Carol Ann Duffy joins calls for release of Palestinian poet facing execution in Saudi Arabia
The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has added her voice to those of other leading international cultural figures who have joined human rights campaigners in calling for the release of Ashraf Fayadh, pictured, the Palestinian poet and artist facing execution in Saudi Arabia.
Referring to the Hadith, the sacred text that reports what the prophet Muhammad said or approved, Duffy said: “The world c...
30th November 2015
Gill McEvoy wins £5,000 Michael Marks pamphlet award
A poetry collection about the trauma of rape has won the £5,000 Michael Marks poetry pamphlet award. Gill McEvoy’s The First Telling, published by Happenstance, was described by judges Debbie Cox, Helen Mort and Rory Waterman as “a sequence of carefully crafted poems where the silences speak volumes...
30th November 2015
Louise Fazackerley releases CD of award-winning Love is a Battlefield
Louise Fazackerley, one of the most notable graduates of Write Out Loud Wigan, has two spoken word CDs out, including Love is a Battlefield, which was commissioned by BBC Radio 3’s The Verb after she ...
29th November 2015
David Andrew to launch collection at Write Out Loud reading
David Andrew, Write Out Loud’s gig guide and poetry directory editor, will be launching his new collection, Ventriloquist’s Dummy, at a reading at Torriano Poets in London on 29 November.
David, wh...
28th November 2015
Fran Lock wins Out-Spoken's £500 poetry prize
Fran Lock has won the inaugural £500 Out-Spoken poetry prize, it was announced on Tuesday night. Judges Niall O'Sullivan, Ira Lightman, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jacob Sam-La Rose and Helen Mort picked Lock as...
28th November 2015
Saudi Arabia sentences Palestinian poet to death after appeal against 800 lashes
A Palestinian poet has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for renouncing Islam. Ashraf Fayadh, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling. Faya...
26th November 2015
Iain Galbraith wins Popescu poetry translation prize
Iain Galbraith has won the Poetry Society’s Popescu European poetry translation prize for his translation of Jan Wagner’s collection Self- Portrait with a Swarm of Bees, published by Arc Publications....
26th November 2015
Christmas cracker: Carol Ann Duffy teams up with Little Machine on festive album
Could poetry provide a Christmas hit this year? The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has teamed up with Little Machine, a trio of musicians that sets famous and contemporary poems to music, to create D...
25th November 2015
McMillan, Miller, Paterson and Rollinson on Costa poetry prize shortlist
Andrew McMillan’s debut collection physical (Jonathan Cape), which recently won the Fenton Aldeburgh first collection award, has been shortlisted for the Costa poetry award. The three other shortliste...
23rd November 2015
Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O' Bells tonight
Joe Kozarzewski, aka the 'Rochdale Ranter', is the guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O’Bells, St Leonards Square, Middleton, on Sunday 22 November. Shirley-Anne Kennedy and Eileen Ear...
22nd November 2015
Laura Taylor joins forces with Attila again at Wigan gig
Performance poet and Write Out Loud reviewer Laura Taylor will be supporting Attila the Stockbroker when he appears at Hartley’s Bar, Wigan, on Sunday 22 November at 8pm. Laura said: “It's an honour a...
22nd November 2015
Write Out Loud at Marsden library tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Marsden will be meeting on Wednesday 18 November at Marsden library, at the Mechanics Hall, Marsden, at 7.30pm. This open-floor evening is open to all to read a poem, your ow...
18th November 2015
Double helpings of humour from poetry presenters at York's Grand Opera House
A double bill featuring two northern poetry wits and poetry presenters – Roger McGough, host of BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please, and Ian McMillan, of Radio 3’s The Verb – is promised at York’s Grand Opera...
18th November 2015
John Darwin's farewell at Write Out Loud Sale tonight
It’s the last Write Out Loud Sale of 2015 tonight – and the last one with John Darwin as compere. He’s bowing out after two years at the mic. Thanks for all your good work, John! Guest poets tonight a...
17th November 2015
Andrew McMillan on Guardian book award shortlist
Andrew McMillan, who last week won the Fenton Aldeburgh first collection award, has moved from longlist to shortlist in the Guardian first book award for his collection physical.
Talking about his ...
17th November 2015
Poet to perform Hacienda tribute before film screening at festival
Performance poet Trevor Meaney will be performing a commissioned poem about the legendary Hacienda night club in Manchester, on Sunday 15 November at 6.30pm at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, as par...
13th November 2015
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Darren Thomas will be compering Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts, Crawford Street, Wigan on Thursday 12 November. Entry is free to this open mic night, which begins at 8pm. Bring your poems, ran...
12th November 2015
The Leeds picture show: two poets to launch their take on city's lost and surviving cinemas at film festival
A collection of poems about the cinemas of Leeds, from Woodhouse to Burley, from Armley to Beeston – some abandoned, some converted and some still proudly operational – will be launched at Leeds Inter...
9th November 2015
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 9 November at 7pm to share poems at their-open floor poetry night. Every month a collage poem is produced from me...
9th November 2015
Jeremy Reed - aka 'poetry's David Bowie' - on the bill at Aldeburgh festival
A poet who has been described as the poetry circuit’s David Bowie will be appearing at the Aldeburgh poetry festival on Friday 6 November. Jeremy Reed, whose 1994 collection Pop Stars includes poems o...
6th November 2015
The Lambeth walk: explorers discover the poetry of the street
“Lambeth is not one of those areas that people go to … which is what I like about it … a lot of the things that are interesting [about Lambeth] aren’t there anymore.” Thus poet and tutor Tamar Yoselof...
5th November 2015
Poet's tribute to women pilots who ferried planes in the war
A poetry collection that celebrates the women who flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during the second world war, ferrying all types of planes from open cockpit Tiger Moths to Wellingtons and...
3rd November 2015
Poets support cafe that inspired global food movement
Two poets will be aiming to raise money for a Leeds cafe that has inspired a global movement of recycling food that has been discarded as “waste” by supermarkets. Steve Pottinger and Mark Connors will...
2nd November 2015
What are your favourite 'desert island' poems? Poetry group launches public poll
What are your seven favourite “desert island” poems? A poetry group is asking the public to send them their favourites before a poetry event next month. On 3 December, Live Canon, a group of actors th...
2nd November 2015
Forward winner Claudia Rankine on TS Eliot prize shortlist
Forward prize winner Claudia Rankine is a contender for this year’s £20,000 TS Eliot prize with her collection Citizen: An American Lyric, included on a shortlist that also includes an American and tw...
1st November 2015
Bridport prize judge Roger McGough notes lack of anger and 'rarity' of rhyme
This year’s Bridport prize poetry prize judge, Roger McGough, has observed in his judge’s comments that rhyme was “such a rarity” among the entries that he found himself “gasping for a villanelle or t...
1st November 2015
