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Radio 3

Sonnet Day, May 20

Radio 3 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's sonnets on 20 May with 14 sonnets read by leading actors throughout the day.

Poems For Today

Starting on May 21, Radio 3 celebrates contemporary poetry with a series of more than 40 poems, broadcast daily over a six-week period, celebrating the breadth of contemporary poetry in the UK today. Each of the poems will have been written or published within the last 12 months and will reflect the range of diverse voices that exist in the UK.

Sunday Feature – Children Of The Whitsun Weddings, May 24

Poets Kate Clanchy and Paul Farley take a train through "Larkinland", as they explore their mutual admiration for Philip Larkin's work. Born within days of each other in 1965, nine months after the publication of Larkin's The Whitsun Weddings, Kate and Paul have very different poetic voices. They travel across Britain retracing some of Larkin's key journeys from Oxford to Hull and Leeds to London, leading the two to a series of lively interchanges on the poet's influence on them and on their shared passion for Larkin's work.

Drama On 3 – Idylls Of The King

Radio 3 broadcasts a new adaptation by award-winning poet Michael Symmonds Roberts of Tennyson's epic poem telling the story of King Arthur.

Sunday Feature – Searching For Alfred: In The Shadow Of Tennyson

Poet Ruth Padel, herself inspired by Tennyson, seeks out the real Alfred and asks why he has become such a lofty remote figure. Two hundred years after his birth Ruth investigates his legacy in art, film and music of all kinds and reveals that Tennyson is a poet for our times as well as his own.

The Essay – Tennyson 200

Marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain's greatest poets, four contemporary British poets each choose a single poem or extract by Tennyson and give a personal account of why it means so much to them.

This content is in addition to Radio 3's ongoing speech output – Between The Ears, Night Waves, Sunday Feature, The Essay and The Verb, all of which prominently feature poetry.

Radio 4

Radio 4 will broadcast a series of programmes on Tennyson including an edition of Poetry Please featuring readings of his poetry and Great Lives which will explore Lord Tennyson's life and its impact.

The series of programmes will also include a dramatisation of Tennyson's poem Maud, while Ulysses Revisited, presented by Sean O'Brien, will explore in detail Tennyson's great poem, Ulysses.

Poetry Slam 2009

Radio 4 will be broadcasting its second Poetry Slam in early autumn 2009, bringing together some of the best and most popular spoken word performers from all around the country to battle it out for the title of Radio 4 Slam Winner 2009.