Hot off the press: a poetry anthology for the planet22 October 2012
At our Conference this autumn, Rutland Friends of the Earth launched their new poetry anthology, Earth Words.
The group had ran a poetry competition to mark Friends of the Earth's 40th anniversary.
We were looking for a different and more powerful way to encourage people to think about the state of our world. So we asked everyone we could think of to write a poem about the Earth. As a result we had so many hundreds of poems that we couldn't fit them all in the book!
Gabrielle Maughan, Coordinator, Rutland Friends of the Earth
The judges, National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, television presenter Clive Anderson and writer Jon Canter had their work cut out, but eventually agreed on the winners:
Young Poets category
- 1st - Bonnie-Ruth Samuyiwa
- 2nd - Penny Skipper
- 3rd - Will Alexander
Adults
- 1st - Emily Hinshelwood
- 2nd - Linda France
- 3rd - Paul Walker
With the exceptions of the Vogons in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, poets are usually friends of the Earth. Certainly the poems entered for this competition were all Earth-friendly [...] But these, we thought, were the best.
Clive Anderson, Judge
Get your copy of Earth Words
Copies of Earth Words can be ordered by post. Please send a cheque for £3 payable to Rutland Friends of the Earth to Gabrielle Maughan, 10 Bayleys Close, Empingham, Rutland, LE15 8PJ.
To order an Earth Words e-book go to the Rutland Friends of the Earth webpage.
And watch the prize-giving ceremony live from Conference below for readings of some of the poems included in Earth Words.
© Friends of the Earth
