Bringing it back home: local lad Simon Armitage gives Marsden fresh inspiration
The last few months have been a busy time for Young Write Out Loud. After our successful pedal-powered event in February at the Moonraking festival in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, we were busy preparing for Cuckoo Day in the neighbouring village, Marsden. This year’s Cuckoo festival in April was a very special event which also saw the culmination of the Tenterhooks Project - a unique artistic vent...
25th May 2025
Pupils add voices in telling Marsden's story with Simon Armitage
In October last year a unique creative venture involving Marsden-born poet laureate Simon Armitage, his LYR band and Marsden Mechanics was launched. The project invited the people of Marsden to engage in a series of workshops, where together they aimed to uncover untold stories of the West Yorkshire...
27th April 2025
‘I’m always thinking of lines and looking for inspiration’: learning lessons from youngsters in school’s poetry group
Most readers coming to this site will be interested in the future of poetry in changing times. The Bookseller announced in December 2023 that poetry was “on course for a record year”, partly due to an...
3rd March 2025
On your bikes! Pop-Up Poetry Tent empowers pupils' verses
Write Out Loud took to the road on Saturday at the Moonraking festival in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, with our first ever pedal-powered poetry event – the Pedal-Powered Pop-Up Poetry tent. The succes...
26th February 2025
'Now I have the courage to show everyone my voice': meet this year's Foyle Young Poets award winners
“It means the world to me to win the Foyle Young Poets award. I have been writing for a very long time – privately, always hunched over the family computer, letting my ideas meander onto the document,...
9th October 2024
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets of the Year award
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year award is once again open for entries. It’s organised by the Poetry Society and supported by the Foyle Foundation, and invites new poems from young writers aged 11–17 ...
7th July 2024
How youngsters engage with poetry – teachers, can you help?
The National Literacy Trust has launched what it calls "the biggest survey to date about children and young people’s engagement with poetry". They are asking teachers for their help in discovering wha...
18th May 2024
‘A household for all creatures’: new poem for Trafalgar Square’s Christmas tree
This year’s Trafalgar Square Christmas tree poem, ‘T is for Tree’ by Isabel Galleymore, was unveiled on Thursday evening. It draws a parallel between the tree’s role in the forest, where it provides a...
8th December 2023
New poem to be unveiled at illumination of Trafalgar Square Christmas tree
There will be a reading of a seasonal poem commissioned by the Poetry Society when the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is illuminated on 7 December. Since 2009 the Poetry Society has each year commiss...
3rd December 2023
Meet this year's top 15 winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year award
The Poetry Society announced the top 15 winners and 85 commended poets in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year award 2023 at a special celebration at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, on National Poetry Day.
...16th October 2023
Deadline nears for entering Foyle Young Poets of the Year award
The 31 July deadline is close for entering the Poetry Society’s 2023 Foyle Young Poets of the year award. This year’s judges are Jonathan Edwards and Jane Yeh, and 2023 marks the award’s 25th annivers...
23rd July 2023
Kate Wakeling's 'and a tree' is Poetry Society's Christmas poem
Children’s poet Kate Wakeling is the author of this year’s poem ‘and a tree’ commissioned by the Poetry Society to celebrate the arrival and lighting up of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree. The tre...
7th December 2022
2022's top 15 Foyle Young Poets award winners!
The Poetry Society has announced the top 15 winners and 85 commended poets in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2022. There were entrants from 100 countries for the competition for poets aged 1...
22nd November 2022
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets of the Year
The 31 July deadline is nearing for the 2022 Foyle Young Poets of the Year award open to young people aged 11-17 worldwide. It will be judged this year by Anthony Anaxagorou and Mona Arshi. More detai...
3rd July 2022
Thinking outside the Unboxed: 'connectivity and the universe' competition
The deadline has been extended to 9 January for a poetry and/or animation competition called About Us aimed at youngsters aged from four to 18 on the theme of ‘connectivity and the universe’. The Poet...
9th January 2022
Young poets perform prize-winning climate poems at COP26
Young poets from the Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network were invited to respond to Sir David Attenborough’s speech at the opening of COP26 in Glasgow. Inspired by Sir David’s words calling world lea...
6th November 2021
Winners of Foyle Young Poets of the Year award are announced
The Poetry Society has announced the 15 winners of its Foyle Young Poets of the Year award, for poets aged 11-17. They are: Evie Alam, aged 14, from South Shields; Ahana Banerji, 17, Putney, London; A...
7th October 2021
Search for young polylingual poets to help develop skills
The deadline has been extended until midnight Monday 9 August to recruit eight young mixed-heritage people with an interest in polylingual poetry to develop their practice as poets or spoken word perf...
30th July 2021
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets of the Year award
The 31 July deadline is nearing for entering the Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year award. It is free to enter and is open to poets aged 11-17 anywhere in the world.
Meanwhile it has b...
26th July 2021
Poetry By Heart finalists perform on stage of Shakespeare’s Globe
On Sunday 18 and Monday 19 July over 300 students, parents, teachers and guests took part in the 2021 Poetry By Heart finalists’ celebration event at Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Children and young pe...
25th July 2021
Get happy! School's My Happy Place poetry party links England - and Nigeria
Children from Lily Lane primary school in Moston, Manchester, shared another of their poetry parties online with other children from schools in the north-west of England, in Oxfordshire, south-west Lo...
28th March 2021
Lear was here: celebrating 150th anniversary of 'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat'
Grab your runcible spoon, set sail with the Jumblies and learn how to make an amblongus pie with Britain’s beloved master of nonsense humour. Embarking on April Fool’s Day, the community of St Leonard...
14th March 2021
Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition launched
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition for 11-17-year olds was launched on 4 March, World Book Day. The judges this year are Clare Pollard and Yomi Sode, and the deadline is 31 July. More deta...
4th March 2021
Young people's laureate offers writing tips to stay positive during lockdown
The young people’s laurate for London, Cecilia Knapp, has launched a campaign via the organisation Spread The Word to encourage young people to use writing and poetry to keep positive and feel connect...
2nd March 2021
Don't fence us in! Poets prompt pupils at the Giant Poetry Party
A hint of what Write Out Loud – and especially Young Write Out Loud – want to do a lot more of in the future could be seen at the Giant Poetry Party for primary school pupils staged online by Lily Lan...
3rd February 2021
Calling all primary schools and children at home - roll up for a Giant Poetry Party today!
Primary schools and children learning at home during lockdown are being invited to an online Giant Poetry Party on Tuesday 26 January starting at 2pm. Poets Matt Abbott and Louise Fazackerley, assiste...
26th January 2021
Schools to celebrate International Mother Language Day with poetry
Write Out Loud board member Julia Clark, headteacher of Lily Lane primary primary school in Moston, Manchester, and the school’s poet-in-residence Louise Fazackerley will be taking part in an online e...
17th January 2021
Foyle Young Poets celebrate huge rise in number of poems entered as winners announced
The Poetry Society has announced today the top 15 winners and 85 commended poets of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2020 at a virtual prize-giving ceremony.
14th November 2020
Poetry by Heart launches seventh national recitation competition for pupils
The Poetry by Heart organisation has launched its 2021 national poetry recitation competition for pupils. The competition is free to enter. Students aged 7-18 (key stages 2, 3, 4 and 5) choose a poem ...
10th October 2020
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition
The Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition, for poets aged 11-17, is being judged this year by Maura Dooley and Keith Jarrett. The deadline is 31 July. More details
20th July 2020
Poet in residence Louise Fazackerley reads at school's VE Day event
Pupils of Lily Lane primary school in Moston, Manchester, on Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day with an event in which poetry was well to the fore. At the livestream event the school’s poe...
10th May 2020
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets competition
The 31 July deadline is looming for this year's Foyle Young Poets of the Year award for poets aged 11-17, with this year’s judges Jackie Kay and Raymond Antrobus. This year’s winners will be announced...
15th July 2019
Performing Pupils’ Cuckoo Collaboration in Marsden the Poetry Village
Two schools, from contrasting areas – one rural, one city - have launched an exciting initiative, a partnership where poetry is used to form friendships, widen pupils’ horizons and build their confide...
2nd May 2018
Foyle Young Poets of the Year award is open for entries
The Poetry Society’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year award, open to anyone aged 11-17, will be judged this year by Caroline Bird and Daljit Nagra. Caroline has said that she will be looking for “a poem ...
31st March 2018
Liz Lochhead's Bairnsangs show for young poetry fans at festival
Liz Lochhead, Scotland’s former makar – national poet – will be sharing her favourite poems, old and new, with young poetry fans at StAnza, Scotland’s international poetry festival at St Andrews, next...
25th February 2018
Poetry in the landscape: Felicity's lament for ruined castle
This poem, written by Felicity Lance, at the age of eight in 1997, won a national writing competition for young people that was judged by the poet laureate, Ted Hughes. Felicity’s poem, ‘The Sad Castl...
17th November 2017
Foyle Young Poets top 15 winners are named
The Poetry Society has announced the top 15 winners and 85 commended Foyle Young Poets of the Year. The top 15 are:
Aisha Mango Borja, aged 15, from Oxford; Eira Murphy, 17, Liverpool; Irina Petra...
21st October 2017
Magazine for young poets wants submissions
Hebe, a poetry magazine that publishes poems by those aged 18 and under, is inviting submissions for its third issue on the theme of “patterns”. They say: “We encourage poets to be creative in their i...
10th October 2017
