Notes for Booksellers

  1. What is National Poetry Month?
  2. Who started it?
  3. When is National Poetry Month?
  4. Why was April chosen for National Poetry Month?
  5. What are the aims of National Poetry Month?
  6. Shouldn’t we celebrate poetry all the time, not just for a month a year?
  7. Do people need permission to participate?
  8. What can I do to celebrate NPM?
  9. How can booksellers become more involved?
  10. Does it cost anything to celebrate National Poetry Month?

    1. What is National Poetry Month? National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry within the book trade. The concept is to coordinate an annual promotion working in conjunction with bookshops to introduce more readers to the art of poetry. We hope to increase the visibility and availability of published poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practised and enjoyed.

    2. Who started it? The British Academy of Poets has led this initiative from its inception in 2006 and along the way has enlisted booksellers, publishers and poets to help.

    3. When is National Poetry Month? April of each year.

    4. Why was April chosen for National Poetry Month? To both reflect practices in the USA (to garner international interest) and to find the most appropriate month for a sustained promotion within the British book trade (for example, avoiding the pressures of Super Thursday during in October and any potential clashes with the lead in to the Christmas selling season).

    5. What are the aims of National Poetry Month? The aims of National Poetry Month are to:

      • Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of Britsh poetry
      • Introduce more people in Britain to the pleasures of reading poetry
      • Bring poets and poetry to the general public in immediate and innovative ways, working with booksellers
      • Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
      • Encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of contemporary poetry books

    6. Shouldn’t we celebrate poetry all the time, not just for one month a year? Yes, and this site provides reviews, interviews, feature articles and more, published throughout the year — it also acts to serve as a central place for booksellers and readers to discover more about this thriving national art.

    7. Do people need permission to participate? No, you do not need permission to become part of National Poetry Month. Just jump in and have fun.

    8. What can I do to celebrate NPM? There are thousands of ways to celebrate, you might organise readings and events, put on a display, organise signings, bring a peot to you local bookstore — the sky’s the limit.

    9. How can booksellers become more involved? Put on displays, organise a reading, hold a book signing, there are scores of opportunities for marketing, merchandising, and special events surrounding poetry. We will endeavour to share tips and ideas for selling books.We will also share success stories from past years. If you’re a bookseller with a success story you’d like to share, email us and we may post your story on NationalPoetryMonth.co.uk.

    10. Does it cost anything to celebrate National Poetry Month? Not necessarily. You can organise readings at your local bookshop, run events, hold a book fair, write a review for little or no money. You can do as little or as much as you like and if you don’t want to take part, that’s fine, too. You will find details of how to contact us on this website and we are here to support everything you do throughout each April. Good luck and happy promoting.