ABOUT THE POETRY BOOK SOCIETY
Founded by T S Eliot and friends in 1953, the
Poetry Book Society is a unique poetry society,
providing information, guidance and discounts on the best
contemporary poetry for a wide-ranging community of readers.
The PBS is the biggest dedicated poetry bookseller in
the UK, and we also run education projects and poetry
promotions, such as the Next
Generation Poets in 2004.
The Poet Selectors choose the best new
poetry collection of the quarter, which is sent to full
members as part of their membership. All members also
receive the Bulletin, the quarterly
review of new poetry, which contains the Selectors’
notes on the Choice and Recommendations and the poets’
comments on their own work. Click
here to find out more about the Bulletin.
The PBS awards the prestigious annual
T S Eliot Prize for Poetry,
described by the Irish Independent as the ‘world’s
top poetry award’. The 2006 Prize was won by Seamus
Heaney for District and Circle.
The PBS also runs the Children’s
Poetry Bookshelf, offering poetry written
for 7-11 year-old children to parents, teachers and librarians.
The annual CPB National Write-a-Poem Competition
for children of the same age is run from its website.
Click
here to visit the Children's Poetry Bookshelf
website.
The PBS also has an online poetry bookstore,
Poetry
Bookshop Online, which sells all the poetry
titles in print in the UK and also the Poetry
Archive
CDs, featuring one-hour recordings of 90 poets reading
their own work. Click here
to visit the Poetry Bookshop Online.
Who should join the PBS?
PBS members are people who love poetry. They are readers,
writers, students and teachers of poetry; they are publishers
and librarians, artists and academics. All they have in
common is their interest in the best new poetry. They
also enjoy classic poetry and literary fiction, live literature
and contemporary art, music, theatre and cinema. The PBS
is a community of like-minded poetry lovers and we look
forward to welcoming you.
Members' Feedback
'Getting the quarterly volume is like Christmas
four times a year' - CS, Suffolk
'The fact that I remain a PBS member after
23 years surely indicates the level of my satisfaction.
Long may you flourish!' - BJ, Canada
'It's great to know that the PBS will sort
the wheat from the chaff!' - KM, Mancs
'The PBS is simply indispensable, keeping
me in touch with all the movers and shakers in
the poetry world' - AW, London
'I
like the Bulletin very much.I appreciate its being
always 'just ahead' of other mags.' - GS,
Herts
'You do a wonderful job, particularly
in recommending the best of modern poetry to read.
I am very happy to go along with whatever comes
out of the PBS!' - DH, London
'Poetry
is written and read perhaps more widely than ever
before. It would be time-consuming, expensive
and bewildering to be obliged to explore such
a vast arena entirely unguided. The PBS provides
such guidance and a wonderfully informed, broad-ranging
scheme of reference at very economical prices'
- PC, Germany |
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