PRESS RELEASE
Poetry on Loan
(to be launched on 8th January at West Midlands Arts)
Christine Bridgwood is lending her expertise to libraries in the West Midlands
when she becomes consultant to the Poetry on Loan scheme this week. The scheme
has been set up by The Poetry Society as one of its Poetry Places projects and
will offer library service-points in the West Midlands the opportunity to
experiment with innovative ways to promote poetry including use of the
Internet.
As Christine explains:
"Libraries should be natural poetry places. As a book-hungry teenager I would
have been intimidated by large bookshops and Poetry events but I used to spend
hours in my local library, revelling in its friendly anonymity and wallowing in
its poetry books. Libraries reach the widest reading audience of any potential
poetry place and are accessible, free and user friendly".
As consultant for Poetry on Loan, Christine will work with the libraries involved
to set up a wide range of activities created to increase poetry readers amongst
their users. From poetry readings to Poe-trees (laden with poems) the ideas are
flowing thick and fast. Fifteen libraries in the West Midlands region are already
taking part and the number looks set to grow.
These are Eccleshall in Staffordshire; Earlsdon and Foleshill in Coventry; Hall
Green, South Yardley and Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham; Ludlow, Market Drayton
and Shrewsbury in Shropshire; Redditch in Worcestershire; Leominster in
Herefordshire; the Central Libraries at Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton;
the Telford and Wrekin mobile library will be a Poetry Place "on the move".
Poetry on Loan will build on the enthusiasm recently generated through a
collaboration between The Poetry Society, Faber and Faber, West Midlands Arts
and four library authorities in the region to produce Passion for Poetry, a
readers guide to contemporary poetry which is now being used all over the region.
This residency is part of The Poetry Places scheme set up by The Poetry Society
and funded by the Arts Council Lottery Department Arts for Everyone Budget and
is sponsored by the West Midlands Regional Library System and West Midlands Arts.
A Poetry on Loan map and Poetry Plans for all the library-based Poetry Places
in West Midlands libraries is on the Lit-Net (virtual literature centre for the
West Midlands and beyond) website at:
http://www.lit-net.org/poetry_places
-ENDS-
For further information or to arrange an interview with Christine Bridgwood
contact Lisa Roberts at the Poetry Society on 0171 420 9895 or Geoff Warren at
West Midlands Regional Library System on 0121 303 2673 (fax 0121 303 2613,
e-mail as below)
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WMRLS in transition...a message from:
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Geoff Warren (Director)
3rd Floor, Central Library
Birmingham B3 3HQ
phone 0121 303 2673
fax 0121 303 2613
[log in to unmask]
http://www.wm-libraries.org.uk
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