Skip to main content

Leeds Language Week: Mother Tongue Other Tongue

Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a multi-lingual poetry project, created as a Laureate Education Project by Professor Carol Ann Duffy DBE (UK Poet Laureate 2009-2019) to celebrate cultural diversity and the many languages spoken in schools across the UK. This initiative originally began running in the North West, coordinated by the Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Met University. Now as part of Leeds Language Week, the University of Leeds and Routes into Languages Yorkshire and Humberside are hosting two separate poetry themed competitions in November. Winners of the competition will have the opportunity to appear in the Mother Tongue Other Tongue 2024 digital anthology. Expand the below to find out more about these events.

Read the Educational Engagement privacy notice.

Mother Tongue

Student's take an already existing poems in the student’s mother tongue, and create a short commentary in English to submit.

  • Open to students 8 - 18 years old.
  • Any language welcome.
  • Poem, song or lullabies are allowed – This can be an original piece, written in a mother tongue, or a piece that has been shared or remembered or taught.
  • Submissions will not be judged on the piece/poem submitted (or the translation, if provided). Each piece should be accompanied by a commentary, written in English (no more than 500 words) - and this is what will be assessed for inclusion in the digital anthology.
  • For more info, read the competition's criteria and guidelines.

Other Tongue

Language learners write a poem in this language.

  • Open to students 8 - 18 years old.
  • Must be an original poem written in a language being currently learned by the student.
  • We can currently accept submissions in: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Arabic and Portuguese.   (Unfortunately languages are limited due to the availability of staff who are able to judge the competition).
  • Submissions should be accompanied by a translation/explanation of the poem – not for judging but to give added context (this may also be used if a piece is selected for inclusion in the anthology).
  • For more info, read the competition's criteria and guidelines.

 

The Digital Anthology:

Thank you so much to everyone who took part in our Mother Tongue Other Tongue Competition, in Leeds Language Week 2024.

Access the Digital Anthology