We have tracked children and young people’s engagement with poetry for the past sixteen years, and this report provides the latest evidence on poetry engagement among children and young people.
Drawing on data from our 2026 Annual Literacy Survey, this report includes 88,086 responses from children and young people aged 8 to 18 who answered our questions about reading poetry and 75,142 responses from our questions about writing poetry.
Key findings
Since 2010, poetry reading reached its highest level, while poetry writing reached its second highest level
- 3 in 10 (30.7%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they read poetry in their free time at least once a month in 2026.
- 1 in 5 (19.4%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they wrote poetry in their free time at least once a month in 2026, which is the second-highest level recorded since 2010 (surpassed only by 19.7% in 2020).
Demographic differences show that poetry engagement is not shared equally
- More girls than boys reported reading (34.2% vs 25.8%) and writing (23.3% vs 13.8%) poetry in their free time at least once a month.
- More children aged 8 to 11 than young people aged 16 to 18 told us that they read (43.6% vs 26.4%) and wrote (25.3% vs 16.1%) poetry in their free time at least once a month.
- More children and young people who received free school meals (FSM) than their non-FSM peers reported reading (38.9% vs 27.9%) and writing (21.5% vs 18.7%) poetry in their free time at least once a month.
There was a connection between reading and writing poetry among children and young people
- Although moderate, reading and writing poetry were positively related (r = .34), so children and young people who read poetry also tended to write poetry.
- Almost 2 in 5 (39.6%) poetry readers also wrote poetry, compared with 10.5% of those who did not read poetry.
Our findings show an encouraging rise in children and young people’s engagement with poetry, confirming its continued relevance in their literacy lives. However, engagement remains unequal. Understanding what sustains poetry engagement for some groups, and how it changes when children grow older, can help ensure that all children and young people have opportunities to encounter, enjoy and create poetry.