Write Out Loud relives some memorable live poetry moments
During the coronavirus shutdown Write Out Loud is looking back at some wonderful live poetry moments over the last few years … and re-running some of our favourite reviews to refresh memories, and to remind ourselves that this won’t last for ever. Here Judy Gordon hears Maxine Peake recite Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy, written in furious response to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. The 201st anni...
13th August 2020
Maxine Peake, Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy, Manchester, 2013
As I started to write this I realised I had absent-mindedly typed The Masque of Energy - an apt Freudian slip after this fiery performance surged through the huge Manchester International Festival audiences who packed the sweltering, unused-for-40-years hall.
Peake, one of the finest actors of he...
13th August 2020
Catherine Graham reads poem about the Tyne on BBC radio's The World at One
An award-winning poet from the north-east featured on the BBC Radio 4’s World at One lunchtime news programme this week, reading her poem about the river Tyne.
Catherine Graham read ‘Hyem (Home)’, ...
12th August 2020
'Sometimes you have to tell a story your entire life to get it right'
I’ve read that every time we call up a memory we tweak it a little, so that in the end what we remember is mostly fabrication. Here Emily Ransdell, a poet from Washington state, touches upon this phen...
12th August 2020
Simon Armitage and Jade Cuttle to judge £5,000 Gingko eco-poetry prize
The £5,000 Gingko prize for eco-poetry, in association with the Poetry School, will be judged this year by the poet laureate Simon Armitage, and Jade Cuttle. This year there is also a separate £500 pr...
12th August 2020
Fortnightly ezine wants poems and stories on the theme of 'Tear'
The website worktownwords is asking for poetry and/or short story submissions to its fortnightly ezine. The latest edition is curated by Sarah Maclennan on the theme of 'Tear'. The closing date for su...
11th August 2020
Don't make poetry an optional 'add-on' in schools, warns poet laureate
The poet laureate Simon Armitage has added his voice to those criticising the decision by the exams body Ofqual to make poetry optional at GCSE. Armitage, whose work is part of the GCSE syllabus, said...
9th August 2020
December deadline for Roger McGough poetry prize on the theme of 'identity'
The £150 Arts Richmond Roger McGough poetry prize is open for entries on the theme of ‘identity’. The deadline is 18 December. More details
9th August 2020
Caroline Griffin and Lawrence Illsley are winners in Write Out Loud's Beyond the Storm poetry competition in aid of NHS
Caroline Griffin has won Write Out Loud’s Beyond the Storm poetry competition in aid of NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal with her poem ‘Occupation (Lockdown April 2020)’. At the same time...
8th August 2020
'When relief blossoms so sweet, so unassuming'
Twelve per cent of the population have migraines, and that’s about 500,000 of you, based upon our current readership in print and online. I hope none of you have one today, nor Barbara Schmitz, either...
8th August 2020
Voting is over in Write Out Loud's Beyond the Storm poetry competition. The winners will be announced soon!
Voting is over in the People’s Choice section of Write Out Loud’s Beyond the Storm poetry competition in aid of NHS Charities Together’s Covid-19 Urgent Appeal. In a few hours’ time the People’s Choic...
8th August 2020
'Try to write every day, even for 10 minutes' - Finola Scott
Glaswegian Finola Scott’s poems can be found on posters, postcards and tapestries. Her work has been anthologised in many publications including Gutter, New Writing Scotland, The Fenland Reed, Lightho...
7th August 2020
People, it's time to vote! One day left to take part in the final stage of Write Out Loud's poetry competition to aid NHS
This the last day of voting for the People’s Choice award in Write Out Loud’s Beyond the Storm poetry competition in aid of NHS Charities Together’s Covid-19 urgent appeal. Make sure you don't miss ou...
7th August 2020
Mark Doty and Mona Arshi to judge £2,000 Troubadour prize
Mark Doty and Mona Arshi will be judging the £2,000 Troubadour international poetry prize. The deadline is 28 September. More details
7th August 2020
Neil Astley, Jonathan Edwards, and Karen McCarthy Woolf to judge National Poetry Competition
Neil Astley, Jonathan Edwards, and Karen McCarthy Woolf will be judging this year’s £5,000 National Poetry Competition. The deadline is 31 October. More details
7th August 2020
Award-winning performance poet changes name to Kae Tempest
The award-winning performance poet Kate Tempest has announced a change of name and pronoun. The poet said on Instagram: “Hello old fans, new fans and passers by - I’m changing my name! And I’m changin...
6th August 2020
Poetry bike tour, South Downs, 2016
Six poets and two musicians on Tuesday set off on the first leg of a four-day, 100-mile poetry bike tour of the South Downs as part of an inaugural poetry festival stretching from East and West Sussex...
6th August 2020
Poetry deemed optional for next year's GCSE exam students 'to ease virus pressure'
Poetry will be optional for GCSE English literature students next year, as part of changes for the 2021 paper brought in by the exams body Ofqual to “ease the pressure on many students and teachers” a...
4th August 2020
Fighting for breath, bats, and a tomato sandwich: poet's near-death experience on a Covid-19 ward
The award-winning poet John Burnside has told about his time being close to death on a Covid-19 ward, having hallucinations about bats, and the joy of eating a tomato sandwich as he began to recover.
...3rd August 2020
National Poetry Library mothballed until 2021 as Southbank Centre staff protest at cuts
The troubled National Poetry Library at London’s Southbank Centre is not due to reopen until at least April 2021, according to a protest letter from staff angered by cuts being imposed across the whol...
2nd August 2020
