Press Release
Bards asked to welcome Hamefarers with poetry
Shetland Library is extending the popular Bards in the Bog project with a one-off poetry special to celebrate the Hamefarin. Bards in the Bog attracted a high standard of entries from poets both within and outwith Shetland. These poems have been posted in toilets all over Shetland for the past year, as well as on the Library website, and were published in a book. Although the original project, which was supported by Shetland Arts and the Scottish Poetry Library, is now drawing to a close, poems in toilets have proved so popular with the public that the Library would like to keep it going a little longer.
Poets are asked to contribute poems for the Hamefarin, based loosely on the theme of ‘Welcome’. “The theme is not all that strict”, says Karen Fraser, Customer Service Librarian with Shetland Library: “we are just looking for poems which will please people – especially visitors to Shetland - when they happen across them”. A selection of the best poems will be posted in as many public toilets as possible around the islands.
Councillor Gussie Angus, a key supporter of the Hamefarin said: “Bards in the Bog has been a splendid project to get poetry out into the community and I’m delighted that it has been extended to mark the Hamefarin”.
The poems will be made into large-print A4 posters, so they should be compact, and no longer than 14 lines. The closing date is Saturday, 15th May 2010 and entries should be sent to Shetland Library.