This week, from 9th – 14th October, it’s Libraries Week: the annual showcase of all the creative, innovative and diverse activities that UK libraries have to offer. Libraries Week is a chance to discover the range of things you can do at your library, from play and learning activities, to staying fit and healthy, to accessing wifi and games, to finding a job, a hobby or even starting a business. Plus, there also the chance to borrow books, music, films and games from your local library for free!
It’s not just public libraries – libraries of all kinds in schools, workplaces and universities have amazing services that will be on show during Libraries Week. Why not visit your local library here in Nottingham this week with your school or your family and see what amazing things they have on offer? To find your nearest city library, click here with specific services for under-16s available here too!
This weekend sees the return of two awesome events: Fun Palaces and Hockley Hustle – which will take over bits of the city and create loads of amazing activities for you and your family to come try! The atmosphere will be brilliant so why not come down and see for yourself!
Fun Palaces is taking place at the brand-new Sneinton Dales Centre from 10:00 – 14:00 and is 100% free! Check it out and take a fresh look… Arts and Science activities to feed your curiosity, change your perspective and look at things differently! There’ll be Science busking & toys, a Curiosity Corner, a Space Painting Workshop, the chance to explore Virtual Reality with your hands and much much more!
On Sunday, Fun Palaces will be at Hockley Hustle and, for the first time, science with join with music and arts in this brilliant festival taking place on the streets of Hockley. Come along for creative and artistic science activities, spilling out onto the streets! For more on Fun Palaces in Nottingham, click here!
Hockley Hustle also has some other amazing things for families this year! After ten years of awesome music, packed out dance floors, thousands of bands and smiley faces all round, this year Hockley Hustle has added Young Hustlers to the bill! The first instalment brings a multicultural and family-orientated day of creative activities to Nottingham’s younger generation and their adults across Hockley and the Lace Market on Sunday 8th October.
Young Hustlers is a one-day arts and music festival running alongside the Hockley Hustle featuring activities for 0-16 year olds. From baby raves ran by Big Fish Little Fish to DJ workshops with DMC World Champion Mr Switch, Young Hustlers runs across 4 dedicated kids venues (Nottingham Contemporary, City Arts, National Videogame Arcade and Cobden Chambers) as well as a plethora of street entertainment with samba parades, belly dancing, graffiti battles, circus performers and much more! Check out the website for more info – www.younghustlers.co.uk
National Poetry Day is a UK-wide celebration of poetry, taking place tomorrow, 28th September 2017. Over the years, poetry has sprung up in the most diverse of places with poetry in burger vans, poetry on the news, poetry on the side of buildings, poetry strapped to the legs of carrier pigeons, and much much more. Why don’t you get poetical in your school this year and let us know using the hashtag #nationalpoetryday!
Below are some suggestions and links to help you get started.
Read a poem
There’s a selection of poems on the National Poetry Day 2017 website on the theme of “freedom” to get you inspired. National Poetry Day is all about enjoying, discovering and sharing poems. the NPD team have also created a recommended poetry reading list, comprising 40 books: anthologies, poetry for children, for reading groups and current collections. Whoever you are, and whatever your reading tastes, there will be a poetry book here to suit. There are also toolkits, teaching resources and posters for teachers.
And don’t forget, tell us what you’re reading and enjoying by using the hashtag #NationalPoetryDay
Write a poem
National Poetry Day’s resident poet and artist Sophie Herxheimer has come up with a great activity to inspire a poem about Freedom. It uses some very odd rules – invented by mathematicians and poets together. An Oulipo poem works with anyone, of any age.
Share a poem
Send a poem to a friend or loved one. Or use #nationalpoetryday to share any poems more widely.
Visit your local library or bookshop
Libraries and bookshops across the country are celebrating National Poetry Day. Pop in to see what is going on. For more on what libraries are doing in your area, click here!
Let us know how you get on
National Poetry Day celebrations have got bigger and bigger each year, with more and more people joining in.
Let us know what you get up to using #nationalpoetryday so that we share your successes with all our supporters!
