AN anthology of poems written during the Covid-19 pandemic has been launched.

'The Unpredicted Spring', put together by The Norman Nicholson Society, comprises 42 poems which represent the best of more than 200 worldwide entries to a lockdown poetry competition organised by the society in 2020.

It includes the two winning poems – Learning Whimbrel by Martyn Halsall, former Poet in Residence at Carlisle Cathedral, and Silently Ignoring the World by 14-year-old Californian-born, Cambridgeshire-based Katie Deutsch.

Charlie Lambert, chair of the Norman Nicholson Society, which honours the memory of the Millom poet, said: "What the combined forces of Government laws, peer pressure and infections can never do is to keep in check the human spirit. Imagination will not be quarantined, and we can see this in this very moving yet uplifting anthology."

It is available from Amazon or from the publishers at: postmaster@thebookmill.co.uk