Poetry ReIncarnation anniversary celebration at Last Word festival at Roundhouse
A festival of spoken word, storytelling and live performance takes place at the Roundhouse in London, starting Saturday 16 May, until 31 May. Included on the bill are Polarbear, Mark Grist, John Hegley, Luke Wright, Rob Auton, Deanna Rodger, Inua Ellams, and Tongue Fu, and a highlight is the celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the First International Poetry Incarnation, which saw over ...
19th May 2015
Kei Miller, Liz Berry, and Ian McMillan at South Yorkshire poetry festival
Kei Miller, pictured, Liz Berry, Patience Agbabi, Clare Pollard, Kim Moore, Zaffar Kunial and Barnsley’s own Ian McMillan among the leading poets taking part in South Yorkshire poetry festival - 18-24 May - which this year is extending its scope beyond Sheffield with events between at Rotherham, Do...
14th May 2015
Poetry at St Ives launches Cornish festivals spree
There’s poetry and music in the square each day, readings, a folk opera, Jack and Jenny, in poetry and song about Cornish miners, including Write Out Louders Ann Foxglove and Judi Strega (pictured), a...
8th May 2015
Brian Patten, John Hegley - and a tribute to Hovis Presley
Brian Patten, Mandy Coe and John Hegley will be headlining Live From Worktown, Bolton’s festival of words, with the main festival events running in the week beginning 18 May. Live From Worktown also f...
4th May 2015
Brian Patten, John Hegley, and tribute to Hovis Presley at Live From Worktown festival
Brian Patten, Mandy Coe and John Hegley will be headlining Live From Worktown, Bolton’s festival of words, with the main festival events running in the week beginning 18 May. Live From Worktown also f...
30th April 2015
Sean O'Brien and shades of green at Cheltenham poetry festival
Environment and the natural world is the theme of this year’s Cheltenham poetry festival, from 22 April to 3 May, which includes a reading sponsored by the Campaign to Protect Rural England by Sea...
24th April 2015
Perfect! This year's Wenlock poetry festival notches up new firsts
One of the friendliest poetry festivals around, situated in one of the nicest spots in the country, is gearing up for a weekend of firsts. Wenlock poetry festival in Shropshire was founded by Anna Dre...
20th April 2015
Last Word festival looks back at legendary 1960s poetry 'incarnation' at Albert Hall
This year marks the 50th anniversary of a legendary poetry event - the First International Poetry Incarnation on 11 June 1965 that saw over 7,000 people pack the Royal Albert Hall to witness Allen Gin...
12th March 2015
Sean O'Brien to launch new collection at Newcastle poetry festival
Sean O’Brien, professor of creative writing at Newcastle University, will be launching his new collection, The Beautiful Librarians, at the start of Newcastle’s new international poetry festival, whic...
2nd March 2015
International gathering of poets at Scotland's Stanza festival
One of the UK’s biggest poetry festivals, Stanza at St Andrews, will be staged early next month, as the poetry festival season begins to get into gear. Poets from the US, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Far...
19th February 2015
Prize winners Jonathan Edwards and Kei Miller in Wenlock poetry festival lineup
Costa poetry prize winner Jonathan Edwards, pictured, and Forward prize winner Kei Miller will be among a host of big poetry names at this year’s Wenlock poetry festival in April, organisers have anno...
18th January 2015
No poet is an island: global lineup at Stanza festival in March
Poets from the US, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Sardinia, Mallorca, India, as well as the UK will be appearing at Stanza, Scotland’s international poetry festival ...
9th January 2015
Poetry tennis with Steve Nash and Gaia Holmes at Sowerby Bridge
There’s plenty of poetry at Sowerby Bridge arts festival, from 6-14 December. On Monday 8 December at 7pm a poetry reading by Saboteur award winner Steve Nash and Gaia Holmes features a round of “poet...
6th December 2014
Larkin's biographer at Humber Mouth festival
James Booth, the author of a new biography of Philip Larkin, which attempts to put a better gloss on the public image of a poet previously revealed as misogynist and racist in his letters, will be ap...
6th November 2014
Local writers and emerging poets in lineup at Reading festival
There’s a strong emphasis on local writers and presses and on young and emerging poets at Reading poetry festival, from 7-9 November. The weekend's readings, lectures and conversations include events...
4th November 2014
From the Mersey and the Tyne - to Aldeburgh
Two poets who burst on to the poetry scene as young men in the 1960s and are still live and kicking today will be appearing at the Aldeburgh poetry festival next month.
Brian Patten, pictured, was ...
22nd October 2014
Owen Lowery and David Constantine at Lancaster literature festival
Former British judo champion, Owen Lowery, pictured, who suffered a spinal injury while competing and is now a tetraplegic, will be reading at Lancaster literature festival on Sunday 19 October. His f...
14th October 2014
Celebrating Maya Angelou at the London literature festival
A celebration of the life of Maya Angelou will be staged at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 5 October, as part of the London literature festival at the Southbank. Angelou, who rose from poverty, vio...
5th October 2014
Tom Pickard at Hastings film and poetry festival
Tom PIckard, who ran the legendary Morden Tower poetry readings with Basil Bunting in Newcastle in the 1960s, will be reading at the Black Huts film and poetry festival in Hastings on Sunday 2 Novembe...
2nd October 2014
Kate Tempest, Simon Armitage and Jackie Kay in big poetry lineup at Manchester lit festival
There’s a wealth of poetry lined up at Manchester literature festival, taking place from 6-19 October. Kate Tempest, shortlisted for the Mercury prize, will be showcasing work from her forthcoming col...
26th September 2014
Laura Taylor and Joy France help Wigan honour Winstanley
Laura Taylor, Joy France, Ian Whiteley, Tony Kinsella, Jeffarama!, and Gordon Zola will be performing at the fourth Wigan Diggers festival, on Saturday 13 September, commemorating Wigan-born Gerrard W...
13th September 2014
Zena Edwards heads performance show at Winchester festival
Award-winning performance poet Zena Edwards will be joined by Orla Price and Annie Rockson in the Young Voices event at Winchester poetry festival on Friday 12 September. Edwards specialises in conjur...
8th September 2014
McGough and Armitage lined up for Wakefield Lit Fest
Roger McGough will be reading from his new collection, As Far As I Know, and Simon Armitage from his new book, Paper Aeroplanes: Selected Poems 1989-2014, at Wakefield Lit Fest next month. Other big p...
2nd September 2014
Carol Ann Duffy, Lemn Sissay, Kate Tempest and John Siddique at Canterbury's festival
Carol Ann Duffy, Lemn Sissay and Kate Tempest will be appearing at Canterbury’s Wise Words festival, from 12-21 September. John Siddique will be running morning coffee and journal writing sessions, as...
25th August 2014
High hopes for new festival at Winchester
A new poetry festival that is aiming high will be staged in Winchester next month. The festival’s Stephen Boyce said in an interview with Write Out Loud earlier this year that it was hoped that Winche...
19th August 2014
Word Wizards line up 32 performers for Buxton's Free Fringe
Buxton Word Wizards have lined up 16 events with 32 spoken word performers, including Helen Mort, Matt Merritt, and Josh Ekroy, as part of Buxton festival’s Free Fringe, starting on 19 July. There ar...
19th July 2014
Rappers, slammers and laureates collide in lineup at Latitude
A dazzling lineup across the spectrum of poetry is on the bill at the Latitude festival in Suffolk from Friday 18 July to Sunday 20 July. Spoken word stars in the poetry tent include Hollie McNish, pi...
19th July 2014
Can't sleep? Explore the dark in a poetry all-nighter at Ledbury
A poetry all-nighter at the atmospheric Hellens Manor is on the agenda at Ledbury poetry festival this weekend, on Saturday night and Sunday morning of 5-6 July. It starts off at 7pm-8pm, with At Mald...
4th July 2014
Ian McMillan and the Poetry Proms at Wirral Festival of Firsts
Ian McMillan is one of the stars of Wirral’s Festival of Firsts, performing at Hoylake Chapel on Thursday 10 July at 7.30pm. Another big poetic highlight of the festival is the Poetry Proms at New Bri...
4th July 2014
Celebrating Shakespeare, Heaney and Dylan Thomas in month of poetry at Stratford-upon-Avon
The poetry of Shakespeare, Seamus Heaney, Dylan Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon and Norman MacCaig will be celebrated during a month of festival events that begin in Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday 2 July....
2nd July 2014
Sharon Olds leads the big names at Ledbury poetry festival
An interview with and a reading by American poet Sharon Olds, who won last year’s TS Eliot prize with her collection Stag’s Leap, will be one of the highlights of this year’s Ledbury poetry festival, ...
1st July 2014
All steamed up for Worcestershire literary festival
Poetry and trains are on the timetable at Worcestershire literary festival, which begins on Friday 20 June and continues until Sunday 29 June. The Steam Poets, led by Dave Reeves, the grand station ma...
23rd June 2014
A sonnet, a sestina, plus four poppadoms: poetry and curry at Bradford festival
Poetry and curry – that combination must be hard to beat. Simon Armitage, Roger McGough, Moniza Alvi, Daljit Nagra, Patience Agbabi, Zaffar Kunial, Kate Fox and Ian Duhig are in the star-studded lineu...
17th June 2014
War poetry evening launches Bridlington poetry festival
Tickets are now on sale for the Bridlington poetry festival, from 12-15 June, which will be launched with poetry and performance marking the centenary of the outbreak of the first world war. Former po...
4th June 2014
Luke Wright headlines Suffolk poetry festival at John Peel Centre
BBC Radio 4 Star Luke Wright will be topping the bill at Suffolk Poetry Society's first poetry festival on Saturday 31 May. Wright, who lives in Bungay, will be rounding off a day of poetry at the Joh...
28th May 2014
Gillian Clarke, Philip Gross and Mimi Khalvati at Bodmin Moor festival
Some big names in the poetry world, including Gillian Clarke, pictured, Philip Gross, Mimi Khalvati, Maurice Riordan, and Louis de Bernieres, are lined up for the Bodmin Moor poetry festival, over the...
21st May 2014
Fusion poet Anjum Malik at Bolton's first poetry festival
Anjum Malik, a poet who fuses eastern and western forms, will be headlining a performance by a collaboration of local writers whose first language is not English on Wednesday 25 June as part of the fi...
14th May 2014
Poetry and song from folk opera trio at St Ives literature festival
Cornish Women on the Verge – Nickie Reed, Sue Famer, and Ann Foxglove - will be performing two folk operas using poetry and song about artist and mariner Alfred Wallis and John Harris, miner, preacher...
11th May 2014
