NATIONAL Poetry Day will be taking over Glasgow as the country celebrates all things rhythm and rhyme.

Railway stations, street corners, bus stations and libraries will today be challenged to ‘say it with a poem’ as part of a partnership between Glasgow Libraries and The Big Issue. on October 6.

Big Issue vendors and performance poets will be delivering impromptu poetry performances and passing on the message to ‘love your library’ at many of the city’s landmarks, including pop-up events at Central and Queen Street railway stations and Buchanan bus station.

The Big Issue and Glasgow Life are hoping that by presenting morning, lunchtime and afternoon commuters with prose, they will be able to encourage more people to use their local libraries.

Councillor Archie Graham, chairman of Glasgow Life said: “Our libraries are so much more than rooms filled with books – they are a huge part of the community here in Glasgow and we want to spread the message that our libraries are for everyone.

“We know that confident reading is one of the most effective routes not only to a better life and improved opportunities, but also to improving your mental well-being and that’s why we’ve partnered with The Big Issue to make sure that no one in Glasgow is excluded from harnessing the power of books or poetry to make a better life for themselves.

“Through our National Poetry Day outreach events we want to make sure that the people of Glasgow, regardless of their situation, are able to take advantage of the power of a good poem, story or book, and I would encourage everyone to visit their local library – they exist to serve the people of this city.”

Big Issue UK editor, Paul McNamee added: “Libraries are a vital community resource. They are a place of knowledge, a place of learning, but for some they are also a place of refuge, of companionship and of simple human interaction.

“Literacy has a key, an absolute place, in the fight against poverty and want – poverty of thought, poverty of aspiration.

“So much begins in a library. At The Big Issue, we’re committed to doing what we can to keep these wonderful places as hubs for so much of value across the nation. We must not turn our backs.”

To find out more about National Poetry Day, or to sign up for library membership, please visit: glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries