While the UK has National Poetry Day, the French have Le Printemps des Poètes, which perhaps translates literally as Poets’ Springtime. It’s an immense national festival, a huge celebration of poetry over several days with hundreds of events right across the country, always held around international poetry day, designated by Unesco as 21 March. Towns and villages elect to be a part of it, organising their own poetry events, all supported by the national group with government financial aid. Until now, that is.

Le Printemps is due to celebrate its 15th anniversary next year, with a theme of “the voice of the poem”. The trouble is, they have received assurances that they will be supported by government, but have had nothing in writing, in spite of letters and protests and celebrated artists making public their support.

When I lived in Bordeaux there was always a plethora of poetry during the festival - readings in bookshops, big stage stuff in central squares, workshops and schools-based activity. But although we ran several events in Bordeaux ourselves, we never managed to get on the official programme, with our travelling troupe of Write Out Loud poets.

With the arrival of l’austerité, this most successful of popular poetry movements is struggling, and angry. From what I understand, the minister of culture, novelist-turned-politician Aurélie Filippetti, has to make budget cuts of around 4% for her ministry but has cut that of Le Printemps by 40% - some ¤60,000 euros. Their budget is tiny anyhow, relative to the huge ripple effects they create and the income generated, not least in terms of tourist spend in all those villages and towns putting on such events. It would be hard to find an equivalent elsewhere. As grand an idea as National Poetry Day might be, it is a mere shadow of the French operation. And it’s held at the wrong time of year, with the French at least incorporating World Poetry Day and having innumerable readings and events featuring international poetry.

Anyone interested in signing the petition can do so at Petitions 34. More info from Printemps des Poètes – a cracking resource.if you are at all interested in French or international poetry can be found here. You can read more about Write Out Loud’s forays into Bordeaux here and here

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In other news … Write Out Loud’s news editor, Greg Freeman, has had a poem about the tabloid press, Tongue Twisters, published in the Morning Star's weekly Well Versed poetry slot. Although not as well-red as it used to be (apols), this, perhaps last vestige of the old-guard socialist press, clearly appreciated our newly retired newspaper sub-editor's sad-but-true take on the world so recently reported on by Lord Justice Leveson. Both poem and report were published on the same day. Well done, Greg!