The Poetry Archive is a freely accessible, living archive of recordings of contemporary poets with a mission to acquire, produce and care for a unique digital collection of recordings of poems written in English and read aloud by the poets themselves. In these difficult times, where many people are now isolated from the cultural, community and family networks they are used to, poetry becomes even more important to reflect on the age we live in and to offer inspiration, comfort and the sheer lift-of-spirits which listening to fantastic poetry can bring.

Between May and August 2021 the Poetry Archive is opening up its archives to continue to build our unique picture of the poetry response to our contemporary age. We are asking poets to make a video/film recording of themselves reading or reciting a single poem – for example through a phone or through social media ‘live’ platforms. We will publish your poem to the Poetry Archive YouTube channel where visitors around the world can hear these poems and see who created the work. At the close of our call-out, in September, the Archive will bring together a panel of poets and poetry specialists to select their favourite poems amongst those submitted. These will then be curated into a special Poetry Archive Now! WordView 2021 Collection, which will be published to our main websites and promoted around the world through our marketing, social media and any live events we might be able to offer. As a reminder of the sheer quality and brilliance of the work we receive, take a look at the WordView 2020 Collection here.

Each poet chosen for a special collection on our Archive will be offered £100 royalty fee for the use of their poem. As a charity the Poetry Archive is sadly unable to pay a royalty for every submission we receive as we truly hope that many poets will have work they want the Archive to keep. In return, for every poem published to our YouTube channel, we promise you our staff team will work to bring new audiences to your writing though our marketing, newsletters and social media activity – and we will promote this initiative far and wide. We will welcome you into the Poetry Archive family by committing our archiving resources and expertise to ensure your every poem we publish through YouTube or our websites is archived securely for future generations to enjoy. You will always know the Poetry Archive keeps your poem safe!

We promise to dedicate our marketing resources to raising your profile as much as we can, sharing your work with new audiences and providing a high-quality channel where your work will be published. The Poetry Archive is a trusted resource for poetry lovers and teachers the world over and we want to ensure we represent the full, rich diversity and excellence of the poetry being produced today. Each year our websites enjoy around 3 million page-views from visitors around the world and our social media posts reach many thousands of listeners every month, a wonderful testament to how much the poetry we keep is listened to and loved by our audiences.

To find out more about Poetry Archive Now, including entry criteria, terms and conditions and how to submit, visit the Poetry Archive Now information page. We can’t wait to hear and see your poems!