HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WILL HOST A RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE 30 YEARS OF THE FORWARD ARTS FOUNDATION
Wednesday 11th October 2023
The Queen will host a reception at Clarence House to celebrate 30 years of the Forward Arts Foundation, which promotes knowledge and enjoyment of poetry across the UK.
The Queen will join established supporters, friends and previous winners of the Forward Prizes for Poetry to mark 30 years of the Forward Arts Foundation and to thank them for their work to support and promote poetry.
Guests will include: Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate; Karen Bryson MBE, Actress and Helena Bonham Carter CBE, Actress and President of the London Library.
The evening will conclude with a speech by Mr. William Sieghart, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Forward Arts Foundation.
The Forward Arts Foundation promotes public knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of poetry in the UK and Ireland. The charity is committed to widening poetry’s audience, honouring achievement and supporting talent. The Foundation’s programmes include National Poetry Day, the Forward Prizes for Poetry and the Forward Book of Poetry, an annual anthology of the year’s best poems.
This year’s National Poetry Day (5th October 2023) is expected to be the nation’s biggest one-day poetry festival, celebrated in 24 per cent of schools and popping up in libraries, the media and in the workplace. The Forward Prizes for Poetry are the most widely coveted awards for new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. The annual ceremony brings together poetry’s biggest names to perform alongside rising talent in front of diverse and enthusiastic audiences. Notable alumni include Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and Claudia Rankine, while Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Daljit Nagra are among those whose careers were boosted by early recognition.
The Forward Book of Poetry celebrates the best poetry of the year, and their anthology of Poems of the Decade is studied by 8000 students at A Level.
The Forward Arts Foundation’s main strategic aims are to:
• Enable more people to enjoy, discover and share poetry as performers, writers, listeners and readers.
• To better understand and advocate for how poetry can help young people’s wellbeing.
• To support and sustain the work of poets from the UK and Ireland, particularly underrepresented voices.
