Imtiaz Dharker, George Szirtes, Maura Dooley, Hannah Lowe, and Raymond Antrobus are among the 61 poets who will be taking part in a 10-hour Poem-A-Thon at the Poetry Society’s new-look Poetry Café on Saturday 22 July to raise money towards the building’s nine-month facelift.

The Poetry Café in Betterton Street, Covent Garden, reopened last month for events after being closed since last September for work that has included improved access, increased capacity and ventilation, and soundproofing. The work has taken in the ground-floor café itself, the performance area in the basement (pictured), and the Poetry Society offices above.

The Poetry Society was founded in 1909 to promote “a more general recognition and appreciation of poetry”. Today it has more than 4,000 members worldwide, publishes The Poetry Review magazine four times a year, promotes local Stanza groups for its members, organises a number of competitions, including the Foyle Young Poets of the Year award, the National Poetry Competition, and the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, and runs a series of projects and educational programmes to promote poetry.

The Poem-A-Thon starts at noon and ends around 10pm. Each poet will read for eight minutes, and entry to hear them is by donation. You can see the full lineup of poets here and sponsor individual poets here.

PHOTOGRAPH: THE POETRY SOCIETY