A British-US collaboration involving seven short films with over 50 global actors and local performers responding to the American poet Walt Whitman has its UK premiere at Bolton on Saturday 28 May at 7-9.30pm. The free event includes poetry readings and performances from local writers.

Towards the end of Whitman’s life the poet developed a close friendship with a group of admirers in Bolton who became known as the Bolton Whitman Fellowship. A birthday greeting sent by one of the group, JW Wallace, developed into a transatlantic written correspondence between the poet and the Whitmanites. They celebrated his birthday every year on 31 May – a tradition that continues in the town - and some of them visited him at his home in New Jersey.

Recorded over three weeks, with over 50 performers from all over the world, the seven films featured in Whitman on Walls! embody Whitman's words. It has been organised by the University of Bolton in collaboration with Compagnia de’ Colombari; Bolton Museum, Art Gallery & Library; David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University; the Walt Whitman Initiative, New York; Bolton Socialist Club; and Live From Worktown, Bolton. More details