Supercharged superheroes: get ready for the Wigan slam
The Wigan heat of Superheroes of Slam 2013, part of Commonword’s quest to find the north-west’s finest performance poet, is being held on Thursday, 8 August. Twelve poets will battle it out over two rounds at the Tudor House hotel in Wigan, judged by a panel for writing and performance excellence. Write Out Loud’s Julian Jordon, who will be the host on the night, has written a poem to mark the...
31st July 2013
Poetry doesn’t pay? £75 says it does
Here's your final chance to earn £75, as one entrant has had to pull out of the Wigan slam, leaving the way clear for YOU. just sign in here. More details below.
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A £75 first prize and automatic entry to the grand final in Manchester await the winner of the Wigan heat of Superheroes of...
30th July 2013
Write Out Loud at Middleton tonight
Dominic Simpson is the guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton on Sunday 28 July, at the Ring O’Bells, St Leonards Square, Middleton, at 7pm. Contact: gemmathepoet@hotmail.co.uk. Entry is a £2 donat...
28th July 2013
Stockport Write Out Loud to give arts trail a reet tweet
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be demonstrating their technical and creative prowess by tweeting poetic observations at @heatonstwaiku about the Heaton Arts Trail taking place over the we...
27th July 2013
You've got the whole world in your hands
Fickle finger of fate? Hand of history on your shoulder? Write a love poem to your hands. That's all there is to it.
27th July 2013
Hannah Lowe urges young poets to enter Foyle award
Time is running out to enter the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for new poets aged 11-17. The deadline is 31 July. Hannah Lowe, pictured, who is one of the judges of this year’s award, and aut...
27th July 2013
London Lines poets - with a little help from us - map out the city
Poems projected at night on to a pedestrian bridge across the Thames, displayed on the side of a cafe, hidden within the Poetry Library at the Festival Hall, or wrapped around food on a market stal...
27th July 2013
A Child's Last Picture Book of the Zoo: Louise Warren, Cinnamon
‘Excavations’
It came with the house.
A lungful of earth coughed up
with all the disturbance, the laying of foundations,
the sinking of drains,
and ...
26th July 2013
Rod Tame celebrates geekdom at Manchester Fringe Festival
Rod Tame, host of Write Out Loud Sale whose first collection, Strange World Odd People, was recently published by Flapjack Press, is appearing at Manchester Fringe Festival on 25 and 28 July in a s...
25th July 2013
Write a poem for the little prince
It seems Carol Ann Duffy is on laureate leave, leaving a literary lacuna. Can you fill it? The Guardian is urging folks to write a poem for the royal sprog. How about you having a go?
Ant...
25th July 2013
Carol Ann Duffy to judge Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition
Carol Ann Duffy is to judge this year’s Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition, which offers a £500 cash prize to four winners and the chance of publication by Smith|Doorstop Books. Four fi...
22nd July 2013
Rhian Edwards wins Wales Book of the Year award
Rhian Edwards has won the 2013 Wales Book of the Year award for her first collection, Clueless Dogs, which was also shortlisted for the Forward first collection prize last year. Clueless Dogs also...
22nd July 2013
Gillian Clarke to judge Ilkley poetry competition
The deadline is 1 August in the £200 poetry competition for Ilkley literature festival, to be judged by Gillian Clarke. Winners and commended writers will be invited to read at the festival in Octo...
22nd July 2013
'Bard of Salford' John Cooper Clarke gets honorary degree
The “bard of Salford”, John Cooper Clarke, has received an honorary degree from the University of Salford. After Thursday's ceremony, held at the Lowry in Salford Quays, he said: "What a thrill, wh...
21st July 2013
Write Out Loud at Bolton tonight
Michael Wilson is guest poet at Write Out Loud Bolton on Sunday 21 July. Entry is £1 to this open mic event at the Brooklyn pub, Green Lane, Bolton, 7.30pm for 8pm start. Email Jeff Dawson (Jeffara...
21st July 2013
When spoken words collide: Duffy, Lochhead, Antrobus and McNish at Latitude
Poet laureates, rappers and slammers collide in the Spoken Word arena of the Latitude festival, taking place at Southwold in Suffolk from 18-21 July. Topping the bill are Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochh...
19th July 2013
Tony Benn's festival appearance: the politics is in the poetry
Once a fiery and somewhat divisive figure in British politics, Tony Benn, with his white hair and beard, these days appears almost biblical; a prophet belatedly recognised in his own land. In front...
19th July 2013
She Inserts the Key: Marianne Burton, Seren
Based on a series of observations around hours of the day called ‘Meditations on the Hours’, this debut collection is remarkable not only for its assurance of technique, but for the poet’s ability...
19th July 2013
Deadline nears for £500 Wells literature festival competition
The deadline is the end of July for the £500 Wells festival of literature poetry competition, which will be judged by Sean Borodale, who was shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize earlier this year. Th...
18th July 2013
Why should we hide? Hollie McNish's breastfeeding anger
Leading young performance poet Hollie McNish has posted a poem called Embarrassed - about her anger at being made to feel uneasy over breastfeeding in public – on YouTube. The video has had more th...
17th July 2013
Write Out Loud at Marsden tonight
Roll up on Wednesday 17 July for Write Out Loud Marsden’s monthly open-floor poetry evening, open to all to read a poem, your own or a favourite. It’s also open to short story tellers, and singer-...
17th July 2013
Charlotte Henson wins erbacce-press prize for poetic 'essence'
Charlotte Henson has won the erbacce-press poetry prize which includes publication of her collection. She was chosen by the erbacce panel “for originality and consistency as well as the ability to ...
16th July 2013
Write Out Loud at Sale tonight
Tony Currry, Anna B Savage, and Harriet Pendlebury are the guests at Write Out Loud Sale, at the Waterside arts centre, Sale, on Tuesday 16 July at 7.30pm. Entry is £3/£2. Host is Rod Tame rodtame@...
16th July 2013
Shortlist contenders for Forward prizes are unveiled
Poems sharing the qualities of “a lit-up, living language” and a ”sense of purpose” make up the Forward poetry prize shortlists announced today, according to judging panel chair Jeanette Winterson....
13th July 2013
Words and Music in the Woods: Queens Wood cafe, Highgate, London
Words and Music in the Woods takes place in Queens Wood cafe, a Swiss-chalet like structure nestling in Highgate Woods, north London. As two women poets waiting for the event to start agreed: “It’...
11th July 2013
Poets offer 'walkshops' on trek along Stanza Stones trail
Four poets are planning a four-day, 47-mile Yorkshire trek from Marsden to Ilkley, and they will be offering a series of “walkshops” - poetry workshops on the hoof – as they go. Michael Stewart, Ju...
11th July 2013
Deadline approaches for £500 Essex poetry festival competition
The deadline is 31 July for Essex poetry festival’s competition, to be judged by Matthew Caley. The first prize is £500. Prizes will be handed out on 6 October at Essex poetry festival, with winner...
11th July 2013
Temporary Safety: Rose Drew, Fighting Cock Press
We learn, on the back cover of Temporary Safety that Rose Drew’s favourite place is in front of a large audience. That’s obvious from her book: the works in it make themselves clear at a first read...
11th July 2013
Poetry swap: Write Out Loud and The London Magazine
Poems posted on Write Out Loud by John Darwin and Cathy Bryant have been published on The London Magazine website in an online poetry swap. The idea was put forward by The London Magazine – and Wri...
9th July 2013
Lemn Sissay condemns police stop and search behaviour
Poet and playwright Lemn Sissay has issued a passionate denunciation of the way police use their stop and search powers. Sissay, who was official poet of the 2012 London Olympics and was awarded an...
9th July 2013
Janet Rogerson to judge Bank Street Writers competition
Janet Rogerson will be judging Bank Street Writers’ international poetry competition with both adult and under-18 sections, with six prizes of up to £75, and a deadline of 31 October for poems...
9th July 2013
Write Out Loud at Stockport tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport gather at Stockport art gallery tonight, Monday 8 July, to share their poems – which often end up in a group collage poem – at this open mic event. Entry is a £1...
8th July 2013
Competition in memory of Charles Causley has £3,000 prize
Entries are being invited for the £3,000 Charles Causley poetry competition, to be judged by Andrew Motion. The Charles Causley Trust exists to promote the work of the late poet, and to fund the de...
7th July 2013
Poetry Proms on parade at New Brighton in Wirral Festival of Firsts
The Poetry Proms take centre stage at Wirral Festival of Firsts on Saturday 6 July from 2- 4.30pm, with performances taking place at three venues in New Brighton - Fort Perch Rock, the Floral Pav...
6th July 2013
Anthology seeks to reveal the 'real lives' of Muslim women
An anthology of poetry and short stories that aims to portray the “real lives” of Muslim women, including subjects such as forced and arranged marriage, female genital mutilation and the economic i...
5th July 2013
Canal laureate Jo Bell wants your water lines
The canal laureate, Jo Bell, has issued a plea for poems about canals – “or anything canal-related” – that could appear on a canal poetry website, or even feature in a future anthology. She said: “...
5th July 2013
Sex & Love & Rock&Roll: Tony Walsh, Burning Eye
Tony Walsh is a leading performance poet with his roots very firmly in the north, whose first open mic gig was in Manchester in 2004. He performed at Glastonbury the following year, and this is his...
5th July 2013
'This is a time for poets to speak up for the powerless'
In the wake of chancellor George Osborne's latest spending cuts, radical poet and editor Alan Morrison surveys the rising tide of protest poetry, and calls on all “politically-conscious” poets to c...
5th July 2013
Write Out Loud at Wigan tonight
Write Out Loud Wigan takes place a week earlier than usual this month, on Thursday 4 July at the Tudor House hotel, New Market Street, Wigan. Entry is free to this open mic event, which kicks off a...
4th July 2013
Going, going? Motion quotes Larkin and Wordsworth in defence of 'green places'
The former poet laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, is citing Philip Larkin and Wordsworth in attacking the government’s road and house building plans, which he says pose the biggest threat to the English...
2nd July 2013
Glastonbury poet Kate Fox delivers instant festival ebooks
Kate Fox, this year’s poet in residence at the Glastonbury festival, has deliverd two ebooks produced during the festival. The first book, Jagger's Yurt, contains the 12 poems Kate put together dur...
2nd July 2013
