Staff at the Eastern Daily Press have been swapping headlines and deadlines for sonnets and verses, as part of National Poetry Week.

The regional newspaper has joined forces with the Norfolk and Norwich Festival to mark the event, and has enlisted the help of University of East Anglia tutor Caroline Gilfillan who has become the resident poet at its Prospect House offices for the week.

Throughout her stay Caroline has been visiting various departments to help inspire staff to write their own poetry, and has treated them to daily poems read over the tannoy system.

To further inspire staff a bottle of champagne is also on offer for the best original poem, and a massive 'add-a-line' joint poem is on display in the company's canteen.

A public poetry reading was also held in the EDP's reception area yesterday, and a 'Poem of the Day' from an established writer has been published in the paper and on its website each day this week.

Editor Peter Franzen said: "The EDP has a long-standing close relationship with the festival.

"Through our parent-company, Archant, we have sponsored a concert this year by the Philharmonia Orchestra.

"With this event we hope to give some encouragement to anyone who's ever scribbled down a line or two, but thought that poetry was out of their league.

"It's also proving to be a fun few days, and a topic of conversation around the building, with the most unlikely people discussing the merits of the verse they've just read in the lifts!"

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