Thursday 9 October is National Poetry Day and in celebration Bangor Library is hosting an evening of poetry with Queens Writers Group headed by Queens University writer in residence Sinead Morrissey. The event begins at 8pm and will feature members of the group who will present their own work in the informal setting of the historic Carnegie library building.
Queens Writers Group has been in existence since the first appointment of a writer in residence at the university back in the 1970s. The group meets every Wednesday in the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry. It attracts people from all backgrounds who are interested in sharing their work in an informal open forum. The group has published an anthology called The Hauling Songs.
The Hauling Songs is one of many poetry books available to borrow from Bangor Library which is the provinces only designated Poetry Place. Since its launch in May last year, Bangor Librarys Poetry Place has attracted many of the finest poets from the province and beyond. Top exponents of the muse like Joan Newman, Adrian Rice, Ciaran Carson, Jackie Kay and 2001 Whitbread Poetry Prize winner, Selima Hill, have performed at the venue. Recently, it was featured on BBC Radio 4s popular poetry programme The word on the street.
Bangor Librarys branch library manager Stephen Hanson, himself an acclaimed poet, expects an enthusiastic audience:
Sinead is no stranger to libraries she had a very successful reading in Killyleagh Library during our Beyond Words festival in May. She also ran a workshop in Bangor during Beyond Words which entertained and inspired all the participants. Queens Writers Group is very welcome and were hoping for a great evening of poetry and prose
The evening begins at 8pm. All adults are welcome. Admission is free but by ticket only. A limited supply of tickets is available from Bangor Library ( 9127 0591.