header banner

POETRY IN MOTION SCHOOLS

Poetry in Motion Schools is New Belfast Community Arts Initiative’s innovative literary programme for primary, secondary and special schools.

NEW BELFAST PUBLISHES You Are Here

You Are Here is a unique “poetry map” of Belfast by our youngest citizens. Twelve local poet facilitators worked in thirty schools inspiring pupils from six to sixteen to create and shape their own words and their own sense of place.

The project was co-ordinated by Chelley McLear, a performance poet with a growing international reputation, and facilitated by New Belfast’s amazing team of poets: Jane Bailey, Jan Melia, David Smylie, Rozana Huq, Gordon Hewitt, Aisling Doherty, Jane Grace, Ruth Carr, Jo Prinsen, Paul Maddern, Brenda Liddy.

Very often we think of place only as a location or a destination. However, in this collection of poems, that sense of place is as much about the people within the city, the experiences they have and the things they learn, as it is about geography or the shape of buildings.

Here our young poets take you on a number of journeys. We travel with them through places they know and love, spaces they call their own and characters they‘re discovering. We visit memories, personal stories and local histories, whether real or imagined.

Many of these places and spaces will be familiar to those of us who call this city “home”. They are our landmarks and places where we come together to share new experiences; they are huge yellow cranes and green parks; they are Victorian buildings and sports grounds. However, alongside those places that we recognise are some that we might not; the personal spaces and stories that make us who we are.

So put on your walking shoes and take a step into the city with our young tour guides.

Chelley McLear (Poetry in Motion Co-ordinator)

This project was funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery and Exchequer funds, with additional monies Belfast City Council and Department of Foreign Affairs.

Poetry in Motion School’s poetry collections are featured in the Publication page.