TfL to host live poetry readings at Bank station

Transport for London (TfL) will host a special event at Bank Tube station on Friday 30 January, which will include live poetry readings.

The event is part of a series of special commemorations and publications to celebrate the 40th anniversary of TfL’s ‘Poems on the Underground’, which brings world-class poetry to carriages across the London tube network.

‘Poems on the Underground’ has been active since 1986 and has featured poets from Sappho and Shakespeare to Wendy Cope and Kamau Brathwaite.

The event at Bank Tube station will officially mark the 40th anniversary of the scheme and will feature staff poets and poetry lovers, with London poets whose work has featured in the scheme being invited to conduct readings.

Also as part of its commemmoration, TfL will publish a special revised edition of ‘100 Poems on the Underground’, which includes poems by Sappho and Jean Binta Breeze in addition to the poems displayed during the scheme’s first five years.

This revised addition will be available to purchase at several retailers, as well as at the London Transport Museum.

TfL will also follow up this celebration with the launch of a new set of winter ‘Poems on the Underground’ on 9 February, which include many poems by contemporary British poets.

“For the past 40 years, ‘Poems on the Underground’ have given us moments of reflection, joy, solace and so much more as we make our way through the hustle and bustle of the Tube,” said London Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries Justine Simons.

“Much loved by Londoners as part of the familiar furniture of our city, they are incredibly popular with visitors too.”

“Art and culture are for everyone and ‘Poems on the Underground’ bring creative inspiration to millions every day, helping us build a better London for everyone.”

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