Retford Library in Birthday Tribute to Famous Librarian-Poet Philip Larkin

Retford Library has joined a tribute to the famous poet and librarian, Philip Larkin, the 99th anniversary of whose birth was in August.  The tribute takes the form of audio and video recordings of his poems, organised by the Philip Larkin Society.

Joanne Adams at the library invited local literary enthusiast Rob White to choose and read a poem. Rob has given a number of talks at the library on some of his favourite authors, notably Thomas Hardy but also including Larkin. The poem he chose was “Places, Loved Ones”.

Rob commented: “I'm always happy to support our library, which is a wonderful resource for the town, and to help put Retford on the map. I'm even happier when I can do this by reading a favourite poem by a favourite poet. It's great that what would have been Larkin's 99th birthday is being celebrated in this way, and it makes me wonder what might be in store for the centenary!”

Joanne added: “It was such a joy to hear poetry again in Retford Library as we have not been able to hold our usual popular poetry events over the last year and a half due to the pandemic.  As we have celebrated Larkin before with wonderful talks by Rob, it was very fitting that he was able to come to the library and treat us to this beautiful poem and tell the reasons behind his choice. It is very exciting for Retford Library to take part in the Philip Larkin Society’s celebrations by creating this recording for their podcast and we would like to thank Rob for his ongoing support. I hope that we can resume our poetry events very soon."

Don't forget to check out other upcoming events that are happening at Reford library!