Kendrick Poets' Society Second Anthology Launch

On Monday 27th June, we launched our second Kendrick Poets’ Society Anthology. We were delighted to see family and friends join us for this special occasion. Our poets showcased their exceptional poems with the audience and moved many people with the power of their words as they read their poems on stage. They were passionate, talented and excellent. You can find the foreword attached to this article to get an impression of how brilliantly crafted the poems are for this anthology.

When the Kendrick Poets’ Society was established in the autumn of 2020, Miss Akcay’s ambition was to encourage our poets to further understand the skills and wisdom needed to write, edit and refine poetry in order to find the truth in their experiences and observations. Language is powerful, and poetry is the most refined form of language. It is the form of writing that most encapsulates meaning, thought and emotion, often in the most piercing yet delightful way.

Our theme this year was reflections, which was inspired by thousands of years of reflecting that human beings have done over a wide range of issues. It is important in these rapidly changing times that writers and thinkers reflect on concepts such as morality, the nature of happiness, responsibility, meaning and loss. Our poets have taken these ideas and many others and created a collection that explores literal and metaphorical reflections. Some of these are depicted in the beautiful front cover designed by our illustrator Shruthi.

Enthused with a growing love of writing, they have had weekly seminars and workshops to explore and write poems using proven techniques that are used by many profound writers. With several 1:1 sessions, with each poet being allocated their own editor, they have had the privilege to be guided by the advice and suggestions offered by our editorial team who have discussed and critiqued their poems every week. Most importantly, all our poets have become very confident and found a newly ignited love for writing. Sincerest thanks to Miss Akcay for establishing and leading this society.

The poets who read out the following poems were:

Abi (Y13) – Foreword

Aashi (Y12) – As Imperceptibly as Love

Diana (Y11)  – Mama’s girl

Connie (Y12) – Good Enough

Alex (Y13) – Waver

Niharika (Y13) – Forwards/Backwards

Photos from the evening can be viewed here

This launch was followed by an anthology sale for students during second break on the following day, and we sold out! It was a huge success as we had ordered 3 times as many copies as last year.

Thank you to everyone who has made a purchase. A special thank you to everyone for coming to the event and making it special.

If you would like to purchase an anthology, we have ordered 50 more copies, so if you are a parent/guardian, you can pay on ParentPay. Alternatively, please contact Miss Akcay via sakcay@kendrick.reading.sch.uk and make a purchase.