Tickets are available for the BBC's Contains Strong Language poetry, spoken word and performance festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in September with its first visit to Salford. It’s taking place from 24 to 27 September across Salford and MediaCity, and also forms part of Salford's ...

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If you’re still sweltering, console yourself … the season of mist and mellow fruitfulness will soon be upon us … and with it Write Out Loud’s annual Poetry Jam at Marsden Jazz Festival on Sunday 11 Oc...

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A few weeks ago, I managed to find a gap in Matt Panesh’s busy schedule to catch a quick chat with him about his plans for Morecambe poetry festival 2026 – taking place from 18-20 September - and to ...

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A few weeks ago, I managed to find a gap in Matt Panesh’s busy schedule to catch a quick chat with him about his plans for Morecambe poetry festival 2026 – taking place from 18-20 September - and to ...

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Pure&Good&Right open-mic poetry night will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on Thursday 19 March at the Tree House bookshop, in The Square, Kenilworth, at 7.30 for an 8pm start. Organisers are invi...

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The Booming Lovelies – from left, Sharron Green, Trisha Broomfield, and Heather Moulson - describe themselves as “ladies of a certain age, unafraid to share their wealth of life experience with anyone...

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Write Out Loud Woking held its farewell night – and its final open mic of 2025 - at the Fiery Bird and Phoenix Cultural Centre in Goldsworth Road, Woking on Thursday 27 November. In 2026 Write Out Lou...

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Forward prize-winner Karen Solie, Len Pennie, Fiona Benson, Pascale Petit, Lorna Goodison, Marjorie Lofti,  Anthony Capildeo, Luke Kennard, Nick Makoha and Tim Wells are among a multitude of poets on ...

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Write Out Loud's annual poetry jam returns on Sunday 12 October this year to Marsden Socialist Club as part of Marsden’s annual jazz festival. Those who came last year may recall our exclusive access ...

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Contains Strong Language is the BBC’s annual celebration of poetry, performance and spoken word – and this year, it’s coming to Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

There’ll be four days of performanc...

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Write Out Loud is going to Morecambe poetry festival in September! To mark our regard for this fabulous festival combining top names and grassroots poets - and to celebrate our 20th anniversary year -...

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It’s 20 years since the passing of northern poetry legend Richard Henry McFarlane aka Hovis Presley, who died of a heart attack aged 44.  A unique talent straddling the worlds of stand-up, alternative...

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Vane Women, a Darlington-based writing, performing and publishing collective formed in 1991, are staging an evening of poetry and song on Wednesday 14 May at 7pm at Vesuvio wine bar at Houndgate, Darl...

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There is plenty of poetry among the literary events at Hexham book festival in Northumberland next month. On Friday 9 May Pam Ayres will be talking about her new collection, Doggedly Onward: A Life In...

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A north-east poet who was first published as a teenager by Bloodaxe Books is celebrating 40 years of writing poetry by launching a new pamphlet next month. Elaine Cusack’s launch event also marks a re...

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The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, is lining up the next leg of his 10-year tour of the UK’s libraries. Each spring this decade, Armitage is giving readings in libraries across the UK  and his journey...

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The Poetry Hour is staging a reading by actors of the works of Emily Dickinson, pictured, and Sylvia Plath at the British Library, in the week of International Women’s Day. The reading will take place...

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Manchester is celebrating International Mother Language Day 2025 with two newly appointed Multilingual City Poets, Charlotte Shevchenko Knight and Nóra Blascsók.

Charlotte Shevchenko Knight is a po...

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Award-winning poet Dominic Berry is the guest at Write Out Loud Bolton open-mic night at Bolton Socialist Club on Sunday 2 February. Dominic, who has twice won the Saboteur award for performance poets...

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Friends of Jackie Hagan are re-staging Magic Animals, a poetry session she used to host, in a one-off tribute show on 1 February at Manchester’s Contact theatre.

Jackie, a multi-award-winning poet,...

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The hugely popular American poet Billy Collins will be reading and in conversation with poet Paula Meehan at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Co Derry on Saturday 8 February at 7.30pm (doors o...

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Michael Rosen, who has published several poetry collections with Smokestack Books, will be reading at a special event to mark the poetry publisher ceasing operations at the end of the year. Other poet...

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Two north-east poets, Marilyn Longstaff and SJ Litherland, will be reading from their new collections at Norton library, Stockton-on Tees, on Thursday 7 November from 6.30-7.30pm.

Marilyn Longstaff...

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Write Out Loud returns to Marsden in West Yorkshire for its popular annual open mic poetry jam at the jazz festival on Sunday morning 13 October 11am-1pm. This year we are delighted to have secured a ...

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A poetry festival that includes headline names but also welcomes grassroots poets with open arms returns to the north-west this week. Pam Ayres is topping the bill at Morecambe poetry festival, from 1...

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Winner of this year’s Plough poetry competition, Trystan Lewis, will be the guest poet at Write Out Loud Bolton on Sunday 8 September at a rearranged venue - see Dave Morgan's comment below. Doors ope...

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A poetry reading on Thursday 3 October – National Poetry Day – will celebrate the return of the Northern Poetry Library to its original home at the main Morpeth Library in Gas House Lane, Morpeth. On ...

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The Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh is staging two open-mic poetry sessions during festival time in the city. Come along to read or to just listen. Those wanting an open-mic slot should arrive 15...

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Write Out Loud’s Graham Sherwood is one of 16 local writers in Milton Keynes whose work has been included in Dreams for Lammas, a Milton Keynes literary festival online anthology on the theme of Harve...

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Lisa Kelly will be guest poet at Write Out Loud Woking at the Fiery Bird on Thursday 27 June. Lisa is associate editor with Magma magazine, has two collections out with Carcanet (the last one was a Po...

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The co-founder of Write Out Loud, Dave Morgan, will be the guest poet at Write Out Loud Woking on Zoom on Wednesday 19 June, reading from his new collection On Not Being Observed. Dave is a writer, co...

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A new open mic poetry night to celebrate queer poets in the north-east is being launched in Darlington later this month. Hook, Line & Thinkers at the Queerish Bookshop will have two featured poets (to...

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Poet Tom Pickard will be looking back to the days when he and his wife Connie hosted Allen Ginsberg and Basil Bunting and many other leading poets at the legendary Morden Tower in Newcastle later this...

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Performance poet Steve Tasane will be delivering words from his new collection Counteroffensive at Write Out Loud Woking at the Fiery Bird on Thursday 30 May. Your host is Rodney Wood. Sign up on the ...

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Pratibha Castle will be reading from her pamphlet Miniskirts in The Waste Land, about her hippie days in London and India, as guest poet at Write Out Loud Woking on Zoom on Wednesday 8 April. More det...

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Write Out Loud Woking’s open-mic poetry night at the Fiery Bird music and community arts venue in Woking will be going ahead on Thursday 25 April after all, after last month’s event - along with many ...

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Described by Allen Ginsberg (writer of Howl, the poem that changed US obscenity laws) as “the most integrated place on the planet”, the Nuyorican Poets Café closed its doors in November 2023 for a $24...

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