National Gallery, Picturehouse, LSE: but who are the poets on the picket line?
While visiting the Poetry Book Fair in London’s Conway Hall last month, we bumped into poet Grim Chip, pictured, one of the driving forces behind Picket Line Poets. Write Out Loud is always interested in people who take poetry to unexpected places, so we asked Chip to tell us more about this collective, and what it is they do ...
Who are the Picket Line Poets?
A squad of poets who turn ...
31st October 2017
Posh new publisher, same brilliant Hollie McNish
Picture the scene at Manchester Central LIbrary – hundreds of (mainly) women, listening and laughing like drains at stories about sex, body image, babies and children, more sex, men and yes, a bit more sex. Have you got it? Yes, Hollie McNish has a new collection of poetry out and that means a lot o...
31st October 2017
Learning to write better poetry - and having a drink - with Carol Ann Duffy
Since graduating with a BA in literature in 2008, it has been my dream to complete an MA in creative writing; specifically, poetry. I knew I needed to mature as a writer, and that happened to coincid...
30th October 2017
'Her insistence that the hand return her to the way she was before'
I was deeply moved by this week's poem, which shows us the courage of a person struggling with a disability, one that threatens the way in which she wishes to present herself. It illustrates the fierc...
30th October 2017
'Elegant Lies' by Desmond Childs is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Elegant Lies’ by Desmond Childs. Desmond says that although he has been writing on and off since the age of 14 – he is now 58 – he has only been writing poe...
30th October 2017
Flagging up poetic revelations at institute's festival
Poetry can be revelatory; it can explain “why you fuck things up all the time”. That was how social scientist and poet Joe Cullen introduced a poetry reading that was held as part of the Tavistock Ins...
24th October 2017
In Person: World Poets, DVD-anthology, Bloodaxe
A festival of poetry is how publisher Bloodaxe describes this DVD-anthology, of poems on the page plus a quartet of films of poets reading their work. It’s sensational.
Launched at Manchester Centr...
24th October 2017
TS Eliot shortlist announced as prize is increased to £25,000
Ocean Vuong, who recently won the Forward prize winner for best first collection, has been included in the 2017 shortlist for the TS Eliot prize, which has been increased to £25,000 to mark the 25th a...
23rd October 2017
'My arms grown taut with the thought of that wind'
Joseph Hutchison has been writing good poems for more than 40 years, and I have been reading them for just that long. He lives in Colorado, where he is the state poet laureate, and his latest book, Th...
23rd October 2017
John Ashbery: an appreciation
It’s been a hard couple of years for me. Many of my poetic signposts have died recently and sometimes it’s hard not to feel a little lost now. Lee Harwood, Tom Raworth, Roy Fisher – and now John Ashbe...
22nd October 2017
'Cooling Towers' by Tom is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Cooling Towers’ by Tom. It’s a poem that looks back at a young relationship. He has said of writing poetry: “Over time it became an essential way of working...
22nd October 2017
Foyle Young Poets top 15 winners are named
The Poetry Society has announced the top 15 winners and 85 commended Foyle Young Poets of the Year. The top 15 are:
Aisha Mango Borja, aged 15, from Oxford; Eira Murphy, 17, Liverpool; Irina Petra...
21st October 2017
‘Marilyn Monroe of literature’? Discussion on lives of poets is drawn to Sylvia Plath
To label Sylvia Plath as “the Marilyn Monroe of literature” is glib and facile - but in order to understand her work, you do have to know about her troubled life with Ted Hughes that ended with her su...
21st October 2017
Award-winning poet's one-woman show in Saddleworth
Rosie Fleeshman, who won the best spoken word award at this year’s Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, will be presenting her one-woman show, Narcissist in the Mirror, at Millgate arts centre in Delph...
21st October 2017
Deadline nears for National Poetry Competition
The 31 October deadline is approaching for the £5,000 National Poetry Competition, with judges Hannah Lowe, Andrew McMillan and Pascale Petit. The competition’s organisers, the Poetry Society, have al...
19th October 2017
Heat Signature: Siobhán Campbell, Seren
Prize-winning poet and critic Siobhán Campbell is an important voice in Irish poetry. Educated at University College, Dublin and at Lancaster University followed by postgraduate study at NYU and the N...
19th October 2017
Poet gives first reading after accident that left her in brace with broken back
A poet who broke her back in seven places after falling into a pond while walking her dog earlier this year will be launching her latest collection at Marsden library on Wednesday 18 October.
Aliso...
18th October 2017
Well-versed pupils are stars of the show at Marsden's poetry jam
You must always expect the unexpected at Write Out Loud’s annual open mic poetry jam at Marsden jazz festival. This year a group of pupils from Lily Lane school in Moston, north Manchester turned up, ...
17th October 2017
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside tonight
Angela Topping and Kevin Bamford are the guests at Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside arts centre, Sale on Tuesday 17 November. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic poetry night. Doors open at 7pm. More ...
17th October 2017
'Only the girls got to go as the boys were too wild'
Grace Cavalieri, who lives in Washington, DC, has performed a great service for American poetry over the past 40 years with her public radio show, The Poet and the Poem. She's also a playwright and a ...
17th October 2017
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Hosts Rodney Wood and Greg Freeman will be welcoming regulars and newcomers to Write Out Loud Woking, at the New Inn, Send, near Woking on Monday 16 October. Entry is free to this night of open-mic po...
16th October 2017
Milestone moment as Write Out Loud's competition anthology is unveiled
It was the very satisfying end of a journey on Saturday at Long Compton in Warwickshire, with the grand unveiling of Write Out Loud’s Milestones poetry competition anthology. The location was the agm ...
15th October 2017
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Hosts Jeffarama! and Gordon Zola will be welcoming poets – experienced and newcomers – to Write Out Loud Bolton at Bolton Socialist Club on Sunday 15 October for another night of open-mic poetry. Entr...
15th October 2017
Freed Iranian poet honoured as 'writer of courage'
An Iranian woman who began writing poetry in prison has been named 2017 International Writer of Courage at the PEN Pinter Prize ceremony at the British Library.
Mahvash Sabet was freed last month, ...
15th October 2017
Oh frabjous day! Carol Ann Duffy's words with a Dire Straits vibe
It was TS Eliot’s birthday on Thursday. He would have been 125, Little Machine’s Walter Wray reminded the audience at Rhythm and Muse, a regular poetry open mic and music night at the Ram Jam Club, i...
15th October 2017
Poetry International turns 50 with weekend of global voices at Southbank
London’s Southbank Centre is celebrating 50 years of Poetry International, which was launched by Ted Hughes in 1967, with a series of events featuring global voices at the Royal Festival Hall over the...
15th October 2017
Remembering a ground-breaking book of poetry, 50 years on
“They called the book The Mersey Sound. We didn’t want it. It looked as if we were cashing in on the Beatles – and of course we were. We were christened the Pop Poets – not as in Pop Art but as in pop...
15th October 2017
'How to Catch a Fish in the Solent' by Helen Elliott is Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘How to Catch a Fish in the Solent’ by Helen Elliott. The pier in the poem is in Old Portsmouth, close to the Square Tower, which is a popular poetry venue. ...
15th October 2017
Deadline nears for £2,000 Troubadour prize
Imtiaz Dharker and Michael Symmons Roberts will be judging the £2,000 Troubadour poetry prize. The deadline is 16 October. More details
12th October 2017
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Open mic poets will be in full cry at Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts on Thursday 12 October. Entry is free and it starts at 8.30pm. More details and Map
12th October 2017
'The more painful and scary to write ... the more important it is to communicate' - Henry Normal
The writer, poet, TV and film producer Henry Normal – the man behind Mrs Merton, The Royle Family, Gavin and Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, and Alan Partridge, to name but a few - has launched his first ne...
12th October 2017
Magazine for young poets wants submissions
Hebe, a poetry magazine that publishes poems by those aged 18 and under, is inviting submissions for its third issue on the theme of “patterns”. They say: “We encourage poets to be creative in their i...
10th October 2017
Raining Upwards: Henry Normal, Flapjack
Henry Normal held a large audience in the palm of his hand for a good hour at Manchester City Library last Friday evening. A skilled performer with a ready repertoire of anecdotes and reminiscences, h...
10th October 2017
Night Sky with Exit Wounds: Ocean Vuong, Cape
First collections are always mixed bags. There’s a sense of setting-out-of-stalls, of showing the world what you can do, of trying on different hats. This book is no exception to that rule.
There’s...
10th October 2017
'Moving without sound as if charmed by the moon'
Here's a beautiful poem evoking a vivid memory by David Mason, who teaches at Colorado College and has served his state as poet laureate. There's not one extra word in this, and every word - with that...
10th October 2017
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will meet on Monday 9 October at Stockport art gallery at 7pm for their monthly readaround. Each month members’ contributions become part of a collage poem, and you...
9th October 2017
'The Traveller' by Hannah Collins is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
‘The Traveller’ by Hannah Collins is the new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week. Hannah, who teaches schoolchildren dance and exercise, says: “I like the way there are few boundaries when we write, unlik...
8th October 2017
Young Syrian refugee wins Betjeman poetry prize with lament for her country
A 13-year-old refugee from Syria has won the Betjeman poetry prize for 10-13-year-olds with her poem ‘Lament for Syria’. Amineh Abou Kerech, from Oxford, was presented with her prize beside the statue...
8th October 2017
Can it get any better? Write Out Loud's poetry jam at The Railway in Marsden
Write Out Loud’s annual open mic poetry jam takes place on Sunday October 8, from 11am to 1.30pm, at The Railway inn, Marsden. It’s compered, as ever, by Write Out Loud’s co-founder Julian Jordon, en...
6th October 2017
Marsden's Poster Poems competition - here are the winners!
The winning poems in the Marsden Poster Poems competition have been announced. The quest was to find music-related poems to be posted in shops, pubs café and other sites in Marsden in the run-up to th...
6th October 2017
Can you earn a living as a poet? Discussion offers advice on how to pay the rent
There is no magic shortcut to making a living as a poet. That warning from discussion panel chair Sarah Hesketh at the Poetry Book Fair in London on Saturday may not have surprised her audience at all...
6th October 2017
'The boys stroke their new muscles, the girls sweeten their lips'
I'm very fond of poems in which the poet stands at a distance from whatever is going on and offers a report. This poem by Dorianne Laux, from her book What We Carry, (BOA Editions), gives us the flavo...
2nd October 2017
Lines on loneliness: Catherine Graham wins Jo Cox poetry prize
Catherine Graham has won the Jo Cox poetry prize organised by Carers UK for her poem ‘The Washing Machine’. The award for poems exploring loneliness was launched in honour of the former Batley and Spe...
2nd October 2017
'CCTV' by Tony Hill is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
2nd October 2017
Seven thousand words for human: Poetry Library bids to preserve poems in endangered languages
The National Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre in London marked National Poetry Day by launching a project to collect and preserve poems in endangered languages - and has commissioned four poets...
2nd October 2017
The Nagasaki Elder: Antony Owen, V. Press
Many of the poems in this collection are about two moments in history that continue to haunt the world – the atom bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945. The two bombs, nic...
1st October 2017
Lives in transit: travellers' tales beside the Betjeman statue at St Pancras
I wasn’t going to write about National Poetry Day – once it’s gone it’s gone, you might say – but an event staged by arts organisation Poet in the City at St Pancras station early on Thursday evening...
1st October 2017
