The Poetry Pen Pals project is an opportunity to connect with people around the world through poetry and handwritten correspondence. The Morrin Centre is partnering with the Quebec City UNESCO City of Literature to become pen pals with another UNESCO City of Literature, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Join us for cozy poetry letter writing afternoons where you can practice your calligraphy, learn more about other UNESCO Cities of Literature through poetry, and connect with other community members. This project is open to all poetry and calligraphy enthusiasts, no matter the age or experience level, so stay tuned for other activities.
Dear Dunedin: Poetry Letter Writing Afternoon
Join us for a cozy afternoon and write a poem for our pen pal!
March 8, any time between 1 pm and 4 pm.
To register, click here.
Call for Submissions
Write your poetry at home and either drop it off at the Morrin Centre or email it to us!
First Submission Deadline: March 15
For questions or submissions, please reach out to us at info@morrin.org.
Dear Dunedin: Poetry Letter Writing Afternoon
Join us for a cozy afternoon and write a poem for our pen pal!
Date to be confirmed: June 2025.
Stay tuned!
Message from the Poetry Pen Pals project coordinator
Hello, I’m Hee-Won Son, the Heritage and Tours Coordinator at the Morrin Centre. Now, to be honest, before I started working here in the summer of 2024, I didn’t know much about poetry. In fact, I was actually quite intimidated by it. But luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to not only meet extremely talented poets, but also some of the most welcoming and encouraging writers I’ve ever known. Thanks to the community here, I believe many other people like me have felt safe and motivated venturing into the world of poetry. So, in gratitude and admiration, I must credit those passionate poets for helping to inspire this project.
Poetry Pen Pals is a new collaborative project that aims to connect different communities around the world through handwritten communication and poetry. This idea was manifested from a conversation I had with an international member of the Morrin Centre. As a result, we have now partnered with the Quebec UNESCO City of Literature team to get the Morrin Centre a pen pal – another City of Literature all the way in Dunedin, New Zealand. Throughout the year, we will have several exchanges of poetry based on general themes.
What’s special about this project, and the first exchange, is that very coincidentally, I will be travelling to New Zealand at the end of March 2025. There, I will be hand-delivering the first bundle of poetry letters to Dunedin, as well as a copy of our new poetry book, Solicitations. I hope that this project can inspire a larger audience to engage again with handwritten forms of communication, and I look forward to connecting with different communities around the world.