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 “poetry tennis” followed by an open mic session. It’s at the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms, at Sowerby Bridge rail station, and entry is free. On Wednesday 10 December, from 1-3pm, Gaia Holmes will be running...
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 appearing at Hull’s Humber Mouth festival on Saturday 15 November. The festival, which runs from 7-17 ...
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
Motion, Feinstein, and Williams at festival beside the seaside
Fresh from her appearance at Wenlock poetry festival last weekend, Elaine Feinstein, pictured, is booked for the Poetry-next-the-sea festival, at Wells in Norfolk, from 9-11 May. Andrew Motion, Rowan ...
5th May 2014
Armitage, Hegley and Wright lead star line-up at Wenlock
Simon Armitage, John Hegley, Daljit Nagra, Frieda Hughes, Luke Wright, Elaine Feinstein, Glyn Maxwell and David Morley are just some of the star names at Wenlock poetry festival, in the Shropshire tow...
24th April 2014
In the name of Dorothy: festival of women's poetry at Grasmere
Rebecca Goss, pictured, will be taking part in a panel discussion on “writing motherhood” with TS Eliot prizewinner Sinead Morrissey and Carolyn Jess-Cooke at the Dorothy Wordsworth festival of women’...
8th April 2014
Dizraeli and Hannah Silva top bill at Wise Words festival
Performance poet Dizraeli, and Hannah Silva, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes award, top the bill at Canterbury’s Wise Words festival, from Friday 4 April to Sunday 6 April. There’s an inclusive feel to...
2nd April 2014
Paterson, Hegley, Padel, Hannah and Little Machine at Cheltenham festival
Don Paterson, John Hegley, Ruth Padel, Sophie Hannah, and Little Machine, pictured, are just some of the highlights at Cheltenham poetry festival, from Friday 28 March to Sunday 6 April. Other events ...
28th March 2014
McGough, Motion, Berry, Mort and Goss in York line-up
Roger McGough, Andrew Motion, Emily Berry, Helen Mort, Rebecca Goss provide the poetry highlights at York literature festival, from 20-31 March. Motion is at St Peter’s school on Monday 24 March, Berr...
20th March 2014
Words of war and a wealth of poetry at StAnza festival
StAnza, Scotland’s premier poetry festival, which this year stars Carol Ann Duffy, Paul Muldoon, John Burnside, and Louis de Bernières, has begun. The festival at St Andrews from 5-9 March has two the...
8th March 2014
Hollie McNish and Frieda Hughes at Bath festival
Hollie McNish and Frieda Hughes will be providing the poetry highlights at Bath literature festival, from 28 February to 9 March. McNish, pictured, will be performing on Wednesday 5 March at 8pm. Entr...
23rd February 2014
Novelist Louis de Bernières reads his poetry at StAnza
Novelist Louis de Bernières will be launching the 17th StAnza poetry festival, one of the top poetry festivals in the UK, at St Andrews from 4-9 March by reading from his debut collection of poetry, I...
27th January 2014
Sign up for a slot at Wirral festival's Poetry Proms
The Poetry Proms, offering many opportunities for poets to read or perform their poetry, return to New Brighton this summer on Sunday 6 July, during Wirral Festival of Firsts. Now is the time to sign ...
20th January 2014
John Hegley takes the plunge at Southwark
John Hegley will be unveiling "John Hegley's SPUDfest by the water" at Canada Water library in south-east London on Thursday 6 February as part of Southwark Libraries’ fifth Rhyme and Reason poetry fe...
13th January 2014
