Tuesday — 12 to 6 pm
Wednesday to Sunday — 12 to 8 pm
National Poetry Library
Level 5, Blue Side,
Royal Festival Hall,
Southbank Centre,
Belvedere Road,
London SE1 8XX
The closest stations are:
The National Poetry Library is situated in the Southbank center. To know more about the Southbank Center, please visit this page.
The library was founded by the Arts Council in 1953 and opened by poets T.S. Eliot and Herbert Read. It is the largest public collection of modern poetry in the world. Due to its ever-growing collection, the library has been housed in different places: Albemarle Street, Piccadilly and Long Acre in Covent Garden. It has been located at the Royal Festival Hall since 1988.
The library's collection covers the period 1912 to the present day. You can find all of the major poets of the 20th and 21st centuries along with a whole range of overlooked and emerging talents.