Discovering Urdu poet Ghalib and his ghazals
There’s a chance to learn about the renowned Urdu poet Ghalib on Thursday 1 December at the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS, University of London, at Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square. Novelist Marion Molteno will talk about a new edition of the late Ralph Russell’s The Famous Ghalib: The Sound of my Moving Pen, which she has edited, in which Russell selects, translates and explains Ghali...
28th November 2016
Kate Tempest on shortlist for £5,000 Costa poetry award
Kate Tempest’s Let Them Eat Chaos, which is both an album and a book of verse, has been shortlisted for the £5,000 Costa poetry award. Let Them Eat Chaos is a long narrative poem that Tempest recently performed on BBC2. Also on the all-female Costa poetry shortlist are Melissa Lee-Houghton (Sunshine...
26th November 2016
Bang Said The Gun plans nationwide tour next year
The uproarious poetry night Bang Said The Gun is embarking on a national tour in 2017. The popular spoken word event – think poetry plus party games - which was established by co-founders Dan Cockrill...
25th November 2016
Hilariously terrible? So bad it's brilliant? Contestants line up for anti-slam national final
Contestants from all over the country are lining up to take part in the national final of the Anti-Slam Championships next month. Anti-Slam? Some of the top spoken word artists in the UK will be doing...
24th November 2016
Leonard Cohen, songwriter, poet and novelist, dies aged 82
The singer-songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen has died aged 82. The news was announced via his official Facebook page, which said a memorial would be held in Los Angeles at a later date.
C...
22nd November 2016
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking meets at the New Inn, Send in Surrey on Monday 21 November for another night of free, open-mic poetry. Your hosts are Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood. Arrive from 7.30pm for 8pm sta...
21st November 2016
New batch of poetry performers are featured in latest Nationwide TV ads
A fresh batch of spoken word performers are featured in the latest TV adverts by Nationwide Building Society on subjects like house-sharing while yearning to own your own home. Poems by Laurie Bolger,...
21st November 2016
Rosie Wilkinson takes helm at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Young local poet Rosie Wilkinson, pictured, is taking over as co-ordinator at Write Out Loud Marsden, the regular open-floor night that meets at Marsden library on the third Wednesday of each month.
...16th November 2016
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Write Out Loud returns for another night of open mic poetry at Bolton Socialist Club on Tuesday 15 November. Your hosts are Jeff Dawson (Jeffarama!) and Gordon Zola. Entry is £1 plus raffle, and doors...
15th November 2016
Laura Taylor at Write Out Loud Sale tonight
Fiery performance poet Laura Taylor will be a guest at Write Out Loud Sale on Tuesday 15 November at the Waterside arts centre, Sale, ahead of her big gig next month supporting Attila the Stockbroker ...
15th November 2016
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 14 November for another open-floor evening of sharing poems. Entry is a £1 donation, and it starts at 7pm. Each month the gr...
14th November 2016
Remembrance night of anti-war poetry and music in Bolton
A Remembrance poetry and music night will be held at Bolton Little Theatre on Saturday 12 November when Bard Company – Jeff Dawson, Ian Whiteley, Gordon Zola and Tony Kinsella - will perform When Wil...
12th November 2016
Poetry in the Outer Hebrides: Stornowords in Lewis moves to new home
An open mic poetry night in the Outer Hebrides is having a “housewarming” at its new venue on Saturday night, 12 November. Stornowords, which showcases established and local poets as well as holding a...
12th November 2016
Lesley Saunders wins Stephen Spender prize for translation
Lesley Saunders has won the 2016 Stephen Spender prize for translation for Poem by Maria Teresa Horta, translated from the Portuguese. Writing in the Guardian, one of the judges, Sean O’Brien, describ...
11th November 2016
Poets team up with clinical psychologists at mental health conference
Performance poets Dean Atta, pictured, and Yomi Sode will be taking part in a conference aimed at bringing together the worlds of poetry and clinical psychology in a new approach towards global mental...
10th November 2016
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Expect the unexpected at Write Out Loud Wigan, the inimitable open mic poetry night that meets at the Old Courts, Wigan tonight, Thursday 10 November. Entry is free, and it begins at 8.30pm. More deta...
10th November 2016
'Let America be America again, Let it be the dream it used to be'
Poetry is invoked as a rallying call in the US presidential election today as, in an eve-of-poll New York Times article, Harry Belafonte writes: “What do we have to lose? Everything.”
He starts by ...
8th November 2016
Anatomy of a prize-winning poem: how Abigail Parry won the Troubadour
What does it take to win a £5,000 international poetry competition? Judges Glyn Maxwell and Jane Yeh have offered up a few clues in their comments on Abigail Parry’s poem ‘Pasodoble With Lizards’, wh...
8th November 2016
Making a living as a poet: (1) ironing out some image problems
Poets could sharpen up their act, perform in more audience-friendly locations, rather than the upstairs rooms of pubs, and even make sure they iron their trousers if they want to earn more respect – a...
7th November 2016
November poetry in Aldeburgh after all with weekend of events in town
A three-day poetry event that was organised by volunteers after this year’s Aldeburgh poetry festival was scrapped because of lack of funds got under way on Friday 4 November.
Poetry in Aldeburgh w...
4th November 2016
Another stab at the charts? Roger McGough teams up with Little Machine
Back in the 1960s he hit no 1 with Liverpool pop group The Scaffold. Now Roger McGough, Mersey poet and presenter of BBC’s Poetry Please, has teamed up with poetry band Little Machine to record 12 of...
1st November 2016
