Poetry can have a powerful and moving effect on memory, especially for the older generation who so often learned poems by heart at school. Our National Memory Day programme places trained poets in Memory Cafés bringing the joy of poetry to those with memory loss and their carers.
Place Poets in Memory Cafés
This autumn Arts & Health SW will match the first £2000 we raise, £ for £. Please donate to help us get poets in memory cafes. Help us use poetry as a catalyst for unlocking memories and making new ones. It costs just £250 to provide a poetry session in a Memory Cafe – with a match from AHSW it’s just £125. The challenge is running until 31 December 2018. Please give here.
Poet training session in Devon in November
We’re holding a free training session for poets interested in working with people living with memory loss in Devon. We’ll be at Exeter Central Library on 7th November where poet Karen Hayes will deliver training alongside representatives from the Alzheimer’s Society South West.
If you would like to apply for a place on this half-day course, please email Kate Wilson at [email protected] with your CV by Friday 26th October at 5 pm.
National Memory Day poetry competition
Only two weeks left to submit your poems. Our National Memory Day poetry competition closes on 5th October 2018.
We are accepting submissions of poems to two prize categories:
The Poetry Prize, sponsored by Literature Works and The Primary Carer Voice Prize. Both categories have three placing prizes: 1st £700 2nd £200 3rd £100.
We’re seeking poems on the theme of ‘memory’. Compositions could be influenced by the experience of living with memory loss, or the theme lends itself to a broader interpretation. Submissions can be in any form, but should be no longer than 40 lines.
This year, we are accepting submissions by post or online.
Full details of the competition and submission processes can be found here.
Advance notice: National Memory Day 2019 will take place as part of Dementia Action Week on Thursday 23rd May 2019.
AHSW Podcast about our work: Literature Works – Poetry and Memory Loss
Literature Works is pleased to have participated in the AHSW podcast series – a distinguished podcast programme which explores the intermingling of art and health. Please have a listen! Also, we’d really appreciate it if you comment, rate and subscribe to help raise the visibility of this story.
