The Poetry Society Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award launched today at The Sage, Gateshead - the first time it has taken place in the North East of England. This is the 12th year of the award; and it was previously sponsored by Simon Elvin Ltd. It seeks to find, support and promote young poetic talent from across the UK. In this, the centenary year of The Poetry Society, visiting the North East is to highlight the region as a cultural destination and encourage more teachers, youth workers and young people to become involved. Bea Colley, education manager of The Poetry Society says 'As an area with a rich artistic and literary culture reflected through organisations and initiatives such as New Writing North, Seven Stories, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), The Arc, Stockton and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, we want to ensure we are tapping into this rich creative source.'

The Young Poets of the Year Award is open to young people aged 11-17. The closing date for this year's entry is 31 July 2009. Online entry is at www.foyleyoungpoets.org. A booklet of this year's 15 winners called You envied the stars their height is available from The Poetry Society. Winners over 14 attend a week long residential course at an Arvon Centre where they are tutored by the judges.

This year's launch consists of a reception and readings from two previous winners and the poet WN Herbert. Those at the reception are a mix of writers, young people from participating schools and those involved in organising the competition. Judith Palmer, Director of The Poetry Society says they had over 5,000 entries with 12,000 poems submitted. The standard was very high and when they got down to the last thousand it became very difficult to choose. In addition to the 15 winners, there are 85 commended poets to encourage those who have come close.

Those present include: Caroline Bird, a winner in 1999 (aged 14) and 2000. She has continued to write and has anthologies published by Carcanet: Looking Through Letterboxes (2002), Trouble Came to the Turnip (2006) and - due out in November 2009 - Watering-Can. Richard O'Brien, who won in 2006 and 2007. He is now submissions editor for Pomegranate, which produces a quarterly online journal for poets under 30. Pomegranate was developed by some of the winners of the Young Poets Award. Supporters of the event include: Lucy Macnab from the South Bank Centre, London who is responsible for learning and participation at their poetry library; Katrina Porteous, a poet from Northumberland; Jill Davidson who is second in the English department at Prudhoe Community High School.

Jill Davidson comments on the success of having poets visit her school and the children's reactions. She points out some Year 10s and 11s in the audience who will enter the event this year, and some sixth-formers who entered in 2008. Jill says that poet Maureen Almond visited their school in June 2008 and ran a workshop with the children. Later in 2008, Anna Woodford came. None of the entries from the school made it into the first hundred, but they had a competition within the school, and all involved found it valuable.

On stage, Judith Palmer introduces the concepts behind the awards and tells of what happened in the early years. Children from one class, in one school, kept winning. Their teacher Cliff Yates was teaching poetry in a way that consistently produced winners. This made The Poetry Society rethink their strategy, and they now have a scheme called Teacher Trailblazers, which encourages teachers to adopt a similar approach to Cliff's. It has resulted in a far wider selection of children becoming winners. This year, there will be a DVD of the winners, lesson-plans and advice.

Judith Palmer thanks The Sage and New Writing North for facilitating the launch; and publishers Bloodaxe, Faber, Picador, Lighthouse and others who have given anthologies as part of the prizes. She introduces WN Herbert (Bill Herbert), poet and creative writing teacher at Newcastle University .

Bill Herbert shares experiences and ideas. He feels there should be a through narrative in poetry from school to university. Teachers should work with poets. He recalls effectively being left in charge of a crèche in Dumfries and how teachers had seen the poet as a glorified supply teacher. Poetry can be seen as second-class, 'easy' writing when compared with writing a novel. He quotes an article by Colm Tobin in which the writer finds the attitude to his work is 'grim determination'. The reason for writing is 'money'. There is no pleasure except in poetry which is seen as something of a leisure activity. These attitudes are changing, and a turning-point for poetry may be emerging. Wendy Cope had presented the prize for University Challenge and there was the Elegy for David Cameron's son. Poetry in the Elegy lives in the gap between the inexpressibility of grief and real life. So poetry is not a frippery or a hobby, it is more important.

Bill Herbert says that the key factor is a good teacher. This has parallels with the Good Samaritan story and can change a person's life. Teenagers are extreme – extremely excited, boring, annoying – anything really. This can be expressed through imagery, a primary human tool. Simile becomes metaphor becomes symbol. People perceive a combative society, an adversarial world. The real world is somewhere between two opposing viewpoints. Young minds should be able to hold contradictory thoughts – not say A is wrong or B is wrong. Instead they should compare from the middle ground and not deal in absolutes.

Bill Herbert believes that poetry can be taught. It should be led by what the teenagers can do and aspire to. Otherwise they will end up in a structure like that described by Robert Burns (1759-1796), where 'Churches are built to suit the priest'. A poet's visit to a school is like a sticking-plaster. Poets and poetry must cease to be a special different thing. It must become normalised - with much smaller groups, not classes of 30. The crucial element is to teach the teachers. The kids are the most extreme, but the teachers the most useful. There must be a paradigm shift to understand what a writing exercise is and how it can free the imagination. This will make the curriculum start to shift. Move the power back to the creator. 'It's a basic part of being human, a marvellous lucid dream. Poetry is lucid dreaming for the wide-awake.'

Richard O'Brien reads his poems: 'Astronomy for Beginners', 'Affair in a Manuscript Library', 'Moses and Mediaeval Glass', 'Futterneid' (from German; a literal translation is envy of someone else's food), 'Hymn for the Cigarettes', 'Texting in Church', 'The Eleventh Plague', 'The Barrenland', 'The Revelation'. His poems constantly surprise, and involve Roman Gladiators, why Moses had horns and - in The Eleventh Plague - 'We are coming for your soul or something like it'. He reads confidently, and the poetry is easily-accessible. It sounds like well-honed natural speech.

Caroline Bird reads 'Owl Poem', almost an anti-poetry-poem written when she was thirteen. 'Seesaw', about Disneyland, maturity and childhood, brings spontaneous applause. Families and relationships are covered in 'I Know This Because You Told Me', 'Playing at Families', and 'Relationship Dolls'. 'A Seasonal Surprise for Miss Pringle' brings more applause. She finishes with 'Trouble Came to the Turnip', a circular poem with a mad sense of logic. The poems are funny and witty, making telling statements. She observes the minutiae of life and translates them into pictures to share.

WN Herbert reads 'Slow Animals Crossing', a ghost story with lemurs; 'The Black Wet', a manic examination of rain; 'The Bad Shaman Blues' is performed with a heavier Scots accent, and rhythm to match. From 'Cabaret McGonagall', he reads 'Difficult Horse'. He finishes with a poem he promises is 'vulgar', based on a Ruth Padel epigram 'Dogs Don't Use Metaphor'. In Bill Herbert's poem, they certainly do - and are vulgar, dirty, dogs. There's laughter.

END

(c) Peter Andrews 5 March 2009

Peter Andrews is Fringe Report's North England correspondent.

Related Links:

Foyle Young Poets - www.foyleyoungpoets.org
Poetry Society - www.poetrysociety.org.uk
The Sage - www.thesagegateshead.org
New Writing North - www.newwritingnorth.com
Seven Stories - www.sevenstories.org.uk
MIMA - www.visitmima.com
The Arc - www.arconline.co.uk
Baltic Centre - www.balticmill.com
Arvon Foundation - www.arvonfoundation.org
Carcanet - www.carcanet.co.uk
Pomegranate - www.pomegranate.me.uk
SouthBank - www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Katrina Porteous - www.bloodaxebooks.com/personpage.asp?author=Katrina+Porteous
Prudhoe Community School - www.pchs.org.uk
Maureen Almond - www.maureenalmond.com
Anna Woodford - www.towerpoetry.org.uk/poetry-matters/march2007/woodford.html
Cliff Yates - www.artscape.org.uk/detail_page2.php?id=3058

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