In Defence of Poetry

Sponsored by The Poetry Business

Following the censoring of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem Education for Leisure from the school curriculum, poets, critics, teachers and students will debate the significance of this ban.

Should children be protected from controversial literature? Should works be studied because of their literary merit or as springboards to discuss particular issues? Should students be taught to analyse poems in order to understand their meaning or should they be asked to provide a personal response? How important should poetry be in teaching English? Who should determine the content of the school curriculum and according to what criteria? What are the roles of the poet, the critic, the teacher and the reader in upholding the importance of poetry? And what, if any, is the role of government?

Guest Chair: Wes Brown, writer and novelist.

topics:

date:

Wednesday 17 March 2010

time:

7pm to 8:30pm

admission:

£5 waged / £3 unwaged

speakers/panellists:

useful reading:

salon partners:

The Poetry Business is a poetry publisher and writer development agency. They publish books, pamphlets, audio and eBooks under the smith|doorstop imprint; edit a literary magazine, The North; and run Writing Days, masterclasses, residential courses, and a Writing School for published poets. They also run the annual Book & Pamphlet Competition.