There is a real treat coming up for all poets across Ireland this month, as Poetry Day is taking place nationwide.

Poetry Day Ireland is a major one-day festival of Irish poets and poetry at home and abroad. It celebrates poetry, which is intrinsically linked to our Irish identities. From Yeats to Kavanagh, McCormack to Muldoon, Ireland is a hot spot for all things poetic.

When is it?

In 2017, Poetry Day will be celebrated on Thursday, April 27th and the theme for 2017 is “Poetry Connects.”

Here’s what the Poetry Ireland website has to say about Poetry Day 2017:

“Poetry Day Ireland includes flagship live literature events and educational activities programmed by Poetry Ireland, alongside a support network of promotional tools and resources for organisations and individuals who wish to produce their own events or get involved in other ways. Almost 100 poetry-related events took place on Poetry Day Ireland last year, in libraries, bookshops, arts centres, schools, hotels, night clubs, bars, cafes and street corners from Kerry to Derry. We need your help to make it even bigger and better in 2017.”

This year’s theme is “Poetry has the power to connect.” The concept is that words matter. They can build bridges or burn them down. That’s the beauty of the written and spoken word; it can affect.

Want to join in?

There are many ways to join in on Poetry Day. Here are just a few:

• Check out or organise a poetry reading, open mic or slam in your venue, library, workplace, bookshop or school
• You can find a poet near you
• If you’re a poet and you’d like to add your details to our Poets’ Database 
• Request and display free Poetry Day Ireland posters and brochures to help promote your event

On April 27th, the plan is to flood Twitter and Facebook with poetry, which can be found under the hashtag #PoetryDayIRL

@PoetryIreland will be tweeting about events, so be sure to check out their page

You can find more info on the Poetry Day brochure, which is full of interesting events and up and coming poets.

We at Selfpublishbooks.ie are very excited and will be sure to keep up to date with all those waxing lyrical on the day.

If you’re a poet looking to get your work published, get in touch and we can offer a range of packages to get your work out into the real world