CHILDREN at Hay Primary School were delighted to receive a stack of poetry books from The Poetry Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye.

The Poetry Bookshop, which is on the move to new premises in the town, donated poetry books to Hay, Clyro and Clifford Primary schools to celebrate National Poetry Day which was on Thursday, September 28. From this Saturday (October 7) The Poetry Bookshop will be located in a prominent position next to Hay Clocktower putting poetry centre stage in the world-famous town of books.

Dedicated to poetry since 1979, the Poetry Bookshop in Hay offers the most comprehensive selection of secondhand and antiquarian poetry available for sale anywhere in the UK and is a big draw for poetry lovers. The new premises will allow plenty of room for events and some new books too. The shop has moved from an outbuilding in Frank Lewis House in 1979 to Broad Street in 1981 and then in 2000 to Ice House in Brook Street when current owners Melanie and Chris Price took over.

Now once again the shop is on the move and Chris and Melanie are inviting customers to join them on Saturday (October 7) for a day of readings and celebrations at their new shop at The Pavement, 2 Lion Street, and later in the evening at a party at The Globe with the original ‘People’s Poet’, John Cooper Clarke.

On National Poetry Day, Hay pupils joined friends of The Poetry Bookshop and fellow shopkeepers in the town to form a human chain to relay an A-Z of poetry through the streets of Hay from the old Poetry Bookshop to the new premises, culminating in group photograph being taken at the clocktower.