William Matthew Timothy Stephen Sieghart (born 1960) is a British entrepreneur, publisher and philanthropist and the founder of the

Forward Prizes for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

. He is former chairman of the Somerset House Trust.

Education and career

Born in 1960, son of barrister Paul Sieghart, a human rights lawyer, and Felicity Ann Sieghart, chairman of the

National Association for Gifted Children National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, magistrate and later managing director of the Aldeburgh Cinema, William is the older brother of

Mary Ann Sieghart Mary Ann Corinna Howard Sieghart (born 6 August 1961) is an England, English author, journalist, radio presenter and former assistant editor of ''The Times'', where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life in general. She has al ...

. He was educated at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

. In 1986, he founded Forward Publishing with a business partner

Neil Mendoza Neil Francis Jeremy Mendoza, Baron Mendoza, (born 2 November 1959) is a British businessman, academic administrator, and member of the House of Lords. Provost of Oriel College Oxford since September 2018, Lord Mendoza also serves as HM G ...

, an independent contract publisher, publishing magazines, children's books and poetry books. He is the author of ''The Poetry Pharmacy'' and ''The Poetry Pharmacy Returns'', as well as various other poetry anthologies and a book on golf, ''The Swing Factory''. Sieghart presented a weekly TV programme for

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

for three years. His interests include foreign travel and cricket. In addition to his work in poetry and the Middle East, Sieghart also founded Big Arts Week and Street Smart, the initiative whereby diners give a percentage of their restaurant bill to the homeless. He was a member of

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

2000–06, and was chairman of its Lottery Panel. From 2015 to 2021, Sieghart was Chairman of Somerset House Trust.

Work

In 1992, Sieghart established The Forward Prizes for Poetry to help raise the profile of contemporary poetry by new and established poets. In 1994, he founded

National Poetry Day National Poetry Day is a British campaign to promote poetry, including public performances. National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by William Sieghart. It takes place annually in the UK on the first Thursday in October. Since its inception, it ha ...

, a day of celebration of verse on the first Thursday of October, which has become an established fixture in the cultural calendar. Events take place in schools, pubs, arts centres, bookshops, libraries, buses, trains and Women's Institutes, and the day is the focus for media attention for poetry. The Forward Arts Foundation (a registered charity) was established in 1995 to administer the Forward Prizes and National Poetry Day. His initiative Winning Words was a public art project during the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. It aimed to enable everyone to experience poetry in exciting ways and to create a legacy of inspiring words for the nation to enjoy. Winning Words comprised both permanent and temporary poems throughout the Park, made up of site-specific poems commissioned from local poets, as well as poems suggested by the public and chosen by a panel. He is founder and Chair of Forward Thinking, a charity that seeks to mediate conflict in the Middle East and to improve relations between the Islamic and Western worlds. He is Vice-President of the Hay Festival of Literature, Chair of CIVIC Libraries Initiative, founder and Chair of Street Smart, Action for the Homeless, Founding Trustee of the Forward Arts Foundation and Trustee of the Grenfell Foundation. He is a former Council Member of the Arts Council England and Chair of its Lottery Panel. He has been a Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Arts Foundation, the RSA, the British Human Rights and Reprieve, among other voluntary posts. Sieghart chaired and authored ''An Independent Review of E-Lending in Public Libraries in England'' published by Department Culture, Media and Sport, 2013 and was subsequently jointly commissioned by

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A memb ...

, Minister for Culture, DCMS, and

Brandon Lewis Brandon Kenneth Lewis (born 20 June 1971) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from September to October 2022. He previously served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 and ...

, Minister for Communities & Local Government, DCLG, to consider and report on Public Library services in England. The "Independent Library report for England" was published by DCMS in December 2014. In September 2015, Sieghart was appointed Chairman of Somerset House Trust. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to public libraries. Sieghart has published many books and is a regular broadcaster. His most recent books are ''The Poetry Pharmacy'', published in September 2017 by Penguin, and ''100 Prized Poems – 25 Years of the Forward Books'', published by Forward in association with Faber & Faber 2016. In September 2019, ''Vol. II, The Poetry Pharmacy Returns'' was published in the UK and ''Vol III The Poetry Remedy'' published in the USA by Penguin Random House in October 2019. Sieghart founded Forward Publishing in 1986, with Neil Mendoza, and turned it into one of the largest publishing agencies in the world. Forward published magazines in 131 countries for some of the world's largest corporations. The business was sold to WPP in 2001.

References

External links

"We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas"
''The Times'', December 2008.

''The Independent'', June 1999.

''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', 16 September 2015.
"The Power of Poetry"

Intelligence Squared Intelligence Squared is a media company that organizes live debates and other cultural events around the world. It was founded in 2002 in London, where its head office is based, and has affiliates in the US, Australia, and Hong Kong. The debat ...

. * Fiona Macdonald
"The words that can make us calmer"
Culture, BBC, 27 September 2017.
"From Publishing To Promotion 3: William Sieghart"
poets.org, via YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sieghart, William 1960 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford British philanthropists British publishers (people) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College Place of birth missing (living people)

William Sieghart William Matthew Timothy Stephen Sieghart (born 1960) is a British entrepreneur, publisher and philanthropist and the founder of the Forward Prizes for Poetry. He is former chairman of the Somerset House Trust. Education and career Born in 1 ...