A new poetry commission will capture the city’s cultural and creative spirit as Dundee celebrates being part of A Poet In Every Port, a UK‑wide partnership project led by the Southbank Centre's National Poetry Library. Inspired by the travelling exhibitions of the 1951 Festival of Britain, it forms a key part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary national programme.
In Dundee, the project marking the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain is delivered in partnership with Dundee Book Festival, run by Leisure & Culture Dundee.
The Festival of Britain was intended to be “a tonic for the nation,” lifting national spirits with creativity and innovation after the preceding decades of war and economic insecurity. Events took place across the four nations and the Festival is estimated to have been visited by half the national population across the UK. Artworks travelled by land and by sea and one of the 1951 port locations was the city of Dundee.
The Festival of Britain also saw the creation of the Royal Festival Hall, the only permanent cultural building to come from the Festival of Britain, and the first chapter in the story of the Southbank Centre. To mark this 75th anniversary, the National Poetry Library, based at the Southbank Centre, will go on tour with A Poet in Every Port, a national project celebrating poetry in coastal communities across the UK. The project will take to the road between May and September 2026, visiting 11 coastal towns and cities in a specially designed mobile National Poetry Library. It features unique poetry collections, a recording studio, and space for workshops. Visitors of all ages are free to browse the collection, take part in free workshops and watch performances by local poets.
In partnership with Dundee Book Festival, the mobile National Poetry Library will visit the city on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June.
As part of this visit, Dundee Book Festival will commission a new poem celebrating the same creativity and innovation the Festival of Britain offered, in Dundee in 2026.
Applications are now open for poets with a strong connection to Dundee, whether they live, work here or just love the city.
The commission offers a fee of £600 for a new poem. The poem should be around 16 lines. The poem will be read for the first time at the mobile National Poetry Library, which will be outside McManus Galleries on 20 and 21 June.
Anna Day, Head of Culture & Libraries at Leisure & Culture Dundee, said:
“We are looking for a poet to be inspired by the work held in our institutions, including McManus Galleries, Caird Hall, V&A Dundee, DCA among others, as well as the artists and makers who make the city so vibrant. This commission is a chance to celebrate our city through fresh creative eyes. Dundee has a rich cultural story and we’re excited to see that brought to life in a new poem.”
To apply for this commission, please send two examples of your work and a paragraph about why you’d love this commission to anna.day@leisureandculturedundee.com by 5pm on Friday 22 May, 2026.
