An article by Eleanor Livingstone (StAnza)
Elvis McGonagall
“StAnza - "one of the most dynamic poetry festivals anywhere in the world!”
It wasn’t us who said this, but we certainly wouldn’t argue with it. StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival takes place next month, 18 - 22 March. For five packed days in the ancient university town of St Andrews festival-goers enjoy a choice of more than 70 events in exciting and atmos...

Sunday 8 February | £10
Enjoy a relaxed Sunday Brunch in the Ivy House Café,
followed by dazzling performances of Jazz, Poetry, and Jazz Poetry
from two masters who have been enrapturing audiences since 1960:
The Godfather of British Jazz, Stan Tracey, and
poetry legend Michael Horovitz -
described as the Last Handshake to the Beat Poets.
Brunch available in Ivy House Café: 11.00am-12.30pm
Performance: 12.30pm-2.30pm
Everyone Welcome!
Tickets call 020 8457 5000 or visit www.ljcc.org.uk
Ven...

Playwright, performer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay is at Lyric Hammersmith from 22 Jan ?" 14 Feb with Why I Don’t Hate White People.

Lemn’s story is one that spans time and the globe as he recounts his journey of discovery to unearth the truth about himself. From his childhood in a Lancashire village to his adult years searching for his living relatives,

Lemn’s life-changing experiences have resulted in some very funny and unique theories on how he can help to improve race...

Writers are wanted, as guests, for the Wednesday afternoon
(2-4pm) Tea For Two show, presented by Sally Woods. Sally works
for Calderdale Libraries and has a keen interest in creative writing.

Writers should be based in or near
Calderdale, or whose work has some bearing on Calderdale. Please
get in touch if you are willing, and feel free to forward this to
anyone you know who might be interested. The Radio station are keen to hear
from writers of poetry or prose - or, for this and ot...

In October 2008,
Academi was awarded a Beacon Company Award by the Arts Council of Wales which
secured funding for the development of the Young People’s Writing Squads
– a programme already well established across Wales. The Young People’s Writing
Squads have been developed over the past decade by Academi in association with
the local authorities in Wales. The squads aim to locate gifted writers in each
authority region and introduce them to some of Wales’ leading writers and
teac...

Stone's Throw is a quarterly online literary magazine based in Montana. The ezine features poetry,
fiction and art from around the world and they're asking for
submissions for a new feature called "Scenes from Daily Life," where
people talk about their lives in other countries. Photo by Sharareh
Malek Mohammadi
www.stonesthrowmagazine.com email: stonesthrowmagazine@gmail.com...

Winter Wonderland of Words on Tuesday 20 January at 7.30pm in Kozi Bar, Market Place, Warwick. The evening will be hosted by Julie Boden and Michael Wyndham Thomas who will be joined by Warwick Poet Laureate, Cathy Whittaker plus past Laureates including; Jane Holland, Helen Yendall, Brenda Tai Layton and Fergus Durrant. Music poetry, open mike and mulled wine. Tickets £5.00 each....

Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency, has posted a special letter to President Elect Barack Obama containing poems by the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, and Bardd Plant Cymru (Welsh-language Children’s Laureate), Ifor ap Glyn.

The two poems are sent to mark the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday 20 January. Barack Obama will be the first African American to hold this office. Gillian Clarke, of Talgarreg, Cere...

Closes Fri 23 Jan 2009 Paid (£10k-15k) Full time
The Wordsworth Trust is seeking to appoint a new Poet in Residence, to run from May 2009 to April 2010. This residency offers an invaluable opportunity for a published poet, from any cultural background and writing within any literary tradition, to spend time in Grasmere, Cumbria, in the heart of the Lake District, an area of outstanding natural beauty that so much inspired William Wordsworth. The poet will be given spac...

Six week course by award-winning poet Pascale Petit in Tate Modern, London.

Mondays 16 February 2009 – 23 March 2009, 18.45–20.15

Starting in Rodchenko & Popova then working in the Roni Horn: A.K.A. Roni Horn
exhibition, this six-week course invites you to write new poetry from
groundbreaking art. Creative writing exercises will be offered to
respond to the innovative works and free the imagination, enabling you
to extend your own boundaries and create surprising poems every s...

Sponsored by the Frogmore Press
See www.frogmorepress.co.uk for full details

The
winner of the Frogmore Poetry Prize for 2009 will win two hundred
guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The first
and second runners-up will receive seventy-five and fifty guineas
respectively and a year's subscription to The Frogmore Papers.
Shortlisted poets will receive copies of selected Frogmore Press
publications. Previous winners of the Prize have been David Satherle...

Calling all weirdos and yes, that means you!
'I can't figure out if you're a detective or a pervert.'
Seeking poems that explore the twisted world of David Lynch's Blue Velvet for The Private Press's next chapbook anthology.
Deadline: 28 February 2009. Payment: One copy of the chapbook.
Visit http://zoo.f2s.com/privatepress/callforpoems.html
Poems accepted via online contribution form ONLY.
Poet Tim Thorne describes The Private Press's chapbooks as "stylishly produce...

Envoi open poetry competition – next
deadline: February 20 th 2008. Single poem: £3 or 5 poems for £12 to
‘cinnamon press’ Poet’s details on a separate sheet. Editor: Jan
Fortune-Wood, Meirion House, Glan yr afon, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau
Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, LL41 3SU. See www.envoipoetry.com

This month's poem was chosen by Sean Kavanagh who says of it, "It's a wonderful evocation of the devastation of chronic disease, and how writing verse can help you to overcome it."
Find out more about Phil and his work at http://www.writeoutloud.net/poets/philgolding
Richer, tomorrow
For that richer tomorrow
I had only planned it yesterday
There, it lies, fragmented
Desolate in the hallway of my mind
That blue print, MY blue print
Ground into the carpets weave
As if 'worked ove...

NWDAF & Dadafest in association with the Unity Theatre present:
BLOOD AND GLITTER!
Gory Gory Alleluia! It’s Rosie Lugosi - for one night only!
The Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place
Liverpool, L1 9BG
Tuesday 10th February 2009, 8pm.Tickets £8 / £5 concessions
'Greetings Mortals... I do hope you're all sitting uncomfortably.'
Lock up your daughters, hold on to your hats and keep your hand on your jewels… prepare yourself for the Vampire Queen, Rosie Lugosi, bitch goddess top femme dominat...

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008. In his Nobel Lecture he considers the role of the writer, and borrows the title of his speech from Swedish writer Stig Dagerman who presents a writers paradox: all he wanted was to write for those who are hungry but discovers that is only those who have plenty to eat who have the leisure to take notice of his existence.
In the Forest of Paradoxes is a heartfelt meditation on the genuine power of storytelling a...

‘Lady of cultured pearls, fictitious skies, real shit:’
So goes the opening line of the first of a suite of poems, The Palace of Oblivion, which lends this collection its title. It’s a lofty conceit invoked by a contradictory, bathetic statement, but by introducing the collection in this way, Peter Davidson draws attention to the artifice of his poems and demonstrates a simultaneous awareness of reader expectations and the spectre of sincerity. These aren’t always wholly serious poem...

Please note that the popular "Open Words....Open Verse...Open mic" event, run by Tony Stringfellow (pictured), is moving from its regular last Thursday of the month slot to last Wednesday of the month from January.
So the next event is on Wednesday 28th January at 7.30pm at the usual venue Light House Lock Works - full details in the gig guide....

Urgently required - person with knowledge of creative writing techniques who can convert that knowledge into fun exercises for children aged 10/ 11 years old for an hour a week for ten weeks. Must have good grammar and spelling.
Location: Beamont Junior School, Warrington
Time: 3.15 - 4.15pm every Thursday
10 sessions at £25 per session = total fee of £250.
Applicants must have current CRB certificate.
Contact: Stef Portersmith in the first instance, email s.portersmith...

Submissions Sought for London Poetry Pearl.
To celebrate the 5th year of London Poetry Festival 2009 they are publishing this poetry anthology in August (to be launched at the 5th Festival) 2009.
Submissions are open as of January 12, 2009 and will continue to be accepted up to 12th of July 2009. Send to lpp@londonpoetryfestival.com with subject line: London Poetry Pearl Submissions with five poems with the following adhered to:
1. With your full, real and legal name, full postal address,...

Philip Davenport's new poetry book about everything will
be launched on Friday 30 January 7-9pm at the Chinese Art Centre 7
Thomas Street Market Buildings, Manchester, M4 1EU. Refreshments will
be served. The book will be on sale on the night for a special preview
price of £9.99

about everything is
an elegy for potentates and mass-production, it was constructed from a
yearsworth of newspapers, reordered and reshaped. The names of ancient
dictators - high-ranking officials from Ro...

The award-winning US poet and Iraq War veteran Brian Turner will be the special guest of Manchester's Poets and Players (www,poetsandplayers.co.uk) in a free reading at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Rd, M15 6ER.at 2.30 pm on Saturday, March 21st.
Brian Turner will also lead a Poetry School workshop on The Poetry of Witness on Sunday, March 22nd from 10 am - 4pm at The Tai Chi Village Hall, 163 Palatine Road, Manchester M20 2GH. £56 (£37 concs) including lunch. To book...

Writer's Forum "Pick your own prize" competition. Closing date 28th February 2009
www.writers-forum.co.uk/competition/pypcomp.htm
THE GRACE DIEU WRITERS CIRCLE is running a competition for poems on any subject up to 40 lines. Closing date: 28 February 2008. Information: www.gracedieuwriterscircle.co.uk/
THE BUXTON POETRY COMPETITION was launched in October by the University of Derby and Buxton Festival. Poems should be inspired by, or feature, stone. Closing date: 1 April 2009. See: w...

Rainy City Stories wants your love. They also want your love stories and poems. In honour of Valentine’s Day, they’re offering a wonderful prize for the best Rainy City Love Story received in the next month.
Whether you're an old romantic or a cynic, you’re invited to tell us your tales (real or imagined) of falling in, out, or over love in our city. But don’t restrict yourselves to traditional romances; interpret “love story” in its widest sense. The winning submission...

The MAG Poetry
Prize 2009 is open for entries.

This is a
fundraiser for MAG (Mines Advisory Group) - a neutral and impartial humanitarian
organisation that clears the remnants of conflict for the benefit of communities
worldwide.

It is a unique
open online poetry competition judged by the entrants themselves. It’s a
knockout system in three rounds.

Prize fund
accumulates @£2.00 per entry (up to £10,000 maximum).

Closing Date:
30th April 2009

To find out more...

Flarestack Poets Pamphlet Competition is for collections of 20 ?" 30 pages of poems. 2 equal prizes of publication and £250; also anthology of best single poems. Entries £18. Judges: Meredith Andrea and Jacqui Rowe. Winners receive 20 copies of their pamphlet plus invitation to read at Flarestack Poets launch. Closing date: 28 February 2009. For further details go to www.flarestackpoets.co.uk If you have any queries contact Jacqi Rowe jacquirowe@hotmail.co.uk...

Flash, the international short-short story magazine is seeking contributions.
Short stories of up to 360 words (including title).
For submission & subscription details visit: http://www.chester.ac.uk/flash.magazine/index.html