World Poetry Day

World Poetry Day is on 21 March, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. World Poetry Day is now celebrated in hundreds of countries around the world. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

UNESCO on World Poetry Day: http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/

Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Poetry Day 21 March 2013: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002200/220091e.pdf

Some extra resources to celebrate this day: 
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6182812 
http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/worldpoetry.php 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/mar/19/teaching-resources-world-poetry-day http://www.poets.org/http://poems.com/