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Bookbag teams up with local poets to spread hope around the city
An Exeter bookshop has teamed up with local poets to spread hope around the city.
Bookbag, an independent bookshop owned by Charlie and Malcolm Richards, initially began displaying poems in its window which spoke to themes of love, solidarity and hope. The idea, conceived by Bookbag bookseller and poet Sirisha Damarla, has now extended beyond the bookshop to windows in cafés, bakeries and independent businesses throughout Exeter.
The poems on display were penned by unpublished poets from the Bookbag By Night community and the local group, Roots Resistance, including Aaliyah Kara and Ocean Tawiah, to The Bard of Exeter Ceri Baker. Award-winning poets like Salena Godden, Louisa Adjoa-Parker and John Wedgewood-Clarke also took part as well as Mohammed Moussa "The Gaza Poet". The shop asked each poet to share pieces that represented and felt like "hope" to them.
Richards commented: "Thanks to each poet for their generosity in sharing their words, to each host venue who made this a city-wide show, to Sirisha Damarla and Davina Quinlivan, and to Patrick May who gave his time to design them."
The poems can be viewed in full here.
