Mapping the Staffs and Worcs: Emma Purshouse, Linda Nevill
Emma Purshouse is a freelance writer and performance poet. She was born in Wolverhampton but now lives on a narrowboat and enjoys travelling the inland waterways. The Staffs and Worcs is one of her favourite canals. Linda Nevill is a visual artist who enjoys walking and sketching. She paints in watercolour and oils and also produces original prints such as etchings and woodcuts. Together they have...
31st July 2016
'Tranquil' by Sharvari is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Tranquil’ by Sharvari, a poet from India who says on her profile page that she would like to learn more about poetry via Write Out Loud. Describing herself as an “amateur poet” with “lots to learn”, and poetry as a "lost hobby", in response to questions sh...
31st July 2016
Foyle Young Poets of the Year deadline reminder, from Phill Jupitus
Comedian, poet and actor Phill Jupitus has recorded a series of films to let young writers know all about the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and why they should enter. The 31 July deadline is nea...
30th July 2016
Jackie Kay takes over from Liz Lochhead as Scotland's new national poet
Jackie Kay has been named as Scotland’s new makar, or national poet. She succeeds Liz Lochhead, whose tenure as national poet came to an end in January. The announcement was made at the Scottish Poet...
30th July 2016
Mort, Howe and O'Riordan to judge £10,000 Manchester poetry prize
Helen Mort, pictured, Sarah Howe and chair Adam O’Riordan will be judging the £10,000 Manchester poetry prize, for the best portfolio of three to five poems (maximum combined length: 120 lines). The d...
28th July 2016
Deadline nears for £1,000 Winchester poetry festival prize
Mimi Khalvati will be judging the new £1,000 Winchester poetry festival prize. The winners will be announced during this year’s festival, which runs from 7-9 October, and invited to read at a special ...
28th July 2016
Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar? Claire Dyer to judge Paradox competition
Claire Dyer will be judging the Paragram competition Paradox, for poetry, short prose, or comic poetry or prose. The organisers say: “Inherently ludicrous, wry or hard to believe, we felt this was the...
27th July 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 pub, St Leonards Square, Middleton, for another evening of open-floor poetry, prose and music, beginning at 7pm, on Sunday 24 J...
24th July 2016
'Brisbane Road' by Rick Gammon is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week
‘Brisbane Road’ by Rick Gammon is the new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week. A poem about youth and age, it celebrates a goalscoring hero of yesteryear, Tommy Johnston, and imagines a meeting on the ter...
24th July 2016
Wanted: a short poem about love for £200 poetry book fair competition
Jo Shapcott will be joining organisers Chrissy Williams and Joey Connolly to judge this year’s £200 Poetry Book Fair competition for a short poem (maximum 14 lines) about love. The winner also gets a ...
21st July 2016
Write Out Loud Marsden celebrates big month tonight
July, seventh month of the year in the Julian calendar, was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Julius Caesar, because it was the month of his birth. Famous Julians include novelist Barnes, musicia...
20th July 2016
Stairway to poetic heaven with Puzzle Poets at the Blind Pig
The Puzzle Poets at Sowerby Bridge have a banner on which many guests who have read there have inscribed their names: Andrew McMillan, Steve Ely, Jackie Hagan, Louise Fazackerley, Steve Pottinger, Cha...
20th July 2016
'Twas Brexit, and the slithy Gove ...': 'Stabberjocky' poem is internet hit
Theresa May may be the new Tory leader and prime minister – but in the meantime a poem that mocks the post-Brexit back-stabbing in the Conservative party in the style of Lewis Carroll has gone viral o...
20th July 2016
Deadline nears for £500 Ambit competition
TS Eliot prize winner Sarah Howe will be judging Ambit magazine’s £500 poetry competition. The deadline is 1 July. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID ANDREW / WRITE OUT LOUD
20th July 2016
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside arts centre tonight
Write Out Loud Sale will be meeting at the Waterside arts centre, Sale on Tuesday 19 July at 7.30pm. although those that wish can turn up earlier at 7pm for a “pre-open mic write-in”. Bring a writing...
19th July 2016
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Bolton will be meeting at Bolton Socialist Club on Tuesday 19 July, at 7.30pm for 8pm start. Entry is £1 plus raffle to this open mic poetry night, with hosts Jeffarama! and ...
19th July 2016
What the immigration caseworker saw: poet who aided MP launches collection
A poetry collection that tells stories of violence, tragedy and resilience behind immigration cases will be launched at the Nehru Centre in London on Tuesday 19 July at 6.30pm. The Immigration Handboo...
19th July 2016
'Man and Camel, & others, animal' by Dominic James is Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Man and Camel, & others, animal’ by Dominic James, a reflection on the poetry of American Mark Strand, pictured, who died in 2014. In his poem, which also s...
18th July 2016
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking returns to the New Inn at Send on Monday 18 July at 7.30 for 8pm. Entry is free to this open mic poetry night, hosted by Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood. More details and Map. And t...
18th July 2016
Deadline extended for Best New British and Irish Poets anthology
The 1 July submission deadline has been extended to 1 September for The Best New British and Irish Poets competition, to collect 50 poems from the 50 best new poets in the UK and Ireland. They will be...
15th July 2016
Looking for the next spoken word star at Write Out Loud Wigan tonight
Write Out Loud Wigan, the monthly open mic night that helped burnish the spoken word talents of leading poetry performers Louise Fazackerley, Joy France and Laura Taylor, is on Thursday 14 July at The...
14th July 2016
'Imagine being so light as to float above water in love'
We hope that you will visit, from time to time, our archived columns at www.americanlifeinpoetry.org, where you may find other poems by the poets we feature. Today's is the third we've published by Sh...
12th July 2016
Back of the net: Wales manager Chris Coleman supports local poets in Swansea
Wales football manager Chris Coleman has endorsed a Swansea-based poetry group that launched its first poetry collection last year. The Poets on the Hill group consists of budding poets and writers f...
11th July 2016
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 11 July to share poems at this open-floor poetry night. Each month a collage poem is produced from members’ cont...
11th July 2016
Meanwhile, Trees: Mark Waldron, Bloodaxe
The landscape of British poetry has changed in the past decade with more and more work of high quality being published by magazines, small presses and the established publishing houses. These fundamen...
11th July 2016
Publisher achieves his quest: anthology of 'faith, doubt and wonder' is launched
In the beginning – well, the late 1990s, in fact – publisher Todd Swift, pictured, found himself in conversation with a Catholic priest, Father Oliver Brennan, pictured below, about poetry, and the hu...
10th July 2016
'Poem' by Chris Laverty is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is the lyrical and wistful ‘Poem’ by Chris Laverty. It conjures up a "hazy world" and ends: "We'll hear the waves, and watch their gentle swell." In his replies...
10th July 2016
Sir Geoffrey Hill, former Oxford professor of poetry, dies aged 84
The former Oxford professor of poetry, Sir Geoffrey Hill, has died at the age of 84. He was best known for his 1971 collection of prose poems, Mercian Hymns, and was described by the poet laureate Car...
7th July 2016
They Who Saw The Deep: Geraldine Monk, Free Verse Editions/ Parlor Press
A major new collection from Geraldine Monk is something to celebrate. One of the very best British experimental poets writing today, she has produced a book that takes its measure of the sea and histo...
6th July 2016
'What struck me first was their panic'
There's an old joke about a truck with a five-ton licence and ten tons of canaries on board. The driver had to keep getting out and banging his fist on the side to keep half the canaries flying. Here ...
5th July 2016
Pétroleuse: Steph Pike, Flapjack
With the inflammatory title of Pétroleuse and a scarlet stencilled image of the artist against a whitewashed brick wall, there is already ample signposting that this poetry collection is not likely to...
5th July 2016
Calder Valley Poetry publisher Bob Horne to launch his own collection
Yorkshire poetry publisher Bob Horne will be launching his own collection of poems at Brighouse library on Tuesday 5 July. Bob, whose Calder Valley Poetry press was launched at the beginning of this y...
4th July 2016
'Betrayed by the hands' by Phil Kay is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Betrayed by the hands’ by Phil Kay, as we remember the centenary of the first world war battle of the Somme. The poem is about men making their final prepa...
4th July 2016
Six young poets listed for £20,000 award
There are six poets on the shortlist for the £20,000 Edwin Morgan award for the best collection of poems, published or unpublished, by a Scottish poet aged 30 or under. The six are: Claire Askew, Penn...
3rd July 2016
Bright star: find out how fame came for Keats after death
Whatever Happened to Johnny Keats? is the theme of a “picnic” event at Keats House in Hampstead, north London on Sunday 3 July. Poets Julia Bird and Mike Sims will be looking at why Keats was so excor...
3rd July 2016
'The Brontës were poets, too': stages are set for Haworth's weekend festival
As more than 100 poets from Yorkshire and beyond prepare to converge on Haworth this weekend for a two-day festival of poetry, the man who had the original idea for Poetry at the Parsonage has talked ...
3rd July 2016
Reaching around the world: new poetry production includes stories of migration and asylum
Poems from around the world, including those of Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who won the 2011 Nobel prise for literature in 2011, and German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht will be performed by ...
1st July 2016
Poet in the news: Boris Johnson pulls out of Tory leadership race
Only a few days ago Boris Johnson was being tipped as Britain’s next prime minster, following his successful leadership of the Vote Leave campaign to quit the EU. Alarmed but also intrigued by this po...
1st July 2016
