Today on My Poetic Side we look at the poet attending the largest EdTech show in the world, the death of a former state poet laureate and a Haiku competition.

Michael Rosen to be Joined by Students at Biggest EdTech Show in the World

Pupils from Linslade Middle School will be joining Michael Rosen, the children’s author and poet, to help select the best EdTech solutions from those that will be on display at Bett UK 2024.

In total, over 60 children from 14 UK schools will be looking over the latest, most cutting edge technologies at the event, which will take place at the end of January at ExCel Centre in London.

The event has been running since 2016 and allows pupils a great opportunity to have their say. It is a departure from his more usual poetry event for Rosen, but he will be taking part in the awards ceremony and also helping the pupils to announce the winners.

Former North Carolina Poet Laureate Dies Aged 87

Fred Chappell, a professor and the former poet laureate of North Carolina, has died at the age of 87.

A professor at UNC Greensboro for a total of 40 years, Chappell was responsible for bringing national recognition to the creative writing master’s program. He coached aspiring writers for generations and also wrote many of his own books and collections of poetry.

One of his collections of poetry, “Dagon” was based around the H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu Cosmic, but it was his first book, published in 1963 that really put him into the public eye. Over the years he won a number of awards including the O. Max Gardner Award, the Bollingen prize in Poetry from Yale University and the T.S. Eliot Prize.

Over the years, the critics were very quick to make connections between Chappell and other voices of the South, including the writer Thomas Wolfe, and whilst he didn’t complain about the comparison, he felt that it reflected on the state rather than the individuals. He liked to reflect back to the roots of the state and their connection with poetry. The capital of North Caroline is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who was himself a poet, and also the founder of the state.

Long after Chappell’s tenure as poet laureate stopped, his poetry still loomed over the city in the form of a mural on a wall in the town centre.

Such was the poet’s love of his art and commitment to the improvement of literary provision within the state that his family have requested that any donations made on his behalf should be donated to the Fred Chappell Creative Writing Fellowship Endowment Fund at the university. The fund helps to support future students who are interested in studying creative writing.

11^th Year of the Golden Haiku Poetry Competition

The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District has announce that the annual Golden Haiku Poetry competition has now opened. The competition is open not only to residents of DC but also poets of all ages from around the world and accepts original haikus.

The theme this year is “Transforming Paths”, and they are hoping for a great response/ Last year they received over 3100 entries.