National Poetry Library

National Poetry Library
Name	National Poetry Library
Country	United Kingdom
Established	1953
Location	London, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
Collection size	over 200,000 items
Director	(see Governance and Funding)
Website	(not shown)

National Poetry Library The National Poetry Library is a specialized public lending library for modern and contemporary poetry collections located in the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre in London. Founded in 1953, it holds a comprehensive archive of individual volumes, anthologies, periodicals, and spoken-word recordings by poets associated with movements such as Modernism, Postmodernism, and various twentieth- and twenty-first-century schools. The library supports readers, researchers, and performers through lending, reference services, exhibitions and events linked to institutions such as the British Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, Somerset House, and the National Theatre.

History

The library was established in the postwar cultural climate shaped by figures like T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and institutions including the Poetry Society, Arts Council England, and the British Council. Early collections reflected networks connected to Faber and Faber, Chatto & Windus, Jonathan Cape, Penguin Books, and small presses such as Carcanet Press, Oxford University Press, and Blackwell. Over decades it accumulated works allied with events like the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Hay Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, and readings in venues such as Aldeburgh Festival and Royal Albert Hall. Key acquisitions came from estates and archives associated with poets including Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, Dylan Thomas, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, R.S. Thomas, Moniza Alvi, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Imtiaz Dharker, John Agard, Les Murray, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, W. S. Merwin, Louise Glück, Toni Morrison (poetry-adjacent collections), and many small-press editors and publishers.

Collections

The holdings encompass single-author collections, collected works, selected poems, critical editions from Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge, and periodicals such as Poetry (magazine), The Rialto, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Ambit, Granta, The TLS, The New Statesman poetry supplements, and historic broadsides. The library includes chapbooks from presses like Salt Publishing, Bloodaxe Books, Carcanet Press, Faber and Faber, Picador, Cape Poetry, and experimental works tied to collectives such as The British Poetry Revival and The Movement. Archive items connect to literary estates and trusts including the T. S. Eliot Estate, Ted Hughes Archive, Philip Larkin Archive, Dylan Thomas Prize nominees, and winners of awards such as the T. S. Eliot Prize, Costa Book Awards, Forward Poetry Prize, Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Nobel Prize in Literature laureates with poetry output, and international recognitions like the Bologna Prize for the Arts.

Services and Programmes

Services include public lending linked to PLR frameworks, interlibrary loan collaborations with the British Library, digitisation projects in partnership with Jisc, and exhibitions coordinated with Southbank Centre curatorial teams. Programmes host readings, workshops, and panels with poets and critics from networks including Poetry Society, Scotland’s Poetry Library, Irish Poetry Reading Scheme, and international partners like Poetry Foundation, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, Sydney Writers' Festival, PEN International, and European Poetry Festival affiliates. The library organises competitions and residencies often associated with trusts and prizes such as the Eric Gregory Award, Somerset Maugham Award, Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Royal Society of Literature fellowships, and university partnerships with University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, King's College London, University College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, University of Leeds, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Birkbeck, University of London.

Building and Facilities

Situated within the Royal Festival Hall complex on the South Bank of the River Thames, the library occupies space near performance venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. Facilities include lending shelves, reference desks, listening booths for audio collections from labels like Naxos and archives of readings linked to broadcasters such as the BBC, study carrels, exhibition walls, and accessible services coordinated with Southbank Centre infrastructure. The building’s setting connects it to nearby cultural sites like National Theatre, Hayward Gallery, BFI Southbank, London Eye, Westminster Bridge, and transport hubs near Waterloo station and Embankment station.

Access and Membership

Access policies provide membership tiers for residents, students, researchers, and visitors, with concessions for holders of cards from institutions such as British Council, Arts Council England, National Union of Students, and partner universities. The library supports remote enquiries for scholars linked to projects at The National Archives (United Kingdom), Modern Records Centre, Senate House Library, Bodleian Libraries, and specialist collections at Huntington Library and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Membership enables borrowing, onsite consultation, and participation in events co-hosted with organisations like Poetry International, Southbank Centre, British Council, and Royal Society of Literature.

Outreach and Education

Outreach targets schools, colleges, community centres, and prisons through programmes affiliated with National Literacy Trust, Poetry Archive, First Story, Poems in the Waiting Room, and vocational partners such as City Lit. Educational initiatives partner with curriculum bodies and festivals including BBC Schools, Children's Laureate projects, Young Poets Network, National Youth Theatre initiatives, and university creative-writing programmes at Goldsmiths, Kingston University, Royal Holloway, and University of East Anglia.

Governance and Funding

Governance comprises trustees, advisory panels, and partnerships with funders and bodies including Arts Council England, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Heritage Lottery Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Jerwood Charitable Foundation, and private benefactors. Operational links exist with cultural institutions and funding councils such as National Lottery Heritage Fund, Nesta, Clore Leadership Programme, and institutional donors including university endowments and publishing houses like Faber and Faber, Carcanet Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Penguin Random House.

Category:Libraries in London Category:Poetry