Inua Ellams wins £1,000 Live Canon poetry competition
Poet, playwright and performer Inua Ellams has won the £1,000 Live Canon poetry competition with his poem, ‘Shame is the Cape I Wear’. All the shortlisted poems were performed by the Live Canon ensemble from memory at a special event at Greenwich theatre in south-east London at the weekend to launch the anthology and announce the overall winner. Live Canon are an ensemble performing poetry in the ...
30th November 2014
Tetraplegic poet Owen Lowery talks about performing poetry on a ventilator
Tetraplegic poet Owen Lowery has spoken of the problems of performing poems while on a ventilator, in an interview with the BBC. Lowery, a former judo champion whose injury in the ring during a charity tournament at the age of 18 left him paralysed below the shoulder, said that being on a ventilator...
29th November 2014
Poetry London launches 25th anniversary publication
Kathryn Maris, Jack Underwood, Maurice Riordan, Ahren Warner, Liz Berry, Daljit Nagra and Colette Bryce, and Marilyn Hacker will be reading at the launch by Poetry London magazine of The Best of Poet...
28th November 2014
From The Verb to Write Out Loud: Louise Fazackerley at Risk A Verse in Huddersfield tonight
From BBC’s The Verb – to Write Out Loud! Wigan’s Louise Fazackerley, who was featured on the BBC Radio 3 programme presented by Ian McMillan last Friday, will be appearing as guest poet at Write Out ...
27th November 2014
'Laughter and tears: there was nothing sedate or predictable about the Tudor'
The closure of the famous Tudor House hotel in Wigan, home to Write Out Loud’s open mic night for years, has come a great shock to its regulars, and beyond. One of those regulars, Isobel Malinowksi, p...
26th November 2014
Jon Stallworthy, biographer of Wilfred Owen and war poetry editor, dies aged 79
Jon Stallworthy, the biographer of Wilfred Owen and Louis MacNeice, and editor of the Oxford Book of War Poetry, has died aged 79. Stallworthy, who was seen last week on TV talking about the war poets...
25th November 2014
Celebrating the Black Country: Liz Berry heads poetry night in Wolverhampton
Forward prize winner Liz Berry is headlining a night celebrating the dialect poetry of the Black Country. Berry, who won the Felix Dennis prize at the Forwards for best first collection with Black Cou...
24th November 2014
Held to account: poets asked to explain themselves at 'Paxman-style' grilling in Peckham Rye
Jeremy Paxman won’t be there – but early in December a group of poets are taking his advice. Earlier this year the chairman of this year’s Forward prize judges and former Newsnight presenter made some...
24th November 2014
Forward winner Kei Miller on Costa poetry prize shortlist
Kei Miller, who won the Forward prize for best collection with The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, has been named on this year’s Costa poetry prize shortlist. Last year’s Forward prize winner...
21st November 2014
Write Out Loud Marsden at the library tonight
Marsden Write Out Loud will be meeting on Wednesday 19 November at 7.30pm at Marsden Library, Marsden Mechanics Hall, Peel Street, Marsden. This open mic event, hosted by Write Out Loud’s founder, Jul...
19th November 2014
Dominic Berry and Asa J Maddison at Write Out Loud Sale tonight
Dominic Berry and Asa J Maddison are the guest performers at Write Out Loud Sale on Tuesday 18 November at 7.30pm at the Waterside arts centre, Sale – the final Write Out Loud Sale of 2014. Sign up fo...
18th November 2014
New Voices winner Louise Fazackerley's 'Love is a Battlefield' is featured on BBC's The Verb
Radio 3 New Voices winner Louise Fazackerley was featured on BBC radio’s The Verb on Friday 14 November, with an extract from her show ‘Love is a Battlefield’ that was recorded live at the BBC’s Free ...
15th November 2014
Ian McMillan leads poets and young footballers in paying tribute to 1914 Christmas truce soldiers
Poet and BBC presenter Ian McMillan has been commissioned by the Poetry Society and Barclays Premier League to write a poem, centring on an international tournament to commemorate the famous Christmas...
15th November 2014
End of an era for Write Out Loud Wigan as the Tudor closes its doors
It's the end of an era for Write Out Loud Wigan with the news that its legendary venue, the Tudor House hotel, has closed its doors following the retirement of owners Russell and Frances Miller. Organ...
14th November 2014
Number of visits to Write Out Loud in October nears 54,000 and marks new record
Write Out Loud notched up a record number of visits to the site last month. In a hectic poetry month, which included the Forward, Manchester and Bridport prizes, as well as Write Out Loud’s own, ever-...
11th November 2014
Inspired by Wilfred Owen: Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 10 November at 7pm to read and discuss their own poetry. Entry is a £1 donation. Linda Cosgriff explains November...
10th November 2014
Poet and publisher Adele Ward enters general election fray with the Greens
Poet and publisher Adele Ward has been selected as a Green Party candidate for next year’s general election. Ward, co-founder of Ward Wood Publishing, will be contesting Finchley & Golders Green, form...
9th November 2014
Get happy with Jo Bell and Tony Walsh on tour of Yorkshire
Canal laureate Jo Bell and Tony Walsh (aka Longfella), author of Sex & Love & Rock&Roll, are teaming up to present poetry reflecting the feelgood factor, in Lifted, a show that will be touring a numbe...
9th November 2014
Clutching at history: Hannah Lowe's voyage of discovery
History books tell us that the first postwar migrants from the Caribbean came to Britain aboard the SS Empire Windrush. But the history books are sometimes mistaken. Some years after her father’s deat...
7th November 2014
Man charged with murder of poet found dead at farm
A 48-year-old man has been remanded in custody after being charged with the murder of poet Anne Cluysenaar, aged 78, who was found dead at her farm near Usk in Gwent on Saturday.Timothy Jackson, of Sh...
6th November 2014
John Cooper Clarke heads to US for 'punky reggae party'
John Cooper Clarke, Manchester’s legendary punk poet – as it says on the poster, and who would disagree – is appearing in Los Angeles on Friday 7 November in what is said to be his first US appearance...
6th November 2014
Roger McGough to talk about poetry and pop at the Troubadour
Renowned poet Roger McGough, presenter of BBC’s Poetry Please, member of the 60s pop group Scaffold, and one of the Liverpool poets, alongside Brian Patten and Adrian Henri, whose The Mersey Sound ant...
3rd November 2014
