Made up of 4 members, the Newcastle City Library Poetry Group meets monthly in Newcastle’s City Library. It’s been going for 14 years and established by the library itself back when it was known as the Central Library. By having a close relationship with the library, they’re also easily able to ask for new stock to read!
The group tends to choose books from the Read Regional collection, a campaign that takes place across the North of England to celebrate new books from the area, connecting authors with their local libraries. They also attend the Read Regional events which provide great ideas of new poets to discover.
The members enjoy reading poetry for all sorts of different reasons, meaning that everyone has a different view on a poem or collection, which can create fascinating discussions. Most of the group love poetry for its emotive power; it can be like reading other people’s thoughts, and is often soothing. Poetry can encapsulate emotions or scenes in just a few words, and each poet plays on words in a different way.
What the group reads
This year, the group has read work from a range of poets and countries, including the American poet Thomas Lux, the British poet Douglas Dunn and the local poet Ellen Phethean. They particularly enjoyed reading Antony Dunn’s recent collection Take This One to Bed, and were able to meet him as part of the Read Regional Tour, providing them with the opportunity to find out more about the thoughts and situations that inspired some of their favourite pieces. However, they love a broad range of poetry, in particular work by Dylan Thomas, Gillian Clarke and Roald Dahl, among many others!
If you don’t already read poetry in your reading group, how about giving it a try? There are so many poets and forms of poetry to explore, you never know what you might find!
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