The 70-Poet Challenge
To mark 70 years of the National Poetry Library we set out to discover and celebrate 70 new poets writing and performing in our lifetime
But we didn’t do so alone. We invited poetry fans nationwide to nominate their own poets for inclusion; poets published since 1953, from any country, and writing in any language, that were new to them.
In addition to our search for 70 poets, we also sought to commemorate our birthday through 70-word poems, inviting library-users and budding poets to submit their poems. And the climax to both these searches came on Saturday 26 October with a special celebratory event, The People’s Favourite Poets, in the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room.
In total over 1,600 different newly discovered poets were submitted as part of The 70-Poet Challenge, and the most popular of all of them was Alice Oswald. At The People’s Favourite Poets, Oswald read her work live on stage, joined by other popular poets including Zaffar Kunial, Hollie McNish and Lemn Sissay.
We also received dozens of new 70-word poems for consideration, with Sharon Black’s ‘Lichen’ chosen as the winning entry.
A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to send us their poems and their poet suggestions. And thanks are also extended to our partner The Reader for engaging men and women in the prison service who submitted their newly discovered poets, as well as writing their own 70-word poems, three of which were read live at The People’s Favourite Poet.
Lemn Sissay, our Ambassador for The 70-Poet Project, paid tribute to everyone who took part by writing his own poem, ‘70’. A line of which currently adorns the wall of the Royal Festival Hall as a public art installation – the largest-scale commission in the National Poetry Library’s 70-year history.
‘70’
To live a full life within seventy years
To recall in colour seventy dreams
To have known by name seventy people
To have cried in secret seventy times
To have uncovered seventy untruths
To know seventy poems off by heart
Is to live seventy times a life
by Lemn Sissay
For your visit
National Poetry Library Southbank Centre
The National Poetry Library is open six days a week.
Tuesday, 12 noon – 6pm
Wednesday – Sunday, 12 noon – 8pm
Monday, closed.
Getting here
The National Poetry Library is on Level 5 of our Royal Festival Hall.
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Study & library use
The library is London’s only space dedicated to poetry study. Visitors studying another subject or looking for a place to work are kindly asked to find an alternative space in the Royal Festival Hall.
