Following the joint poetry film featuring commissions from local poets and poets from other UNESCO Cities of Literature to celebrate World Poetry Day, Manchester Poetry Library has created a global digital tour of partner literary cities.

As a member of Manchester City of Literature, the Manchester Poetry Library invited cities in the Creative Cities network to celebrate its opening by sending books, poems and photographs to make up a digital exhibition – forming a celebration of place and an introduction to their city through poets’ eyes. This went live following the World Poetry Day celebrations on 21st March.

In this exhibition, thirteen cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities network are explored through their poetry, including Bucheon, Milan, Melbourne and Dunedin, showcasing the Cities of Literature network and the poetry of each city.

As part of the exhibition there will be a thrilling social media tour from Friday 16 April to Friday 16 July. Every Friday we will digitally travel using #PoetryCities on Twitter and Instagram to one city. The tour will set off from Manchester and fly around the globe and back again, starting in Leeuwarden, through to Reykjavik in July. Be sure to follow @MCRPoetryLib and @MCRCityofLit to keep up.

Manchester Poetry Library will finally open its doors during the tour this summer, when COVID restrictions allow, as only the fourth such library in the UK. Open to staff, students, and the public, it builds on the University’s outstanding reputation as a home of poetry and creative writing and will feature the physical counterpart of this global exhibition in person when it does, we can’t wait for you to visit!