Did you know that there’s such thing as the National Poetry Library? And that you can sign up to borrow from their online collection if you live anywhere in the UK? I learned this yesterday on Bluesky, and I figured it was worth sharing on my blog as well because I’ve seen several people talking about wanting to read more poetry!

Sign-up is super easy: you just need to fill out the form on their sign-up page link, giving your name, email, phone number and postcode. They’ll then send you an email telling you where to send your proof of address: you can’t reply directly to that email, but just copy the email address they send there and send to that, attaching a copy of some kind of proof of address like a utility bill, bank statement, council tax bill, etc. You can black out any financial details like your account number, though they will also delete whatever you send after verifying that you really do have a UK address.

I got a reply back from them in less than 24 hours with my login details for their Overdrive collection. I can borrow up to two books at once, for up to 14 days.

I’ve been poking around the collection a bit and it looks very worth the small amount of trouble: the split by subjects isn’t very useful for this particular library, but the collections are handy, highlighting various prize winners, recent poetry collections, and other such themes, if you have no idea where to start. I’ve started by checking out two from Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize:

There are a small number of books about poetry as well, and a small number of audiobooks. It’s not an exhaustive collection by any means, but it definitely offers a lovely way to explore some new-to-me poetry.

The library also has a physical collection, so if you live in range, you can show up with photo ID to be able to get a library card and access their physical holdings. They run poetry-related events as well! Their physical premises are wheelchair-accessible and you can check their accessibility info here. The info about their collections indicates they have braille and audio resources available for blind and partially sighted users.

All in all, worth checking out if you have a UK address and phone number at your disposal!