As part of the Havant Literary Festival, Ira Lightman, conceptual poet will be reading from his work Duetcetera. Supported by The House Band and local poet Audi Maserati. 8pm at Havant Arts Centre, East Street, Havant PO9 1BS tickets:023 9247 2700 havantlitfest.org.uk

Venue: Havant Arts Centre, Havant, Hampshire PO9 1BS

Tickets: £6

Contact: June Halford
Telephone: 07729 784735
Email: 2009hlf@googlemail.com
Website: www.havantlitfest.org.uk

In order to mark the centenary this year of the birth of William 1st Viscount De L’Isle VC KG (the previous owner of Penshurst Place), a grandson, Robert Rattray, has sculpted a stunning metal sundial in the form of a life-size archer, which was unveiled in the Demi Lune in the public gardens on 24 Sept and on view until 1 Nov this season. The theme for the sundial is the quotation: “Who shoots at the midday sun, though he shall be sure he shall never hit the mark; yet as sure as he is he shall shoot higher than who aim but at a bush” Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

Venue: Penshurst Place & Gardens

Tickets: Normal admission pri

Contact: Tamsin Leigh
Telephone: 01892 870307
Email: marketing@penshurstplace.com
Website: www.penshurstplace.com

Customers are invited to pin on a board a copy of their Favourite Poem or Your Own Poetry and these can be viewed by everyone in the library.

Venue: Oxford Central Library

Tickets: n/a

Contact: Jane Mason
Telephone: 01865-815549
Email: jane.mason@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Website: www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

We are a small patisserie and we are going to invite people to visit and post their writings on our blue walls... thats it. Just raise awareness, and share.

Venue: Lucie Valentines

Tickets: .... words are free

Contact: Lucy Love
Telephone: 07730522328
Email: lucie.valentines@ymail.com

The English Project Annual Lecture 2009 Carol Ann Duffy was elected the country’s first female Poet Laureate in May this year. Her first National Poetry Day in post brings her to Winchester Discovery Centre as the special guest of The English Project. Following readings from her extensive collection of writing, she will be interviewed by Prof Christopher Mulvey of the University of Winchester. As one of the bestselling poets in the UK, Duffy has managed to combine critical acclaim with popularity: a rare feat in the poetry world. She is well known to children, having featured for many years on the national school syllabus. Her prose and poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children’s Verse, and the Whitbread and Forward Prizes. In 2005, Carol Ann Duffy won the T.S. Eliot Prize for her collection of love poems called Rapture. The aim of The English Project is to promote awareness and understanding of the unfolding global story of the English language in all its varieties – past, present and future. Tonight’s event is the second in a series of annual lectures featuring language experts.

Venue: Winchester Discovery Centre

Tickets: £9

Contact: Jane Thomas
Telephone: 01962 873603
Email: jane.thomas@hants.gov.uk
Website: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wdc/wdc-eventdetails?id=58863

A Poet in the City event at the NPG, taking place on the evening of National Poetry Day, and featuring the distignuished poets Dannie Abse, Polly Clark and Colin Wakefield.

Venue: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE

Tickets: £5.00 (or £4.00 conc

Contact: Box Office
Telephone: 020 7306 0055
Email: info@poetinthecity.co.uk
Website: www.npg.org.uk/events

At 8.00am on the morning of National Poetry Day, this poetry breakfast event in the heart of the City of London features the wonderful poet Polly Clark reading some of her own poems. Stong coffee and pastries will be provided!

Venue: Bates Wells & Braithwaite, 2-6 Cannon St, London EC4M 6YH

Tickets: Free but space limit

Contact: Anmar Frangoul, Poet in the City administrator
Telephone: 07908 367488
Email: info@poetinthecity.co.uk
Website: www.poetinthecity.co.uk

Catherine Smith and Susan Utting will read from their collections. Catherine Smith Lip, her most recent collection is published by Smith/Doorstop (2007). Nominated twice for the Forward Prize for Poetry, she was named as one of the PBS/Arts Council 'Next Generation' poets in 2004. Previous collections include The New Bride and The Butcher’s Hands (Smith/Doorstop). Catherine teaches creative writing for the University of Sussex. Susan Utting Peterloo Poetry Prize winner and founder of Reading’s Poets’ Café, Susan was Community Laureate for the Arts Council's Year of the Artist, and Creative Writing Fellow at Reading University. Publications include Something Small is Missing (a Poetry Business prize winner) and Striptease (both Smith/Doorstop). Her latest collection is Houses without Walls (Two Rivers Press).

Venue: Arts Bar, Wellington Road, Wokingham

Tickets: £4

Contact: Allison McVety
Telephone: Contact via contacts page on website
Email: Contact via contacts page on website
Website: http://www.poetrymatters.co.uk/09oct.htm

Winners of Andover National Poetry Day competition will have their poems displayed as posters in the foyer of The Ligths Theatre Andover and REEL Cinema plasma screen TV's in the foyer.

Venue: The Lights Andover, REEL Cinema Andover

Tickets: Free

Contact: Catherine Randle
Telephone: 01264773106
Email: cathode.randle@gmail.com
Website: cathode.randle@gmail.com

Local Poet Victoria Pugh leads a workshop for adults. Find inspiration for creative work and develop your own ideas for a poem. 10am to 12 noon. Call the library to book a place 0118 9781368

Venue: Wokingham Library

Tickets: £5

Contact: Heather Dyson
Telephone: 0118 9743712/9781368
Email: heather.dyson@wokingham.gov.uk
Website: http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries

Young people's poetry session for ages 5-12 years Create fun rhymes and sounds with Allison McVety 10.30am to 11.15am. Young people's poetry prize giving and readings 11.30am-12.15pm For details contact Wokingham Library (0118)9781368

Venue: Wokingham Library

Tickets: Free

Contact: Elizabeth McDonald
Telephone: (0118) 9743709
Email: elizabeth.mcdonald@wokingham.gov.uk
Website: www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries

Howard Brenton's acclaimed play looks at the fateful meeting between Byron and Shelley on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1816. Along with companions Mary Shelley and Claire Clairmont, the poets struggle to define their identity in an increasingly turbulent world. A lyrical feast for all lovers of verse, Bloody Poetry is a intriguing look at the passions which drove these legendary scribes.

Venue: White Bear Theatre Club, London SE11

Tickets: £12; £10 concessions

Contact: Karen Morash
Telephone: 07880 541 743
Email: thebluenoser@googlemail.com
Website: www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk