To celebrate World Poetry Day, Transport for London (TfL) will be displaying excerpts from winning poems from West London College’s ‘Student with Voices’ competition. The poems will be displayed at several west London stations on the District line to mark World Poetry Day on 22 March.
The competition included 20 schools in Ealing and 20 schools in Hammersmith and Fulham, with young people challenged to write about various themes from wellbeing and mental health to sports, arts and creative media. More than 130 students from Foundation Learning, Art and Design and Health and Social Care entered poems, which were judged by published poets Kavita Hansla and Alex Murdock, with excerpts from seven of the poems chosen to be displayed at TfL stations.
This celebration of poetry follows the recent launch of the latest Poems on the Underground series, which has been inspiring and entertaining customers travelling for almost 40 years – with the first posters appearing on the London Underground in 1986.
Earlier this week, Irish poets John Hurley, Shakira Newton, Tumi Salu and Paul Gerard Dalton treated customers to recordings of Irish poetry at Charing Cross and Covent Garden stations to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. These recordings were made in collaboration with the Irish Embassy. Customers heard multiple poems on topics ranging from love to immigration to Irish identity.
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “For decades TfL has brought poetry to the millions travelling on its network every day and Poems on the Underground has become much loved by so many. It’s fantastic to celebrate World Poetry Day by giving talented young pupils the chance to have their works shown too. I’m sure these poems will delight and inspire Londoners and visitors on their journeys, as we build a better London for everyone.”
Mark Evers, Chief Customer Officer at TfL, said: “It is great to see that these poems, created by talented west London students, will be displayed on our network to celebrate World Poetry Day. TfL has long supported public arts and Poems on the Underground has been displaying some of the best poets for nearly 40 years. We hope that by supporting the ‘Student with Voices’ competition, we will help create the next wave of poets for Poems on the Underground.”
