Sir, Following the cut to the Arts Council budget we said tough choices would have to be made and that regretfully we would not be able to support some excellent organisations (“A defence of poetry”, letter, Apr 1). In fact, the Arts Council has actually increased its investment in poetry and poetry publishing. We have also recently invested more than £1 million in poetry for the Olympics, much of it engaging young people.
We will be investing in poetry publishers and the Arts Council is also funding The Poetry Society, which publishes Poetry Review, while the Poetry Archive and new entrants to our national portfolio, National Poetry Day and Poet in the City, will focus on building new audiences.
We received a considerable number of strong applications from poetry organisations for national portfolio funding. In our judgment the Poetry Book Society’s reach and distribution was not as wide or effective as other applicants, which also demonstrated high quality work. We hope to continue our relationship with the Poetry Book Society, which we will fund for another full year, and will discuss with the PBS how we can ensure the important T. S. Eliot Prize continues.
Antonia Byatt
Director of Literature, Arts Council England