Poetry Koan

WILLIAM SIEGHART has had a distinguished career in publishing and the arts. He established the Forward Prizes for Poetry in 1992, and founded National Poetry Day in 1994. He is a former chairman of the Arts Council Lottery Panel, and current chairman of both the Somerset House Trust and Forward Thinking, a charity seeking peace in the Middle East and acceptance of British Muslims. Occasionally, William also offers his services as a poetry pharmacy apothecary at literary festivals in the UK.

ETGAR KERET is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His books had been published in more than thirty languages.

Keret has received the Prime Minister’s award for literature, as well as the Ministry of Culture’s Cinema Prize. In 2010, Keret received the Chevalier (Knight) Medallion of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

JANE DAVIS is changing the way people relate to literature, to each other and to themselves through a shared reading model called Get Into Reading, which brings small groups together on a weekly basis to read books and poems aloud.

Run in care homes, libraries, hostels, mental health centers, schools, and prisons Get Into Reading brings literature to where people are. At the core of Jane’s approach is the insight that reading can be used as a therapeutic tool to help people articulate their thoughts, feelings, and life experiences.

Through the Get Into Reading model, Jane is redefining the value of literature and the role that reading aloud can play in improving mental health, community, and well-being.