Poets and authors to raise funds for Ukraine in live event

Authors and poets including Meera Syal, Hannah Lowe, Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion and former Scottish Makar Jackie Kay will join Ukrainian poets and British celebrities at a fundraising event for Ukraine on 27th March.

The fundraiser is the initiative of Poets for Ukraine, a collective of British poets who came together at the urging of Jacqueline Saphra to offer support, raise funds and show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion of the country.

Featuring a day-long "Poem-a-Thon", poets will be sponsored to read for up to five minutes each in front of live and virtual audiences. This will be followed by an evening gala event from 6.30pm to 8pm, featuring special guests and headline poets. Both events will take place at JW3 in London and online. 

The former National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, and Forward Prize winner Fiona Benson will also be in attendance. They will share the spotlight with Ilya Kaminsky, Lyuba Yakimchuk and other Ukrainian poets appearing on video from the frontline and the diaspora.

Also featuring, either in person or online, is poet and songwriter Naomi Shihab Nye, actors Harriet Walter, Juliet Stevenson and Sophie Ward, singer, author and podcaster Jessie Ware, and theatre director and film producer Nick Hytner. 

“Even at this time of suffering, peril and disinformation, poetry continues to speak and to communicate some deep truths," Saphra said. "This day is an opportunity for the poets to galvanise, nourish and support us and bring us together.” 

Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, added: “When Ukraine was split between empires, it was poets who took on the role of statesmen and stateswomen. Ukraine has a rich poetic tradition, still largely unknown in the West. It is thus particularly important for poets around the world to build cultural bridges with Ukraine that no wars can burn.” 

Tickets for both events are now available on a pay-what-you-can basis from JW3. All proceeds from the event will go to support two charities presently working with Ukrainian refugees, Goods for Good and Hope and Aid Direct. All sponsorship and other donations raised through Poets for Ukraine are being directed to GoFundMe pages for both charities.

Roger Wilson, trustee of Hope and Aid Direct, said: “Our charity has over 20 years’ experience responding to humanitarian crises across Europe and beyond, its strength being logistics and international transportation of appropriate aid collected in the UK, directly to those in need. The funds raised for us by Poets for Ukraine will allow us to deliver roughly 50 tonnes of targeted aid to the victims of the conflict in Ukraine.”