Di Slaney wins Write Out Loud’s ‘Echoes’ competition with ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’ - in memory of a ‘dear friend and inspiration’
Di Slaney has won Write Out Loud’s 20th anniversary ‘Echoes’ poetry competition with her poem ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’, written in memory of the late poet Kathryn Bevis, who died last year from cancer two months after publishing her first collection, The Butterfly House, with Seren. Our competition judge, Neil Astley, editor and publisher of Bloodaxe Books, said Di Slaney’s winning poem was “a fitting...
22nd May 2025
Our team members: meet the folk behind the scenes at Write Out Loud
This is the first in a series - to mark our 20th anniversary year - where we go behind the scenes at Write Out Loud to meet those key players who work hard to keep our website ticking over. First up is Graham Sherwood, who meets and greets new arrivals to the site, and keeps a close eye on the poetr...
22nd May 2025
Meet Neil Astley, celebrated Bloodaxe editor - and our competition judge
Bloodaxe … what an arresting name for a poetry publisher. I may have first come across Neil Astley’s name when my wife gave me the second anthology in the Bloodaxe Staying Alive series, Being Alive, a...
15th May 2025
Write Out Loud looks back … at the early days of lockdown. How did poets cope?
As part of our 20-year anniversary celebrations, Write Out Loud will be looking back at significant moments for us and the wider poetry world over the last two decades. They don’t come much more signi...
26th April 2025
When Neruda arrived in search of Write Out Loud (in a manner of speaking)
The Write Out Loud team has perhaps been more focused on our 20th anniversary and fundraising poetry competition than the recent World Poetry Day. Mea culpa!
And yet we consider ourselves internat...
12th April 2025
Caroline Bird Poetry Masterclass available to all
Following Anthony Anaxagorou's mind-stretching masterclass, re-released last week, we've now re-launched Caroline Bird's workshop, giving you a whole new set of challenges to stretch and stimulate you...
6th April 2025
Poetry Masterclass with Matt Abbott (available now!)
Third and final in our masterclass series, is Matt Abbott's workshop in which he provides a number of triggers for writing about personal history, ones that get attendees re inspired to jot down a fe...
31st March 2025
Write Out Loud’s sell-out Poetry Masterclasses are back!
Want to give your poetry a boost with new ideas, new skills, and new challenges? Here's how: watch the videos of our series of masterclasses from professional poets at the top of their game.
Write...
23rd March 2025
Young Write Out Loud is out and about: join us at Slaithwaite’s Moonraking festival!
An important part of Write Out Loud’s 20th anniversary year is expanding our work with children and young people. And what better way to start than by linking up again with poet and performer Louise F...
12th February 2025
What does the word ‘Echoes’ say to you? Countdown to Write Out Loud’s poetry competition to mark our 20-year anniversary
In a few days’ time Write Out Loud will be launching a big poetry competition to mark our 20th anniversary year. We’re very excited about it! The theme of the competition will be ‘Echoes’ – and it wil...
1st February 2025
