Joseph Coelho at St Pancras – Children’s Laureate Poetry Performance

The current 2022-2024 Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho will be at St. Pancras International station hosting a free poetry performance in honour of the Track Record poetry project. The event will be held from 10.30 until midday in the Grand Terrace of the station itself, paired with performances by local school children.

Event Details

Date: 10th July 2023

Event hours: 10:30 – 12:00

Duration: The event should last up to 90 minutes

Age requirement: All ages are welcome!

Location: Grand Terrace St. Pancras International Station Euston Road London N1C 4QP

Accessibility: The station is wheelchair accessible

Cost/Tickets: Non ticketed free to attend

Joseph is an award-winning performance poet whose debut children’s poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules, came out in 2014 and won the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) the same year. His work also comprises several further lyrical children’s stories and poetry collections, including the critically acclaimed Luna Loves… series and, most recently, My Beautiful Voice (2022).

Joseph’s attendance comes as St. Pancras International station has once again teamed up with the Betjeman Poetry Prize for a fifth year of Track Record, a community project in Camden which aims to give students in local schools a chance to take part in a series of poetry workshops to capture their imagination and creativity. Track Record aims to work with two schools that are local to St. Pancras International to give all year five students from Torriano and Argyle primary schools in Camden an immersive and inspiring poetry-making experience. The eager young writers involved have written a sensational collection of poems, both punchy and moving, peppered with uproarious jokes. Imogen Lycett Green (granddaughter of Sir John Betjeman) & poet Paul Lyalls created this scheme following their close partnership with the Betjeman Poetry Prize in the 2010s to further inspire the next generation of poets.

Through the initiative, poet Paul Lyalls delivers workshops to children about our links to poetry and gives advice and guidance to students so that they feel confident and inspired to write their own poetry. The poems are then printed in an anthology (making each child a proud published poet), and selected students are chosen to read their poems at St. Pancras International, and their poetry will be displayed in the station throughout the summer.

St. Pancras International itself will forever be linked with the world of poetry as it was saved from demolition by poet Sir John Betjeman who led a campaign to stop the demolition of the station in the 1960s. In tribute to the famous poet and railway enthusiast, an 8.5ft sculpture by Martin Jennings was designed and installed on the station’s Grand Terrace for visitors to enjoy and learn about.