Lord Provost and Poet Laureate seek aspiring poets

Published: 1 September 2016

Glasgow's Lord Provost teamed up with the city's Poet Laureate to inspire children to embrace poetry at Glendale Primary School.

Lord Provost Sadie Docherty joined Glasgow's Poet Laureate Jim Carruth at the school to launch her second poetry competition which is open to all P7 pupils across the city.

The Lord Provost's Poetry Prize for Schools is encouraging children to submit a poem on the topic 'My Place'. It could be about: your community and the people who live there; your favourite place in Glasgow or a famous Glasgow landmark.

The Lord Provost said: "Poetry is such a personal creative process. I'm really looking forward to reading the submissions. Children have such honesty and few inhibitions and it really shows in their work. I'm sure they'll astonish, surprise and move the judging panel in equal measure, as well as raise a few laughs."

Jim Carruth's, recent work Killochries was shortlisted for the 2015 Saltire Literary Awards, Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award.

He said: "I believe we are all born poets with a wonderful appreciation of rhythm and rhyme from an early age. That is when I first fell in love with poetry and that love has grown as an adult. I am really looking forward to reading poems from all the young voices across this great city."

Background

The Lord Provost appointed Jim Poet Laureate at a civic ceremony in 2014 year. He follows in the footsteps of Edwin Morgan and Liz Lochhead.

His appointment is for a minimum of five years raising the profile of poetry across the city and leading the celebration of Glasgow as a City of Poets.