A local poetry group, the Rye Harbour Writers, has won a grant to produce an anthology of poetry inspired by the experience of travel and the town of Rye as part of Railway 200, celebrating two centuries of the railways in Britain.
“Our group has been working with Southern Railway, operators of the Marshlink line, for over three years and they have been incredibly supportive of our work,” member S C Morgan said. “We regularly create poetry and design beautiful posters to enhance the Rye railway station waiting room. We’re very excited that we have won a grant from the Railway 200 fund to print and distribute The Station Poems, an anthology of the poems shown in the station. The book was launched on Friday, August 1 at the Railfair 200 event in Lewes.”
The Rye Harbour Writers will also be undertaking a series of poetry events over the next six months. These include Poems on the Railway in which the poets will travel along the Marshlink line giving out 200 free copies of the anthology to rail passengers, poetry readings in Rye, distributing copies to local writing groups and judging Write on Track, a poetry competition focusing on participants’ experiences of rail travel.
“The competition is open to anyone and has categories for those under and over 18,” Morgan explained. “The winners and the two runners up of each category will have their poems transformed into posters that will be shown in a special exhibition in Rye railway station in January of next year.”
The Write on Track poetry competition opens on August 1, and closes on October 31 2025. “We’re hoping participants will be as inspired as we have been by the subject of rail travel in all its forms,” Morgan went on. “People might be prompted by memories of their first train ride, of travel to visit friends and family, memorable days out, or something as simple as a journey to somewhere new.”
Poems should be a maximum of 20 lines and to take part in the competition simply visit https://www.southeastcrp.org/write-on-track/
Image Credits: SC Morgan , Rye Harbour Writers .