Buses and train stations across Manchester will be used to show work by the country’s top poets.

The poster campaign is the idea of students taught by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Duffy’s work will feature alongside other well-known writers Simon Armitage and Michael Symmons and poems by students.

The posters will be displayed on 60 Stagecoach buses and billboards at Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria stations.

Student Bob Doughty, who came up with the idea, was inspired by similar initiatives on the London Underground and New York Metro.

Bob, 62, from Nantwich, is a designer on a part-time creative writing course. He said: “I wanted to engage the public with poetry and decided the best way to do that was to provide a brief visual insight into each poem in public places.”

Bus group Stagecoach and billboard firm CBS Outdoor agreed to donate space for the poetry posters, while MMU covered the printing costs. The posters will be on display during August and September and organisers hope to get funding to make it permanent.

Duffy, who was appointed poet laureate last year, said: “London and New York have been very successful in opening people’s eyes to the power of poetry, so why not Manchester?”

Poems have appeared on London Underground billboards since 1986.

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