The Latest Breaking News from Celebration Day

Sophie Thompson reads Wendy Cope’s ‘The Orange’ in honour of three ‘extraordinary’ greengrocers

Thompson commemorates Celebration Day in a film exclusively published by ‘The Independent’

The Independent UK · May 25

Joanna Scanlan reads ‘Now’ by Robert Browning in memory of her childhood friend for Celebration Day

Scanlan pays tribute to her childhood friend Sarah with a reading for Celebration Day

The Independent UK · May 25

Joanna Scanlan on the death of her childhood friend: ‘At boarding school, emotions were packed into a small, tidy box’

The Bafta-winning star of ‘The Thick of It’ and ‘After Love’ has dedicated a poem to her friend Sarah to mark Celebration Day, an annual moment dedicated to remembering those who have died

The Independent UK · May 25

Poet and broadcaster Lemn Sissay reads from ‘Let the Light Pour In’ for his late friend on Celebration Day

Lemn Sissay OBE, the poet and broadcaster, read a work from his 2013 bestselling collection Let the Light Pour In in honour of his friend Sarah Weir, with whom he worked as a poet for the 2012 London Olympics before she died of cancer. “She said to her partner, when…

The Independent UK · May 23

Ophelia Lovibond on Caroline Flack: ‘I still see things I know she’d find funny’

‘W1A’ star Ophelia Lovibond remembers her friend Caroline Flack ahead of Celebration Day

The Independent UK · May 23

Celebration Day: Donna Ashworth reads ‘Love Came First’ in memory of her music teacher

The bestselling Scottish poet dedicates her reading of “Love Came First” to Jan or “Mrs Calder” as she was known, Ashworth’s “larger than life” music teacher. The short film, directed by Oliver Parker and shot at Dr Johnson’s House in London, is part of a series to commemorate Celebration Day…

The Independent UK · May 22

Performance poet Sam Browne reads ‘Love is the Running Towards’ for Celebration Day

The poet Sam Browne reads an original work titled “Love is the Running Towards” for his friends Oscar and Harry, both of whom lost someone close to them. “Poetry in many ways is the pueIt’s to the people who helped me find beauty within the pain and have helped me…

The Independent UK · May 22

Celebration Day: Poet Lucas Jones performs ‘No Flowers, Please’ for his childhood friend

On social media, Lucas Jones shares his poetry about masculinity, love, and grief to more than one million followers. Here, he reads “No Flowers, Please”, a poem he wrote in remembrance of his childhood friend Ali who died when he was 25 years old. The short film, directed by Oliver…

The Independent UK · May 21

Celebration Day: Poet Hussain Manawer performs ‘Soft Heart’ in honour of his late mother

Hussain Manawer, the Sunday Times bestselling poet and author of Life is Sad and Beautiful, reads an original poem titled “Soft Heart” in memory of his late mother on what would have been her birthday. The short film, directed by Oliver Parker and shot at Dr Johnson’s House in London,…

The Independent UK · May 21

‘Poetry helped me find my feet again’: Joanna Scanlan and Ophelia Lovibond perform readings in memory of loved ones for Celebration Day

Works by Samuel Johnson, Wendy Cope and Robert Browning are read aloud in a series of poignant short films about grief

The Independent UK · May 20