Come along and celebrate a special poetry exchange between primary schools in Manchester and Odesa.

Spearheaded by Manchester Multilingual City poet Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, ‘We Should be Friends Forever’ was a poetry exchange project, engaging primary school children aged 9-11 in both UNESCO Cities of Literature.

Year 5/6 students in Manchester (Manor Park Academy) explored a series of key questions and themes, including friendship, connection, and language. They responded to writing prompts in any poetic form they wished.

In parallel, the same writing responses occurred in Odesa with a similar aged cohort of children. The students’ work was then scanned digitally by teachers and translated by Ukrainian translator Marta Gosovska.

The final set of translated poems are now being presented on specially printed postcards and displayed in a pop up exhibition at Manchester Poetry Library as part of Festival of Libraries 2026.

Please check the library opening times before planning your visit.