You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Michael O’Mara Books and The Forward Arts Foundation are publishing a poetry anthology, comprising meaningful poems selected by the public, to celebrate National Poetry Day’s 25th anniversary in October 2019.
Curated and introduced by BBC presenter Cerys Matthews, according to Michael O'Mara, Tell Me the Truth About Life will be an anthology that celebrates poetry’s power and its ability to capture the truths that really matter to people.
As part of the project, the public has been invited to nominate poetry for inclusion. Poems both old and new will be considered, so long as they touch on "a truth that matters to me".
“We want people to share with us poems that evoke important personal or universal truths: words that really matter," said Matthews, to which Susannah Herbert, executive director at The Forward Arts Foundation, added, "We each have a poem that is special to us, a kind of talisman or touchstone to turn to when ordinary words fail. This is a chance to share those lines".
The closing date for poetry submissions, which should be already in the public domain, is Friday 23rd November. Nominations should be sent to: truth@nationalpoetryday.co.uk, and they can also be submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #TellMeTheTruthAboutLife.
In the anniversary anthology, poems will be split into themed chapters including ‘True Love’, ‘Hidden Truths’, ‘Misdirection and Lies’, ‘True Stories’ and ‘Everyday Truisms’. It will also include poems put forward by and introduced by a number of high-profile names, who will then discuss their selections in an accompanying podcast to be launched for National Poetry Day 2019.
A percentage of royalties from the sale of Tell Me the Truth About Life will be donated to The Forward Arts Foundation, the charity behind National Poetry Day.
The book will be published on 12th September 2019 in hardback, priced £12.99. The 25th National Poetry Day – which takes 'truth' as its theme – will take place on 3rd October 2019.