Risk a verse or two with Write Out Loud at the Red and Green Club tonight
There’s a new open mic poetry night in West Yorkshire on Thursday 27 February. All are welcome to read poems or sing a song in a friendly, encouraging ambience, at Risk a Verse! with Write Out Loud, at the Red and Green Club, Milnsbridge Socialist Club, in Bankwell Road, Milnsbridge, Huddersfield. There will be guest performances by Write Out Loud’s founder Julian Jordon, and Stephen Mellor with h...
27th February 2014
Write Out Loud at Middleton on Sunday
Chris Co will be the guest poet when Write Out Loud Middleton meets on Sunday 23 February at the Ring O’Bells, St Leonard’s Square, Middleton, at 7pm. The open mic night will be hosted by Her and the Poet. Entry is £2 including a free raffle ticket. More details
23rd February 2014
Loose Muse goes west with new women-only open mic in Cornwall
Loose Muse, the women-only London open mic night that has already spread its wings and set up in Manchester as well, is branching out again – in Cornwall. Founder Agnes Meadows will be taking the long...
21st February 2014
Sex, laughter and adultery: anthology draws big crowd at festival
“It’s great to have a big audience at a poetry event. I suspect the subject matter may have something to do with it,” Sophie Hannah, pictured, editor of The Poetry of Sex, said in her introduction to...
19th February 2014
Your poetry favourites at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Write Out Loud founder, Julian Jordon, is asking members of Write Out Loud Marsden to come up with their favourite lines of poetry for the meeting on Wednesday 19 February. Julian said: “What are your...
19th February 2014
Steven Waling and Rachel McGladdery at Write Out Loud Sale
Steven Waling and Rachel McGladdery are guests poets at Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside arts centre, on Tuesday 18 February. Steven Waling is the author of several books of poetry and has publish...
18th February 2014
Wendy Cope's poem to her husband - and why she got married in the end
A Valentine’s poem written by Wendy Cope to her husband, fellow poet Lachlan Mackinnon, has been published by the Guardian. ‘To My Husband’ begins: “If we were never going to die, I might / Not hug ...
15th February 2014
Valentine's night in Wigan, with Attila, Laura, and Louise
Write Out loud regular Laura Taylor, pictured, and Louise Fazackerley are back on the bill as support when Attila the Stockbroker returns on Wigan on Friday 14 February – Valentine’s night - for a fu...
14th February 2014
Paragram launches Slants of Light anthology at Poetry Cafe
Prize-winning poets will be reading at the launch of the 2013 Paragram poetry prize anthology, Slants of Light, at the Poetry Cafe in London on 14 February. Entry is free, with open mic as well, and i...
14th February 2014
Sean O'Brien and Robin Robertson at London university poetry reading
Sean O’Brien, pictured, and Robin Robertson will be reading at the first of the University of Roehampton’s poetry readings, hosted by the Institute of English Studies at the Chancellor’s Hall, Senate ...
13th February 2014
Perversely political? Steve Mellor at Write Out Loud Wigan tonight
The nation is gripped by election fever ahead of the looming 2015 poll (some mistake surely?). Ukip if you want to, but Steve Mellor never sleeps in his quest to tell it like it is to the party leader...
13th February 2014
Poet is executed in Iran for 'propaganda against system'
A poet from an Arab minority community has been executed in Iran with a fellow teacher after being convicted for “enmity against God”, “corruption on earth”, “gathering and colluding against state sec...
11th February 2014
English PEN rallies support for jailed Cameroon poet awaiting appeal
English PEN has launched a print-on-demand version of a jailed Cameroonian poet’s collection, Jail Verse: Poems from Kondengui Prison, to help raise much-needed funds for the imprisoned activist. Enoh...
10th February 2014
Write Out Loud at Stockport on Monday
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 10 February to read and discuss their own poetry. The group’s speciality is a collage poem, created at every meet...
10th February 2014
Top poetry magazine editors explain 'the art of choosing'
Four editors of leading poetry magazines will be explaining “the art of choosing” at Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour, in Old Brompton Road, Earl’s Court, London on Monday 17 February at 8pm. The...
9th February 2014
Storms force Alice Oswald to call off Manchester reading
Dramatic weather in the south-west has forced Alice Oswald to call off her appearance at Manchester’s Poets and Players on Saturday 8 February. Poets and Players said: “We are very sorry that extreme ...
7th February 2014
'Saying the unsayable': editor Sophie Hannah talks about The Poetry of Sex
A much-talked-about new poetry anthology, The Poetry of Sex, edited by Sophie Hannah, pictured, has been described by publishers Penguin as “raucous and highly enjoyable”. But Hannah, a poet and succ...
3rd February 2014
Poet Nathan Filer scoops £30,000 Costa award with first novel
A poet and creative writing lecturer has won the £30,000 Costa Book of the Year with his first novel. Nathan Filer was awarded the prize for The Shock of the Fall at an awards ceremony in London. He w...
2nd February 2014
Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss
Once there was performance poetry … now it could be argued there is only spoken word, according to a top London poetry compere. In a blog-essay, poet Niall O'Sullivan, who hosts the weekly, long-runni...
2nd February 2014
Jo Bell wins £3,000 Charles Causley prize
Jo Bell has won the £3,000 Charles Causley poetry prize. The competition was set up in aid of the continuing project to renovate the late poet’s house in Launceston, Cornwall, and support a programme ...
2nd February 2014
