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 Jade, and a respected poetry blogger, Katy Evans-Bush, defending the young Anglo-Chinese writer, who also recently won the £5,000 Sunday Times young writer of the year award, and was shortlisted for ...
31st 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 those “quality” poets and performers who just missed the cut, or who are looking for a rapidly-publish...
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
