Spoken word from Kat Francois and Ian McMillan tonight to mark battle of the Somme centenary
Spoken word will be a key part of an event to mark the centenary of the first world war’s battle of the Somme at the Imperial War Museum on Thursday 30 June. Poet Kat Francois will be performing Raising Lazarus, her play about her relative’s role in the British West Indies Regiment, while poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan and documentary photographer Ian Beesley tell a story of the first world war...
30th June 2016
Andrew McMillan wins Eric Gregory award
Andrew McMillan is one of this year’s five Eric Gregory award winners, it was announced this week. The awards are given annually to young poets. Other winners this year are Sam Buchan-Watts, Dom Bury, Jen Campbell, and Alex MacDonald. Each author receives £4,500, and the prizes were presented by Joh...
30th June 2016
Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O' Bells tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Middleton will be meeting at the Ring O’ Bells, St Leonards Square, Middleton on Sunday 26 June for a night of open-mic poetry, hosted by Eileen Earnshaw. Entry is a £2 donat...
26th June 2016
Vahni Capildeo, Ian Duhig, Choman Hardi, Alice Oswald and Denise Riley on £15,000 Forward prize shortlist
The multi-tongued and multicultural poet Vahni Capildeo; Leeds-based poet Ian Duhig; Kurdish poet Choman Hardi, who sought asylum in the UK in the 1990s; Devon-based gardener and classicist Alice Oswa...
23rd June 2016
Penguin revives Modern Poets series
Penguin is reviving its Modern Poets series with the first of its new volumes called If I'm Scared We Can't Win, featuring Anne Carson, Emily Berry, and Sophie Collins.
In the 1960-70s the Penguin ...
23rd June 2016
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside tonight
Write Out Loud Sale will be meeting at the Waterside arts centre, Sale, for another night of open mic poetry on Tuesday 21 June. First-time readers are especially welcome. Open mic spaces are availabl...
21st June 2016
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Write Out Loud Bolton will be meeting on Tuesday 21 June for a night of open-mic poetry at Bolton Socialist Club. Your hosts are Jeffarama! and Gordon Zola. Entry is £1 plus raffle, and it starts at 7...
21st June 2016
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
After its successful launch in May Write Out Loud Woking is back at the New Inn, Send, on Monday 20 June. Sign up from 7.30pm for 8pm start with hosts Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood. Entry is free to th...
20th June 2016
Former world slam champ Buddy Wakefield at Wakefield spoken word night
A former world poetry slam champion, Buddy Wakefield, will be performing in Wakefield, UK, later this month. The US poet, who won the world poetry slam championship in 2004 and 2005, will be performin...
18th June 2016
Laura Mucha's Cinderella poem wins Caterpillar poetry prize
Laura Mucha has won this year’s Caterpillar prize for the best poem for children with a poem written in the form of a goodbye note from Cinderella to her ‘Dear Ugly Sisters’.
Mucha, who is 33 and l...
17th June 2016
Get in the flaming June mood at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Where does the phrase Flaming June come from? Possibly from Sir Frederic Leighton’s 1895 painting, Flaming June, pictured. June has also inspired many poems such as ‘June’ by Carl Sandburg, Louis Mac...
15th June 2016
Goth performer Suz Winspear is Worcestershire's new poet laureate
Goth poet and performer Suz Winspear has been named Worcestershire’s new poet laureate. She was awarded the title at the launch of this year’s Worcestershire’s LitFest and Fringe on Friday night at Wo...
14th June 2016
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 13 June to share poems at this open-floor poetry night. Each month a collage poem is made from members’ contributions – you ...
13th June 2016
Digital can alter the kind of poetry we write. But is there still a 'gut love' for print?
The success of poetry chart-topper Warsan Shire, allied to the celebrity of Beyoncé; the power of the internet in helping to produce new kinds of poems; and the way that digital has changed the econom...
13th June 2016
Frieda Hughes to read at Ted Hughes poetry festival in Mexborough
Frieda Hughes will be reading at the poetry festival dedicated to her father Ted Hughes in Mexborough on 25 June at 6pm. This is the second year of the festival organised by the Ted Hughes Project, wh...
11th June 2016
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
In an ironic – and certainly untimely - fixture clash, the venue where Laura Taylor cut her performance poetry teeth is having its regular open mic poetry night on Thursday 9 June, the same night as h...
9th June 2016
Poetry Book Society charity relinquishes quarterly selections and TS Eliot prize roles
The Poetry Book Society (PBS) is winding down after more than 50 years, with all three staff made redundant, the Bookseller has reported. The PBS was founded in 1953 and has worked as a book club for ...
8th June 2016
Louise Fazackerley at Puzzle Poets Live in Sowerby Bridge tonight
Leading performance poet Louise Fazackerley, who has garnered praise from Will Self and Ian McMillan, will be the guest at Puzzle Poets Live at the Blind Pig, Sowerby Bridge on Monday 6 June. The gue...
6th June 2016
Going wild at the Saboteur presentations: Abi Palmer's 'Alchemy' takes new award
An interactive poetry project that invites people to experiment with different combinations of physical and poetic elements won the new wild card category at the Saboteur awards on Friday night. Abi P...
3rd June 2016
Charlotte's stage: poets will flock to Haworth for Poetry at the Parsonage festival
More than 100 poets are due to appear in Haworth over the weekend of 2-3 July at the Poetry at the Parsonage festival, part of the celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birt...
1st June 2016
