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Mad experiment on Write Out Loud – translating poems online!

Look, here's an idea: let’s translate our poems so we can share them with the world, and the world can share theirs with us. Simple. I mean, look at our gig guide. Thousands of people reading their work out loud regularly, and get listened to. Still simple. But what if your first language is not English? Perhaps you are from one of the 100+ UK language groups referred to in the recent census re...

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Poetry translation

It's happened again: new poet unmasked as serial plagiarist

The Guardian has reported on what has been the talk of the online poetry community: that there is a new serial plagiarist in our midst. Following the Christian Ward scandal earlier this year, the new culprit is a poet called David R Morgan, who has admitted to the plagiarism, and told the Guardia...

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News

Rubbing Salt in it: poets mourn publisher's pullout

The poetry world is still reverberating over the news that independent publishers Salt will no longer be publishing single collections of poetry. The Norfolk-based publisher announced last week tha...

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News

Wanted: short poems about ads for Red Squirrel anthology

A forthcoming poetry anthology, ‘Double Bill: poems inspired by popular culture’, due out in 2014 from Red Squirrel Press, is looking for poems inspired by adverts. Poems can be up to 10 lines long...

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Publications

North-west's slam stars line up at Prestwich book festival

Poetry performance star Tony Walsh hosts an invitation/all star slam at the Prestwich book festival on 31 May, at Heaton Park sports and social club. Lined up are north-west names Mark Mace Smith, ...

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News

Walk the walk at Sheffield poetry festival

Sheffield's poetry festival, which kicks off on 31 May and goes through to 9 June, promises to be local, national and international, and includes a children's event, film-poems, and a poetry walk. ...

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Festivals calendar

Stanza Bonanza: poets from Reading and Greenwich in high-scoring draw

The Poetry Society had billed it as Greenwich v Reading. But you mustn’t think of this meeting of two of the society’s Stanza groups at London’s Poetry Cafe as a football match, I kept telling myse...

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Review

National Poetry Competition trio reading at London's Keats festival

The three top winners of the National Poetry Competition – from left, Pascale Petit, Patricia McCarthy, and Jane Draycott – will be reading together for the first time in a Poetry Society event at ...

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Festivals calendar

Deadline nears for £2,000 Myslexia women's competition

It's less than a month until the 17 June deadline for this year's Myslexia women's poetry competition, to be judged by Costa award-winning poet Kathleen Jamie. The competiton has a £2,000 first pri...

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Competitions

August deadline for £200 Ilkley festival competition

The £200 poetry competition for Ilkley literature festival is open for entries, with the deadline 1 August, and winners and commended writers invited to read at the festival in October. More detail...

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Competitions

Write Out Loud at Middleton tonight

Pete Slater is the guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton on Sunday 26 May, at the Ring O’Bells, St Leonard’s Square, Middleton. Contact gemmathepoet@hotmail.co.uk. Entry is a £2 donation to this o...

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News

McGough, Clarke, Abse, Sheers and Armitage at Hay festival

Roger McGough, Gillian Clarke, Dannie Abse, Owen Sheers, and Simon Armitage are just some of the big names at the Hay festival, from 23 May to 2 June. More details of poetry events at the festival ...

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Festivals calendar

North-west poetry anthology reading at Hebden Bridge

John Siddique, Andrew Oldham, and editors Lindsey Holland and Angela Topping will be among those reading at a launch of Sculpted: Poetry of the North West, an anthology of 62 of the north-west’s be...

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News

Deadline nears for £5,000 Bridport prize

The 31 May deadline is nearing for those still intending to submit poems for the £5,000 Bridport prize, judged this year by Wendy Cope. More details. Meanwhile the equally valuable £5,000 National ...

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Competitions

Poets and performers read from Sylvia Plath's Ariel at Festival Hall

Sylvia Plath died 50 years ago, leaving a black binder of poems that was to become her final, posthumously published collection, Ariel. Forty leading female poets and performers will read one poem ...

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News

Kate Fox is Glastonbury website poet in residence

Kate Fox, a regular poet on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, will be this year’s website poet in residence at the Glastonbury festival. Fox, who was poet in residence for the Great North Run in 2011, writi...

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News

July deadline for Poetry Wales pamphlet prize

The Poetry Wales Purple Moose prize for 20-24 original poems is open for entries. The winner will have their pamphlet published by Seren, and receive a £250 prize, 25 complimentary copies of the pa...

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Competitions

Chanje Kunda at Write Out Loud Sale tonight

Poet, playwright and performance artist Chanje Kunda is one of the guests at Write Out Loud Sale on Tuesday 21 May at the Waterside arts centre, Sale. Mantz Yorke and David Judge are also on the bi...

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News

Versions of the North: edited by Ian Parks, Five Leaves

Kirkgate Market Cafe, Manningham Mills, Adel Crag, Flamborough, Warley Cemetery, Tinsley Towers, Humber Bridge, Holderness …  a seam of poems with  place name titles in this anthology of contempora...

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Review

Poetry and all that jazz: Birmingham's Sunday Xpress at Adam & Eve

The spirit and diversity of Sunday Xpress open mic, hosted by Birmingham’s unofficial poet laureate, Brendan Higgins, pictured, has been captured in a video made by emerging film-maker Ilvars Veinb...

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Tales from the venues

Charlotte Henson at Write Out Loud Bolton tonight

Young poet and magazine editor Charlotte Henson is the guest at Write Out Loud Bolton on Sunday 19 May at the Brooklyn pub, Green Lane, Bolton. Entry is £1 to this open mic event. Email Jeff Dawson...

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News

North-east publisher stages seaside festival to mark 40 years

The small press publisher Iron Press is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a five-day festival in the seaside town of Cullercoats in North Tyneside from 15-19 May. An event hosted by Kate Fox wi...

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Festivals calendar

Helen Ivory to judge Ludlow fringe festival competition

Helen Ivory is to judge the Ludlow Fringe festival poetry competition. The theme is The Longest Day, and the deadline is 31 May. First prize is £100 and publication on Ivory’s Ink, Sweat and Tears ...

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Competitions

Kate Fox is Glastonbury website poet in residence

Kate Fox, a regular on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, will be this year’s website poet in residence at the Glastonbury festival. Fox, who was poet in residence for the Great North Run in 2011, writing an...

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News

Odds-on success: Rod Tame launches debut collection

Write Out Loud Sale’s host and co-ordinator Rod Tame will be launching his debut poetry collection, Strange World Odd Person, published by Flapjack Press, on Thursday 16 May at Manchester City Libr...

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News

Ariadne's Thread launches competition to mark first year

Ariadne’s Thread magazine is launching a £300 competition to mark its first year of existence. The deadline is 31 October. Submissions will be read and judged by Armando Halpern, editor of Ariadne'...

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Competitions

Write Out Loud at Marsden tonight

Write Out Loud Marsden meets on Wednesday, May 15 at Marsden library, for another evening of open-floor poetry, plus the odd story and musical interlude, hosted by Write Out Loud’s Julian Jordon. C...

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News

Write Out Loud's reviews editor wins poetry award

Hearty congratulations from all at Write Out Loud to our reviews editor, Frances Spurrier, who has won the Cinnamon Press poetry collection award. Her collection, Pilgrim’s Trail, will be published...

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News

Faber on the lookout for more new poets

Faber and Faber in partnership with Arts Council England is accepting submissions for its 2013–14 Faber New Poets scheme. It is open to those who have yet to publish a first collection or pamphlet,...

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Competitions

Write Out Loud at Stockport tonight

The creative minds of Write Out Loud Stockport get together again on Monday 13 May at Stockport art gallery. The group produces a collage poem at each monthly meeting, and recently published its ow...

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News

Outfoxing Hyenas: Alan Price, Indigo Dreams

This is a debut collection, divided into three sections and telling of voyages, time, music, of boyhood and pubescence in which mythological, literary and art references abound. It is a rather mixe...

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Review

It's a square world: Bob's bright idea at St Ives lit fest

There can’t be many poetry gigs where you might be interrupted by a passing seagull but at the open air event held daily (11-18 May) as part of the St Ives May Litfest in Norway Square in the beaut...

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Festivals calendar

Elmi Ali at relaunched Bury open mic night, Once More with Meaning

Elmi Ali is the guest at Bury’s relaunched Once More with Meaning open mic night on Sunday 12 May. The event, at the Studio theatre, The Met, Bury,  begins at 7.30pm, with entry £3. It’s organised ...

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News

Whole lot of shaking going on: poets join fight against fracking

Write Out Loud names Laura Taylor, Joy France, Neil Fawcett, Jeffarama, and Solomon Scribble will be performing poetry on Friday and Saturday, 10 and 11 May, at Camp Frack, at Mere Brow, near Tarle...

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News

Book launch and anthology in 'literary backwater' Leeds

A young poet is launching his debut collection in Leeds, amid some controversy over whether or not the city is a literary backwater, and an anthology competition aimed specifically at young poets w...

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News

Write Out Loud at Wigan tonight

Madcap poets from the environs of Wigan and beyond convene at the Tudor House hotel in Wigan on Thursday, 9 May for another robust night of open mic entertainment. Write Out Loud Wigan begins at 8....

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News

Write Out Loud regulars in collection supporting fire-hit bookshop

On 1 February this year, Freedom Bookshop, London’s anarchist press and bookshop, was seriously damaged in a suspected firebomb attack. Freedom Press was founded in 1886 by a group including Charlo...

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News

Martyn Crucefix to judge £1,000 Torbay competition

Martyn Crucefix will be judging the £1,000 Torbay open poetry competition, with the winners announced at the Torbay festival of poetry on Saturday 26 October. The competition deadline is 31 August....

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Competitions

New Brighton's Bards perform at Liverpool Lit Fest tonight

Poetry club members from New Brighton in Wirral are to perform as part of Liverpool Literary Festival ‘In Other Words’. Member of the Bards, who usually meet monthly in the Magazine pub, New Bright...

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Festivals calendar

Puzzle solved: Sowerby Bridge poetry session goes ahead after all

Organisers of Sowerby Bridge Puzzle Poets are keen to emphasise that tonight's session on 6 May at the Puzzle Hall Inn, Sowerby Bridge, will be taking place after all. The bank holiday event had be...

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News

The Word on the Street: Paul Muldoon, Faber

Paul Muldoon is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary poets. He published his first collection in 1971, taking his place as the youngest member of a group of Northern Ireland poets which includes S...

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Review

Floating in a tin can: contest to send a haiku to Mars

Want to send a haiku into space?  Nasa is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian ...

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News

Deadline nears for erbacce publication prize

The deadline of 31 May is approaching for the erbacce prize, with the winner receiving a publishing contract, and 10 free copies of their published collection. At the discretion of the judges up to...

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Competitions

Rosalind Jana wins Hippocrates young poets prize

A 17-year-old student from Hereford sixth form college has won the inaugural Hippocrates Young Poets prize of £500. Rosalind Jana’s winning poem was titled Posterior Instrumented Fusion for Adolesc...

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News

Harrison, Tempest, Farley and Polley in Sheffield Lyric line-up

Renowned Yorkshire poet Tony Harrison, Ted Hughes award winner Kate Tempest, and TS Eliot shortlisted Paul Farley and Jacob Polley are among the highlights of the University of Sheffield’s Lyric fe...

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Festivals calendar

Vive la difference: Tennyson's heirs and Thatcher's children

A poetry society that claims Tennyson as an early member and that lists Sir John Betjeman and Cecil Day-Lewis as past presidents launched its latest anthology on Wednesday night, while "an unholy t...

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Cheltenham blog

Travel to Timbuktu, via Huddersfield, tonight

The fabled city, once dazzling commercial and intellectual capital of the Songhay empire, now just another impoverished desert town on the adventure holiday trail for affluent Western tourists, a g...

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News

Deadline nears in voting for Saboteur spoken word awards

The clock is ticking if you want to vote for the Saboteur awards for best spoken word performer, best spoken word show, or best spoken word night, with a total of 12 categories (voting deadline mid...

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News

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