Children’s Poetry

We have decided to set aside this new section of the Poetry Book Society website to provide a home for articles and discussion on the subject of poetry written for children. Our concern about this relates to the very small amount of new children's poetry coming out and the great difficulty experienced by new children's poets in getting published.

The Summit on Children's Poetry has been running and meeting twice-yearly since July 2008. It is group of people concerned about children's poetry and poets writing for children; about what happens in schools and teacher training; and the publication and sales of children's poetry.

We hope to publish a series of articles about children's poetry on this website, so if you have something to say, would like to contribute an article, or want to find out more about the Summit, please email me.

Our first featured article is by 2012 CLPE Poetry Prize winner Rachel Rooney on writing children's poetry.


Chris Holifield
Director, Poetry Book Society


The Children's Poetry Bookshelf was a book club for young poetry lovers aged 7-11, but has sadly had to close after 12 years due to a lack of funding and support. The website still exists but we are no longer taking on new members.

For children's poetry book recommendations, click here.