'To crease a sheet of paper is to change its memory'
This column is more than 10 years old and I've finally gotten around to trying a little origami! Here's a poem about that, and about a good deal more than that, by Vanessa Stauffer, who teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
Lessons
To crease a sheet of paper is to change
its memory, says the origami
master: what was a field of snow
folded into flak...
31st January 2016
Yarn: Maitreyabandhu, Bloodaxe
I can remember the first Maitreyabandhu poem I ever read. It was in a collection for a competition of winning and shortlisted work. It was about some mules and, though rated as “selected” only, I thought it was much better than the actual winning poems. Better? Its close observation, its playful way...
31st January 2016
Deadline day for £1,000 Kent and Sussex poetry competition
Anne-Marie Fyfe will be judging the £1,000 Kent and Sussex poetry society open competition. The deadline is 31 January 2016. More details
31st January 2016
First the cheers, now the arguments over TS Eliot Prize winner
A row has erupted over this year’s winner of the £20,000 the TS Eliot Prize, with the long-running satirical magazine Private Eye querying the award to poet Sarah Howe for her debut collection Loop of...
31st January 2016
Deadline nears for £500 Interpreter's House competition
Costa poetry prize winner Jonathan Edwards will be judging the £500 poetry competition run by The Interpreter’s House magazine. The deadline is 30 January 2016. More details
29th January 2016
Spoken word publisher Burning Eye offers faster route to publication
Leading spoken word publisher Burning Eye Books has launched a new venture to publish more poets, after finding itself “inundated” by submissions to its main list. The new venture, BX3, is aimed at th...
29th January 2016
Plans to open poetry bookshop have been delayed, says magazine editor
A poetry magazine editor who launched an appeal to fund a poetry bookshop in London has revealed that plans to open it will now be delayed for some time.
It had been planned to launch the bookshop ...
29th January 2016
History or Sleep: Robert Sheppard, Shearsman
Robert Sheppard is probably one of the most important poets writing in Britain at the moment. A big claim for a poet you’ve probably never heard of; but I think I can justify it. He is important as a ...
29th January 2016
Deadline nears for £200 Prole competition
Kate O’Shea will be judging the £200 Prole laureate competition, run by Prole literary magazine. The deadline is 31 January 2016. More details
28th January 2016
Problems receiving notifications from Write Out Loud? Here's the reason
We’re sorry to say that since Saturday Microsoft has been blocking emails sent out from our server, which has meant that people with @live, @hotmail and @outlook email addresses were no longer receivi...
28th January 2016
Liz Berry to judge Black Country Museum's poetry competition
Forward prize winning poet Liz Berry will be guest judge of the Dudley-based Black Country Living Museum’s poetry competition. The theme is earth and air, and the deadline is 29 July. More details
26th January 2016
Countdown to Scottish National Slam Final in Glasgow
The Scottish National Slam final is taking place on 13 February at the Tron theatre at 7.45pm in Glasgow, with the winner having the chance to compete in the World Series event that takes place each y...
25th January 2016
Deadline nears for £250 Torriano poetry competition
Ann Drysdale will be judging the 2016 Torriano poetry competition. First prize is £250, and the closing date is 31 January 2016. More details
25th January 2016
Calling young poets: deadline nears for Agincourt competition
Youngsters are being invited to take up a poetry challenge about the battle of Agincourt, celebrated in Shakespeare’s Henry V, to help mark the battle’s 600th anniversary earlier this year. The Aginco...
24th January 2016
Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O' Bells tonight
Retired research chemist David S Ryder is guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton on Sunday 24 January at the Ring O’ Bells pub, St Leonard’s Square, Middleton. Entry is a £2 donation to this open-mic ...
24th January 2016
Only one week left to swallow a mushroom and focus on folding a penny
Five words to build your poem around if you wish to enter the
3rd Ó Bhéal Five Words International Poetry Competition
January 19th – 26th 2016
penny swallow mushroom focus fold
Compe...
23rd January 2016
No cravats just ten powerful readings
The annual event to celebrate the shortlist for the T.S. Eliot Award 2015 took place at the Royal Festival Hall, hosted with humour - and a number of cravat jokes, the result of a conversation with a ...
23rd January 2016
Three Write Out Louds at once: Sale Tues, Marsden Weds, Middleton(Rochdale) Sun.
You wait all month…
All are welcome to share their words at each of these popular events. Expect poems as diverse as their creators are individual.
Tonight,19th Jan, Write Out Loud Sale's (pictu...
22nd January 2016
Arvon course programme announced
Arvon has published its programme for 2016, with 17 poetry courses including titles ranging from the prosaic starting to write poetry to the intriguing poetry as controlled explosion.
The tutorial ...
22nd January 2016
Reading Yeats is a good start...
Suggests YorkMix Poet-in-Residence Carole Bromley for those looking for inspiration for their 2016 entry to the The York Literature Festival/Yorkmix Poetry Competition. A York postcode is required to...
22nd January 2016
Poetry floods the Calder Valley
The River Calder recently burst its banks in spectacular fashion, wreaking misery for many in Ted Hughes’ old stamping grounds of Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, with Sowerby Bridge and Elland similarl...
22nd January 2016
Countdown to three big festivals in early 2016
Write Out Loud is looking forward to the first big festivals of 2016. The year’s curtain raiser is invariably Scotland’s Stanza poetry festival, pictured, taking place this year from 2-6 March at St ...
22nd January 2016
Sentenced to death for writing poetry
Ashraf Fayadh, a 35 year old Palestinian poet and artist has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for ‘apostasy’. This apparently means writing poetry that someone in authority considers anti-Isl...
16th January 2016
A county's poet laureate talks about the challenges and opportunites of the job
Isabel Rogers was this week appointed Hampshire Poet for 2016. But what does it mean to be a local poetry figurehead? Here are the thoughts of Staffordshire’s current poet laureate, Bert Flitcroft:
...15th January 2016
Deadline nears for £500 Teignmouth competition
Martyn Crucefix will be judging the £500 Teignmouth poetry festival competition. The deadline is 31 January 2016. More details
15th January 2016
Cottoning on to Oldham retail park's textile mill past with sculpture and poetry
The historic past of a retail park in Oldham that was once the site of Britain’s newest and largest textile mill has been recaptured in sculpture and poetry. Two sculptures titled ‘The Spinners’ and ‘...
15th January 2016
Volunteer wanted to help at Ledbury Poetry Festival
Ledbury Poetry Festival organisers are looking for an enthusiastic volunteer to co-ordinate a Festival window display competition for businesses in Ledbury in the run up to and the duration of the Fes...
13th January 2016
And the winner is ....
Gifted poet, Sarah Howe, whose debut collection Loop of Jade was awarded the T. S. Eliot poetry prize 2015 on Monday evening, January 11th at a ceremony which took place at the Victoria & Albert Muse...
11th January 2016
Worldwide readings planned in support of Palestinian poet facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia
Worldwide readings will take place on Thursday 14 January in support of Ashraf Fayadh, the 35-year-old Palestinian-born poet, artist and curator who has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for all...
8th January 2016
Quiet Compere's 'poemathon' in bid to reach £3,000 crowdfunding target
Quiet Compere Sarah L Dixon has been working overtime to raise funding for her 2016 tour, after the Arts Council turned down two bids from her in quick succession. Her latest move has involved writing...
8th January 2016
Floods force cancellation of two spoken word nights in Hebden Bridge
The Christmas floods in the Calder valley have forced the cancellation of two spoken word nights in Hebden Bridge. Shindig’s final two scheduled nights in January and February at Nelsons Wine Bar have...
8th January 2016
Not in this World: Tracey Herd, Bloodaxe
Not in this World is an impressively readable collection of poems about loss and pain, where the poet expresses deeply personal ideas and emotions while avoiding self-revelation.
Tracey Herd is a S...
8th January 2016
'Light larking between wind and current will be in this sweater'
The only passage of scripture that I know by heart is from Ecclesiastes: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the g...
8th January 2016
Deadline extended into February for £600 Bristol poetry prize
WN Herbert will be the judge of the £600 Bristol poetry prize, organised by Poetry Can. The deadline has been extended until 12 February. More details
8th January 2016
Deer Fording the Missouri in Early Afternoon
I love to have people come up to me and say, "You'll never believe what I saw this morning," and then go on to tell me. It's their delight that I like so much. Here's a poem in that vein by Kevin Cole...
7th January 2016
New team taking over at Write Out Loud Sale
A new team is taking over at Write Out Loud Sale this month. Sarah Pritchard, assisted by Mo Harrop, will be co-ordinating the regular monthly poetry open mic night at the Waterside arts centre, Sale,...
7th January 2016
Rhythm of the rain: former geology lecturer launches first full collection
A former associate lecturer in geology with the Open University will be launching her first full collection of poems on Tuesday 12 January at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Farringdon Road, London. A Gap ...
7th January 2016
Your chance to perform in the poetry tent at this year's Glastonbury festival
Calling all poets, spoken word artists, raconteurs, stand-up poets and slam champs … Glastonbury festival’s Poetry & Words is looking for applications from experienced writers and performers to appear...
6th January 2016
John Evans to judge £500 Welsh poetry competition
John Evans will be judging the £500 Welsh poetry competition. The deadline is 29 May. More details
6th January 2016
Poetry School launches spring courses
The Poetry School will be launching its spring programme of courses and workshops with a reading at the Tea House theatre in Vauxhall Walk, London, on Thursday 14 January from 6.30pm. Those reading wi...
5th January 2016
Deadline nears for £1,000 Magma competition
Daljit Nagra will be judging the £1,000 Magma prizes for poems of 11-50 lines. A panel of Magma editors will judge the £1,000 prize for poems of up to 10 lines. The deadline is 18 January 2016. More d...
4th January 2016
Don Paterson's 'graceful and moving' 40 Sonnets wins Costa poetry award
Don Paterson’s 40 Sonnets has won the Costa poetry award, it was revealed on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row arts programme on Monday night. The judges - poet Julia Copus, poetry critic Adam Newey, and Melani...
4th January 2016
Poetry goes ahead at Sowerby Bridge as Calder valley mops up after the floods
Poetry will be going ahead as usual on Monday in the flood-hit Calder valley – at least it will be at Puzzle Poets at the Puzzle Hall Inn at Sowerby Bridge, where the guest poet is Kim Moore on 4 Janu...
4th January 2016
Searching for meaning: an evening of spoken word from prisons
Joelle Taylor, Adam Kammerling, Jasmine Ann Cooray, Joshua Idehen, and Paula Varjack will be reading poems, stories and letters written by prisoners on Thursday 21 January at the Free Word Centre in F...
2nd January 2016
Looking back and looking forward: wishing you all a fulfilling and creative new year
With all the carnage and mayhem going on in the world, it might seem pointless to try spreading joy this Christmas/Hanukkah/midwinter festival/just past Diwali. But we are with the people of Paris in ...
1st January 2016
Wendy French to judge £5,000 Hippocrates prizes
Poet Wendy French, Harvard physician and poet Rafael Campo, and Gareth Powell, secretary of the Methodist Church conference, will judge the £5,000 Hippocrates open and NHS prizes for poetry and medici...
1st January 2016
Lemn Sissay's recollections of his childhood on Desert Island Discs is a Radio 4 pick of the year
Lemn Sissay talking about his childhood in care on Desert Island Discs with Kirsty Young has been included in BBC Radio 4’s Picks of the Year by Robert Peston. In the same week as the broadcast went o...
1st January 2016
Liz Lochhead awarded Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
Scotland's national poet Liz Lochhead has been named as the winner of this year’s Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. The poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the medal's judging committee, said: "Li...
1st January 2016
52: Jo Bell, Nine Arches Press
The idea of the 52 project was brilliantly simple. Jo Bell knows a lot of poets. She was inspired, in a moment of generosity and madness, to set up a “global workshop group” with hundreds of practisin...
1st January 2016
