Twenty-six poets lined up for spoken word marathon
A team of 26 poets will be celebrating Manchester’s first marathon in 10 years by staging a three-hour poetry marathon on behalf of Freedom from Torture on Wednesday 2 May at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Chorlton Mill, Manchester. Poets already confirmed include Ben Mellor (pictured), Segun Lee-French, Martin de Mello, Cathy Bolton, Col Bashir, Shamshad Khan, Elmi Ali, and Keis...
27th April 2012
Call of the wild at Cheltenham poetry festival
A smallish room with bare walls up a steep flight of stairs, with only a single potted plant provided by the poet might be considered an inauspicious setting for a session on nature poetry. But Matthew Barton, a former BBC Wildlife Poet of the Year, who spoke of our humanity being “enlarged by co...
27th April 2012
Benjamin Zephaniah at Liverpool festival debate
Award-winning performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah will be at Liverpool’s Writing on the Wall festival on 1 May at a debate entitled: Multiculturalism or muscular liberalism? at the small concert ro...
26th April 2012
Shoot, then ask questions ... Manchester gets its first weekly poetry night
Manchester’s first weekly poetry night – Bang Said The Gun: Manchester - is launched this week at the Old Nag’s Head, in Jacksons Row, off Deansgate.
Bang Said The Gun in London is considered o...
26th April 2012
Gwyneth Lewis to judge Bridport poetry competition
Gwyneth Lewis is the judge for this year’s Bridport poetry prize, one of the biggest around. The top three prizes are £5,000, £1,000 and £500, plus 10 supplemmentary prizes of £50 each, and the clo...
22nd April 2012
Free Fringe look for poets to make their way to Edinburgh
Poets looking to join in the largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Fringe, are being invited to do so without having to pay for venue hire - or indeed, their inclusion in the brochure. ...
22nd April 2012
Rob Goodier at Write Out Loud Middleton on Sunday
Rob Goodier is guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton on Sunday 22 April. All are welcome to read their poems in an encouraging and supportive open mic environment, with entry a £2 donation. It sta...
22nd April 2012
Paul Durcan heads line-up at Bristol poetry festival
Paul Durcan leads the line-up at the Bristol Spring Poetry Festival, from 18-21 April. Other attractions include Carol Rumens, Sasha Dugdale, Pameli Benham, Matt Harvey, Lucy English, Rob Gee, Chri...
21st April 2012
Jukebox jury at Cheltenham poetry festival
Cheltenham poetry festival moves into its final two days this weekend, with a huge lineup of talent and a crowded timetable. Saturday highlights include Matthew Barton on nature poetry, Cliff Yate...
20th April 2012
Allison McVety wins National Poetry Competition
Allison McVety has won this year’s National Poetry Competition with her poem To The Lighthouse, the Poetry Society announced last night. Her debut collection, The Night Trotsky Came to Stay, was s...
20th April 2012
Slam teams battle it out in Cheltenham festival contest
Four slam teams led by Amy Rainbow, Jonny Fluffypunk, Spoz Esposito, and Fergus McGonigal go head to head for the Cheltenham poetry festival cup at Cheltenham town hall on Friday 20 April. It takes...
19th April 2012
Homage to poetic heroes and heroines at WOL Marsden
Open micers are invited to read from a favourite poet as an optional change from reading their own work at Write Out Loud Marsden on Wednesday 18 April. Compered by WOL’s co-founder Julian Jordan, ...
17th April 2012
Keisha Thompson at Write Out Loud Sale
Keisha Thompson, a member of the Young Identity group of young poets and performers based in Manchester, will be appearing at Write Out Loud Sale at Waterside arts centre on Tuesday 17 April. Also ...
16th April 2012
Write Out Loud Stockport: it's tonight
Write Out Loud Stockport reconvenes on Monday 16 April - NOT April 9 - in the inspiring surroundings of Stockport art gallery, under the expert guidance of WOL’s John F Keane. Entry is a £1 donatio...
16th April 2012
Charlotte Henson launches Pharmacopoeia
Young poet Charlotte Henson is launching her second collection, Pharmacopoeia, at Bury library at 7pm on 16 April. Also on the bill will be Superheroes of Slam champion Mark Mace-Smith, reading fro...
15th April 2012
Big poetry festivals this weekend at Cheltenham and Bristol
This coming weekend sees two big poetry festivals at Cheltenham and Bristol.
18-22 April: TV presenter and poet Owen Sheers, hip-hop star Dizraeli, Penelope Shuttle, slam-champs Ash Dickinson ...
15th April 2012
Step up for the Bards of New Brighton poetry contest
New Brighton Bards are staging a competition night on Monday 14 May when poets will be invited to perform for cash prizes and magazine subscriptions. The contest takes place at the Magazine hotel, ...
13th April 2012
Wigan festival's poetry slam tonight
There’s a poetry slam at the Tudor House hotel in Wigan on 12 April, as part of Leigh and Wigan’s Words festival, which lasts from 9-21 April. This year’s slam will have a different format with poe...
12th April 2012
Why do fools fall in love? Find out in Guildford
Have you ever been a fool in love? Pop Up Poetry at the Bar Des Arts in Guildford is inviting anyone who has a break-up poem or celebration of love to share to read it on Tuesday night, 10 April, ...
9th April 2012
Poems set in stone: launching the Pennine Stanza trail
Performances and readings led by Simon Armitage at Marsden Mechanics Hall in Marsden on 12 May will launch the Stanza Stones “poetry trail”, a collaboration between Armitage and Ilkley Literature F...
5th April 2012
Wirral poets go busking at Much Wenlock
The Wirral Alliance of Poets will be busking in the streets at the Wenlock poetry festival, and other poets will be found reciting, cart-wheeling, and drinking tea. The festival, which takes place ...
5th April 2012
Ian Duhig to judge Ledbury poetry festival competition
Ian Duhig is to judge the Ledbury poetry festival competition, which has a first prize for the winner of £1,000, plus a week at a residential course at Ty Newydd, the national writing centre for Wa...
2nd April 2012
US poet Adrienne Rich dies aged 82
The American poet, essayist and feminist Adrienne Rich has died at the age of 82. Rich died on Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz, California, her daughter-in-law Diana Horowitz said. Horowitz said ...
2nd April 2012
Gillian Clarke wins war poetry award
The national poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, has become the first woman to win the Wilfred Owen poetry award, for a sustained body of work that includes memorable war poems. Clarke, who received the...
2nd April 2012
Falklands remembered - Julian Jordon guest Puzzle Poet tonight
The Falklands will be remembered in one of Julian’s poems as he guests at Puzzle Poets at Sowerby Bridge, this evening. Performance poet, joint winner of the International Women’s Festival slam (th...
2nd April 2012
