Nominate a published poem for the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Britain

London’s Southbank Centre has approached New Writing North to identify poems which will form part of their Festival of Britain celebrations, and we thought we’d invite suggestions from our subscribers. A series of ‘lands’ will be created in the centre, by artists and designers which honour the heritage and themes of the original 1951 festival. Launching at the end of April, there will be celebrations each weekend – from the Meltdown Festival and the London Literature Festival to Wayne Hemingway’s Vintage Festival. Southbank will be peppering the site with poetry, weaving it into the fabric of the festival, ensuring that poetry from across the UK and beyond is celebrated. Send your suggestions for poems that you love that have already been published on the following themes – the People of Britain; Power and Production; Sea and Ships; the Land – by Monday 28 March 2011 to [email protected] with ‘Festival of Britain suggestion’ in the subject line. Poems should not exceed 20 lines. We’d love to have a mixture of historical and contemporary poems, and poems with a North East connection would be great. New Writing North will announce the selected poem(s) as the celebration launches in April.

Please note: They are not looking for poems that are unpublished and are not inviting people to write poems on the themes. They want nominations for published poems you love and link with the themes.