Spoken word comes of age: top performance poets have night in the spotlight at the Southbank
Performance poetry’s equivalent of the TS Eliots – a number of contenders for a big cash award lined up in front of a Southbank audience - took place in the Purcell Room on Wednesday night. Like the TS Eliots, we were told that the winner would be announced in the next 24 hours.
But there the similarity ended. The compere, and one of the judges, Mark Grist, gave the sell-out, enthusiastic audi...
31st January 2015
David Harsent's 'Fire Songs' wins £20,000 TS Eliot prize
David Harsent has won this year’s £20,000 TS Eliot Prize, for his collection Fire Songs. Harsent is professor of creative writing at the University of Roehampton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The prize is organised by the Poetry Book Society, and funded by TS Eliot's estate. At th...
28th January 2015
Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O'Bells on Sunday
Members of Write Out Loud Middleton will be gathering on Sunday,25 January at the Ring O’Bells, St Leonard's Square, Middleton. This open mic event, hosted by Norman Warwick, starts at 7pm, and entry ...
24th January 2015
Poetry magazine editor jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse
A poet and editor has been jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse. Les Merton, aged 70, of Redruth, Cornwall, was found guilty at Truro crown court of 16 counts of indecent assault against girls and ...
23rd January 2015
Change of venue for Risk A Verse at Huddersfield tonight
There's a late change of venue for Write Out Loud’s Risk A Verse, hosted by Julian Jordon, on Thursday 22 January. Because of problems at the Red and Green Club at Milnsbridge, Huddersfield, the new l...
22nd January 2015
Reasons to be gloomy: poet plans 'misery tour' of happiness hotspots
A poet specialising in gloom is hoping to visit some of the happiest places in the country on a “misery” tour. Bill Jones, who has been described as “the most miserable poet in Stroud”, will be appear...
22nd January 2015
The floor is yours at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Write Out Loud Marsden convenes on Wednesday 21 January at Marsden library for another evening of open-floor poetry, open to all to read a poem, your own or a favourite, or a short short story. Beginn...
21st January 2015
Let's speak up for openness, acceptance, tolerance - freedom of expression is at the heart of democracy
Freedom of expression is at the heart of democracy. Write Out Loud’s raison d’être is helping and encouraging people to find their voice and share their words with each other in an open, accepting, to...
21st January 2015
Write Out Loud Sale at Waterside arts centre on Tuesday
Sarah L Dixon and Ciaran Hodgers are the guests at Write Out Sale at the Waterside arts centre, Sale, on Tuesday 20 January. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic event, which starts at 7.30pm. Get there ea...
19th January 2015
'It was, and still is, so empowering.' Meet Wirral's Naked Poets
You arrive at the venue – it’s usually a pub – and ask at the bar, maybe a little nervously, if it’s your first time: “Where’s the poetry?” You’ll probably be directed to a separate area upstairs. You...
19th January 2015
TS Eliot Prize contenders on parade at poetry's big night out
You could say that the TS Eliot Prize readings at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank are poetry’s equivalent of the cup final. You have the huge crowd – in poetry terms, at least – the merchandi...
14th January 2015
'Comic superhero' Jonathan Edwards wins Costa prize for poetry
Jonathan Edwards has won the Costa poetry prize with his first collection, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren). Reviewing it for Write Out Loud last year, Dave Morgan said Edwards’s poems were abo...
13th January 2015
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy becomes a dame in New Year honours
The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has been made a dame in the New Year honours List. Duffy, who is also professor of contemporary poetry and creative director of the Manchester Writing School at Man...
13th January 2015
Performance poetry contenders for spoken word award line up at Southbank
Five performance poets who have been shortlisted for an Arts Foundation award will be performing at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room on Wednesday 28 January at 7.45pm. The five are Rob Auton, Jemim...
12th January 2015
Want to perform on the Poetry & Words stage at Glastonbury this summer?
Organisers of the Poetry & Words stage at this year’s Glastonbury festival are inviting submissions from “poets, spoken word artists, wordsmiths, lyricists, raconteurs, stand-up poets and slam champs”...
8th January 2015
Kick off 2015 with Write Out Loud in Wigan tonight
The first Write Out Loud open mic event of 2015 takes place in Wigan on Thursday 8 January, when Write Out Loud Wigan meet at their new venue, The Old Courts in Crawford Street, Wigan, at 8pm. Entry ...
8th January 2015
Grandmother publishes first poetry collection after winning health battle
A grandmother who had to learn to walk, talk and write again after a major operation has published her first collection at the age of 83. Patricia Hill, from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was diagnosed with an a...
6th January 2015
Semi-detached in Shrewsbury that was Wilfred Owen's last home given listed status
An Edwardian redbrick semi-detached house on the outskirts of Shrewsbury that was the last home of Wilfred Owen has been given a Grade II listing by English Heritage. Owen spent his last two days of l...
5th January 2015
'Muslim Calvinist' Imtiaz Dharker wins Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
A poet who describes herself as a Scottish Muslim Calvinist, and who now lives between India, London, and Wales, has been awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. The Pakistan-born British poet Imti...
5th January 2015
