Calling all poets!

Thursday (6th October) is National Poetry Day, and The Poetry Society is running their annual poetry competition, National Poetry Competition 2011. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 17 and the deadline for entries is 31st October 2011.
If you do decide to enter, we'd love to hear from you. Get those creative juices flowing...

What's on this week...

Here's a round-up of all things English-related appearing on your TV or featuring on the radio soon. Try and catch them - if you can drag yourself away from the glorious sunshine of course!

Television
Stephen Fry's new series, Fry's Planet Word, continues on Sunday 2nd October (9pm, BBC2). The second programme of the series investigates the relationship between speech and identity by looking at dialect and class. AS and A2 English Language students should take a look...


AS English Literature students may want to set their videos (am I showing my age..?) for this one: BBC2 is showing a short programme called Poets in Person on 5th October (Wednesday) which explores contemporary poems with insights from the poets themselves. It starts at 4.00-4.30am...

Radio
A2 English Literature students may be interested in listening to Katie Him's new dramatisation of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. You can follow this via BBC Radio 4 Extra; the first installment begins on Tuesday 4th October at 11.15am-12.00pm.

The BBC Radio 3 series The Verb continues tonight (Friday 30th September) at 10pm. Diana Athill talks about her latest book.

Enjoy your weekend!

Books Season

The Guardian and Observer Books Season begins this weekend. Starting today in their Review supplement, The Guardian investigates the "most powerful figures in British books" and there is also a focus on the bicentenary celebrations of the birth of Charles Dickens. In tomorrow's Observer you can receive a free Dicken's 'Heroes and Villains' wallchart.
You can also receive 25% off at The Guardian Bookshop, using code BOOKSSEASON (offer ends 30.09.11).

Grab your copy today! Or follow the links above...

What's on this week...

Every week, we aim to keep you updated with Language and Literature-related programmes (whether on television or radio) and relevant theatre productions. Here's what's coming up in the next week or so:

Television
English Language students may be interested in a new BBC2 series hosted by the comedian and actor Stephen Fry. Called Fry's Planet Word, the five-part series explores linguistic achievements and how our skills for the spoken word have developed. If it's as good as his recent BBC Radio 4 series, it'll definitely be worth staying in for...(or catching up on iPlayer.)
Fry's Planet Word begins on Sunday September 25th at 9pm, on BBC2.

Theatre 
Fans of Shakespeare may like to know that there are a couple of productions running in London theatres: 
The Tempest is currently on at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 29th October;
Hamlet begins its run at the Young Vic from 28th October – 21st January 2012 - and stars the rather wonderful Michael Sheen as the tormented protagonist.

Edexcel AS English Literature study day

Attention all AS English Literature students! Sovereign Education is delivering a conference related to Unit 1 of your exam, entitled 'Explorations in Poetry and Prose'. The day focusses on different aspects of the exam paper and aims to develop your ability in:

• responding to unseen poetry and prose
• comparing and contrasting poems on a shared theme
• linking prose texts through a common topic.

There are four seminars and key speakers include a Chief examiner and Principal Examiner of national examination boards. The course takes place on Monday 21st November in Central London (venue tbc) and runs from 11.00am - 3.30pm and costs £19 per student. If you are interested in attending, please let your teacher know ASAP and places can be booked.

Stephen Pinker: a name worth knowing

AS/A2 English Language students may want to familiarise themselves with the name Stephen Pinker. He is a renowned Professor of Psychology who has written several books about language, linguistics and psychology. Read about him here on the excellent TED website, where you can also find links to talks/lectures he has given.