The Scottish Poetry Library rarely walks alone; it works with a wide variety of partners – from Maggie’s Centres to the Royal Collection to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport – to deliver the benefits and delights of poetry.

Two current projects

The Written World

Collaborating with the BBC to deliver poetry during London 2012

The Written World is our project to broadcast a poem on the radio every day during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, from every participating nation. We aim to bring poetry into people’s everyday lives, providing brief, thought-provoking moments that celebrate each participating country.

• Working with partner organisations and our extensive international contacts, we have invited poetry nominations from all over the world. The poems selected for recording and broadcast will be a mix of traditional or contemporary, and each will offer a window on to a nation – its people, history, landscapes, customs or culture.  
• Through our partnership with the BBC, all 205 poems will be broadcast across BBC radio channels, read by people who have family ties to each country.
• Each poem will be available to read online, and we will have dedicated twitter and facebook pages for the project.

Throughout the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, The Written World will enrich and deepen encounters with other nations. This exciting project will result in a rich cultural legacy of hundreds of poems from around the world, easily and permanently accessible for reading, listening or viewing.

Connecting Voices

Working with the Scottish Story Centre in care homes and with senior groups

The Scottish Poetry Library is working with the Scottish Storytelling Centre and consultants Blake Stevenson on research to explore working with older audiences.

• This is based on successful pilot projects in Edinburgh, the Storytelling Centre’s ‘Life Stories’ and the SPL’s ‘Read Aloud’ with Edinburgh City Libraries, where either professional storytellers or volunteer readers work with a range of senior groups and carehomes.
• Particularly for groups where there is some degree of dementia, the familiar patterns and rhythms of well-known songs and poems spark engagement, pleasure and reminiscence, often where participants may otherwise seem to be withdrawn or unresponsive.

The research is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, with additional support from Creative Scotland’s Resilience programme. We look forward to the research findings in autumn 2011.

Our partner organisations

We welcome initiatives involving poetry, as in recent projects with the new Crichton Hospital and (separately!) Scottish Badgers. Please get in touch with us if you think we could extend and enhance your project.

Cultural agencies

• British Council
• Goethe-Institut
• Institut français
• Literature Across Frontiers

Festivals

• Edinburgh International Book Festival
• Edinburgh International Science Festival
• StAnza
• Ullapool Book Festival and The Ceilidh Place
• Wigtown Book Festival

Literature & arts organisations

• Arvon Foundation at Moniack Mhor
• Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust
• Filmhouse
• Poetry Association of Scotland
• Poetry Book Society
• Poetry Society
• Poetry Translation Centre
• School of Poets
• Scottish Book Trust
• Scottish Storytelling Centre
• South Bank Centre

Local authorities

• Angus Council
• Argyll & Bute Council
• Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association
• Dumfries & Galloway CREATE
• Dumfries & Galloway Council
• Dumfries & Galloway Libraries
• East Dunbartonshire Libraries
• Edinburgh City Libraries
• Elgin Library
• Falkirk Libraries
• Glasgow Libraries
• Highland Libraries
• Moray Libraries
• Orkney Library and Archive
• Renfrewshire Libraries
• Shetland Arts
• Shetland Library
• Western Isles Libraries

National institutions

• BBC
• Historic ScotlandNational Galleries of Scotland
• National Library of Scotland
• National Museum of Scotland
• National Trust for Scotland
• Poppyscotland
• Scottish Parliament

Universities

• Edinburgh College of Art
• University of Dundee
• University of Edinburgh
• University of the West of Scotland Ayr