two special recordings by poets Jessica Mookherjee and Kayo Chingonyi of our primary and secondary calendar poems for March - 'The Door' by Miroslav Holub and 'Humming-Bird' by D. H. Lawrence 🗓️❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/hummin... poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-do...

Feels like a good day to share Mix a Pancake by Christina Rossetti, via @poetrybyheart.bsky.social With only 22 words, you have a good chance of learning it quickly! #poetry poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/mix-a-...

Schools in North Yorkshire! We're partnering with @poetrybyheart.bsky.social North Yorkshire Council School Improvement Service & North Yorkshire Libraries on 2 showcases! Ripon Library, 18 April Scarbrough Library, 25 April Free to take part! #PoetryByHeart

How wonderful to see this by Junior Journalists celebrating the opening of the brand-new Benjamin Zephaniah Library at William Murdoch Primary School! After speeches students performed Zephaniah's poems aloud - good practice for taking part in the #PoetryByHeart competition! 📚✨

Calling all primary school teachers! @poetrybyheart.bsky.social has launched a brand new Key Stage 1 timeline, packed with free-to-access poems by some brilliant children's poets, accompanied by helpful kid-friendly explanations. poetrybyheart.org.uk/timeline/4plus

We’re delighted to share our BRAND NEW timeline of poems to help the youngest school pupils discover the joy of poetry and speaking it aloud! Coinciding with the National Year of Reading, each poem will be accompanied by special notes to help explore the poem ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/timeline/4plus

Three cheers for #poetry at least. Check out @poetrybyheart.bsky.social for outstanding poetry teaching resources

@poetrybyheart.bsky.social ❤️ #Poetry 🌟 #Timelines #Resources ⬇️

A really inspiring write up #poetry

Thank you @booksforkeeps.bsky.social for a marvellous article on #PoetryByHeart's national poetry speaking competition by former school librarian Fiona Kirk! Discover Fiona's thoughts on recruiting contestants and seeing students grown in confidence ❤️ booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/brin...

Happy January! first page of the @poetrybyheart.bsky.social calendar.

Welcome to the world🌍 #smallpoemsforbigimaginations by @nealzetterpoet.bsky.social a book that makes its reader feel good. Wishing it well! Some great poems for learning by heart in school comps too! @poetrybyheart.bsky.social ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #NewRelease #UniqueTitle #kidlit #literacy #kidsbooks #ReadAloud

Thanks to @poetrybyheart.bsky.social for highlighting this fund to help primary and secondary #schools develop their #poetry teaching and special activities. Well worth applying! www.chch.ox.ac.uk/tower-poetry...

Join us in the last week of January for a series of events to celebrate our new John Calder Translation Prize. The events are a mix of online and in person and will be held between Tuesday 27 January and Friday 30 January. Find all the events and book your place on our website. buff.ly/5eFR9W2

Listen out for the 'tinkle, tinkle, tinkle' of bells in Edgar Allen Poe's poem 'The Bells' for the #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase today! 🔔 The poem is packed full of sounds that bring the wintry scene to life. Can you play around with voicing the repeated words? poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-be...

Enjoy this short and playful poem as part of #PoetryByHeart's Festive Showcase ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ 'Go Snow Go!' by Simon Mole is full of whoops, hoots, and howls - see if you can bring them out in a performance! Visit our website for more tips ✨ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/go-sno...!

'Sitting under the mistletoe . . . One last candle burning low' - enjoy Walter de la Mare's poem 'Mistletoe' as a Boxing Day treat on the #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase! Discover how all the associations of mistletoe mingle in this marvellous poem 🌿❄️ 🌟 poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/mistle...

Merry Christmas from #PoetryByHeart! It's time for the Festive Showcase reveal - our Christmas Day poem is Langston Hughes's 'On a Pallet of Straw', which imagines the very first Christmas 🌟 ❄️ Experiment with performing the repeated lines in different ways! poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/on-a-p...

It's Christmas Eve! Time for a #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase poem by G. K. Chesterton, 'A Christmas Carol' ⭐ Think about how you could gesture to the brackets in a performance - do they indicate different voices? See our website for more! 🎄 ❄️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/a-chri...

Today's #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase poem is the musical 'and a tree' by Kate Wakeling 🎄 ❄️ Say the poem aloud and feel the beat as you read. Head over to our website to watch a special video performance by students at Soho Parish Primary School ✨ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/and-a-...

New day, new poetry window to open on the #PoetryByHeart advent calendar! Today's poem is the gentle 'Snowflake Song' by James Carter, which sees a snowflake tumble in 'downward spirals' as night falls ❄️ Head to our website to explore the poem ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/snowfl...

Today's #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase poem is 'In the Bleak Midwinter' by Christina Rossetti! Perhaps you've heard this poem sung as a carol at Christmas time 🎶 ❄️ ✨ Practice speaking the poem out loud and see if you can capture its moving simplicity ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/in-the...

The countdown to the festive season is truly on, and what better way to get in the mood than with a poem! Today's poem for the #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase is 'Merry Christmas' by Dorothy Brown Thompson - containing greetings in five different languages! ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/merry-...

For the #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase today, enjoy a special recitation of 'Father Christmas sent me to the Moon' by @domconlon.bsky.social, and see what twist you can put on the poem by speaking it! 🌙 ❄️ Dom also offers tips for writing your own poem 🖋️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/father...

Open up the window for today's #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase advent calendar and you'll find the funny festive poem 'Just Doing my Job' by Clare Bevan ⚔️ ✨ 🎄 Enjoy the humour and see if you can bring out the comic punchline in your performance of this poem! poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/just-d...

My Christmas Poetry Quiz is now up! Which poet embroidered a scarf as a Christmas gift? Which poet asked Santa for a chameleon? Which poet loves holly, man? All these and more here:

Our festive elves have been busy preparing #PoetryByHeart competition kits! New poem posters, calendars, poetry booklets and more will be hitting school letterboxes 📮📦✨ Have a look at this video where you can see Ms Vos and her colleagues from Darrick Wood School open our secondary poetry pack!

Start your week with a poem from #PoetryByHeart's Festive Showcase, with all the poems you need to brighten your winter! Today's advent calendar poem is Lois Rock's short and sweet 'Christmas for free' ❄️ Experiment with sounding out these rhymes and find out more about Lois on our website!

New day, new poetry window to open on the #PoetryByHeart advent calendar! Our seasonal poem is Benjamin Zephania's 'Talking Turkeys', and you might never look at a plate of turkey in the same way after reading it! 🎄 ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/talkin...

Delighted to receive our @poetrybyheart.bsky.social resources today. What a fabulous range to explore

Our advent calendar poem from the #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase today is translated from a twelfth-century carol into modern English by Robert Davis 🎄 ❤️ Strongly rhythmic, the poem is called 'The Friendly Beasts' and features a dove, donkey, sheep, and more! poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-fr...

The Poetry Detective with Vanessa Kisuule is back 4pm today @BBCRadio4 looking for poems that can help us think through the things we wrestle with. Today: Doomscrolling. With help from @carolinebirduk.bsky.social among others. Producer Ellie Richold www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The #PoetryByHeart team have been busily and enthusiastically packing up the last of the competition packs to send out to schools! 📦❤️✨ That’s packs and packs and sacks and sacks of poem-a-month calendars, poem posters, poetry booklets, and exciting leaflets from our partners 🗓️

The #PoetryByHeart Festive Showcase continues with the opening of today's poetry advent window. Our poem is Laurence Smith's 'Christmas Tree' with its 'glitter and glow' 🎄💫 See if you can clap out the rhythm of this poem with the tree 'Appled with baubles'! poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/christ...