'All the crazed emotions tangled up in the underbrush with us'
There are few writers who have done more to promote the work of other writers than Grace Cavalieri, who lives in the nation's capital. She has a radio show, The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress, she writes book reviews and is a tireless advocate for poetry day in and day out. All this while writing her own poems and plays. Her most recent book of poems is With (Somondoco, 2016).
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30th April 2017
Last day of voting in Saboteur awards - deadline is midnight tonight
Hollie McNish, Salena Godden, Dominic Berry, Lisa Luxx, and Caleb Femi are on the shortlist for best spoken word performer in the Saboteur awards, it was announced on Monday by organisers Sabotage Reviews. Voting is now open until 30 April to find the winners.
The best spoken word night contender...
30th April 2017
Tony Harrison to give 80th birthday reading at Salts Mill
Celebrated poet and playwright Tony Harrison will be marking his 80th birthday on 30 April with a reading at Salts Mill, Saltaire, near Bradford. Leeds-born Harrison is regarded as one of Britain’s fo...
30th April 2017
'Hitting the Wrong Note' by David Redfield is Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Hitting the Wrong Note’ by David Redfield. It’s a poem about a choirmaster. In his Q&A David talks of the “lightning bolt moment” of reading Coleridge’s ‘An...
30th April 2017
Attila the Stockbroker to mark Brighton's promotion to Premier League with poem on the pitch
Performance poet and devoted and tireless football fan Attila the Stockbroker, who has been Brighton and Hove Albion’s poet in residence since 2000, will perform his poem ‘Goldstone Ghosts’ on the pit...
29th April 2017
No time for lunch at festival's three-hour banquet of poetry
More than two dozen poets played their part in a three-hour poetry session at a literary festival in a Surrey commuter town at the weekend. The Poetry Lunch, organised by Write Out Loud Woking, compri...
28th April 2017
Party night at London's Rich Mix for poets inspired by hip hop
Poets Inua Ellams, Maria Ferguson, Anthony Anaxagorou, Bridget Minamore, Omar Bynon, Ruth Sutoyé, Lionheart, Belinda Zhawi, Emmanuel Sugo, and Theresa Lola will be taking part in an evening of hip hop...
27th April 2017
First Fleet: Michael Crowley, Smokestack Books
The history of the first fleet bringing the European settlers to Australia is the stuff of a potent “origin story”. Eleven boats arrived from England in 1788, packed with 800 men, women and children, ...
25th April 2017
'Whatever was in me in those days has mostly leaked away'
I'm celebrating my 78th birthday by publishing one of my own poems. When an old guy like me is still writing poetry, he tends to write a lot of old-guy poems.
LOOK FOR ME
by Ted Kooser
L...
24th April 2017
Deadline nears for £600 Ver Poets competition
Tamar Yoseloff will be judging the £600 Ver Poets competition. The deadline is 30 April. More details
24th April 2017
'Unseen' by Karen Ankers is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Unseen’ by Karen Ankers, a moving poem about children and parents. In her interview with Write Out Loud Karen says that “when I was 17, I became a member o...
23rd April 2017
Feasting on words: Write Out Loud's Poetry Lunch at literary festival in Woking
Write Out Loud is presenting a Poetry Lunch featuring four guest poets and a host of open micers at a literary festival in Woking on Saturday 22 April. Geoff ‘Speech Painter’ Allnutt, Alison Hill, Mag...
21st April 2017
Pilgrim Station: Dominic James, SPM Publications
Pilgrim Station is a first collection that, according to James, was written over a period of eight years “in the advent of middle age, that downhill-sloping, happy time, that has brought me to concent...
21st April 2017
Fish and chips, Adnams, an elusive butterfly: poets celebrate return to the seaside
“IT'S REALLY GOOD to be back in the Jubilee Hall – it’s something about the smell.” With those few words Tamar Yoseloff, a former Aldeburgh prize winner and editor of the Lookout anthology that was la...
21st April 2017
The poetry of conflict: Clare Mulley on clashes that shaped England's history
London Laureate and poetry journalist Clare Mulley recently became the first poet in residence at the UK Battlefields Trust, and will be reading from the resulting collection at the Albion Beatnik boo...
20th April 2017
Create a poem to mark Dylan Thomas Day
Young people aged seven to 25 from all over the world are being invited to take part in Love the Words, an online competition to celebrate International Dylan Thomas Day. How to take part? Download th...
19th April 2017
Brenda's body rub to the rescue in injury time at Licensed to Rhyme
Organised by Midlands poets Spoz and Maggie Doyle, and ably aided and abetted by Fergus McGonigal, Licensed to Rhyme has set out to bridge the gap between events in the cities of Birmingham and Worces...
18th April 2017
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside tonight
Jolivia Gaston, Stuart Buck and Jo Williams are the guests at Write Out Loud Sale, on Tuesday 18 April at the Waterside arts centre, Sale. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic poetry night, which starts at...
18th April 2017
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking is at the New Inn, Send, near Woking on Easter Monday 17 April for another night of open-mic poetry. Your hosts are Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood. Free entry. Sign up from 7.30pm ...
17th April 2017
'It took him an hour for the half mile all the way up the hill'
Surely you've seen those Japanese scroll paintings in which tiny figures trail up the side of an enormous mountain? Here's a poem about one such life by Lucia Cherciu, who lives in Poughkeepsie, New Y...
16th April 2017
'The Insignificant Poet' by Daniel Dwyran is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week
The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘The Insignificant Poet’ by Daniel Dwyran, which was written on the way home from a less-than-inspiring open mic night at which he was the only spoken word perfo...
16th April 2017
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Write Out Loud Bolton meets at Bolton Socialist Club on Easter Sunday 16 April for a night of open-mic poetry compered by Gordon Zola and Jeffarama! It starts at 7.30pm and entry is £1 plus raffle. M...
16th April 2017
New Boots and Pantisocracies: Smokestack Books
There are one hundred contributors to this anthology, edited and published post-Brexit, and reflecting the reaction of a cross-section of the nation’s poets to the first 138 days of the new Conservati...
13th April 2017
Steve Pottinger at Write Out Loud Wigan tonight
Steve Pottinger will be appearing at Write Out Loud Wigan on Thursday 13 April as part of a special Wigan arts festival event. Entry is free to this open mic poetry event at the Old Courts in Wigan. I...
13th April 2017
Stand up and spit it out: chance to have your say on ranting poetry nights
Poets will be reviving the spirit of ranting poetry in a three-night tour that takes in Barton-in-Humber, Leeds, and Barnsley this month. Stand up and Spit’s ‘Northern Accent’ tour will feature Kate F...
11th April 2017
Fables, trading cards, greeting friends: day of bonhomie and fellowship at the poetry book fair
Judy Brown told a funny story at the Poetry Book Fair at Conway Hall in London on Saturday, before reading out a poem about a rat in her house. She said she felt guilty about paying to have the rat k...
11th April 2017
'This window, it's pane-less. It's only a frame of air'
Once the carpenter put the sash-weights into the wall next to the window, they were never seen again. Eventually they fell off the ropes and with just one loud outcry fell deeper into the dark. But we...
11th April 2017
Poetry in the round: how Pitt, Pottinger and Purshouse plotted show at the pub
Wolverhampton poets Dave Pitt, Steve Pottinger, and Emma Purshouse have joined forces to create a new show - Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists - which will show at the Arena theatre in their home ...
10th April 2017
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 10 April to share their poems. Each month a collage poem is produced from contributions, and you can read March’s...
10th April 2017
'Rowing' by Neil Robertson is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud poem of the Week is ‘Rowing’ by Neil Robertson, a poem about a relationship that has developed from schoolboy rivalry into teamwork in adulthood: " ‘You're doing well fella, kee...
9th April 2017
Hollie McNish's poetic memoir about motherhood wins Ted Hughes award
Hollie McNish has won this year’s £5,000 Ted Hughes award for new work in poetry for her poetic memoir Nobody Told Me, which has been described as a collection of “diary” poems and stories, documentin...
7th April 2017
Little Blue Hut: Nancy Charley, Smokestack
In 2011 Nancy Charley, who is an archivist for the Royal Asiatic Society, spent six weeks in a little blue beach hut on Tankerton Slopes, near Whitstable, on the Kent coast, recording the changing tid...
6th April 2017
Stephen Sexton wins £5,000 National Poetry Competition
Stephen Sexton has won this year’s £5,000 National Poetry Competition with his poem ‘The Curfew’, the Poetry Society announced on Wednesday night. The winning poem combines reminiscence about a legend...
5th April 2017
'Babi Yar' poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko dies aged 84
The Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who gained international fame with ‘Babi Yar’, a poem that told of the slaughter of nearly 34,000 Jews by the Nazis in Ukraine, has died at the age of 84.
Yevt...
4th April 2017
Start today - prompts aplenty on the way during National Poetry Writing Month
It's April - and National Poetry Writing Month has begun. It’s an idea that has gone global, with poets around the world invited to try writing a daily poem for a month - 30 poems in 30 days. You can ...
4th April 2017
Deadline nears for £1,000 Basil Bunting award
The deadline is 7 April for the £1,000 Basil Bunting poetry prize. The judge is Ahren Warner, editor of Poetry London magazine. More details
4th April 2017
Mark Pajak at Puzzle Poets in Sowerby Bridge tonight
Bridport prize winner Mark Pajak is guest poet at Puzzle Poets Live at the Blind Pig pub in Sowerby Bridge, on Monday 3 April. Winston Plowes is also on the bill, plus open mic. More details
3rd April 2017
'Speaking blurred names back into the world'
How many Oak Grove cemeteries can there be in America? There's one just a mile from my home. Here's another, with a poet, Don Thompson, to show us around. Poetry thrives on sounds as well as sense, an...
3rd April 2017
'Around the Cirrus and Nimbostratus' by Simon Widdop is Poem of the Week
‘Around the Cirrus and Nimbostratus’ by Simon Widdop, a poem about a fallen angel, is the new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week. Simon has been writing poetry seriously for almost three years, and has p...
2nd April 2017
Closing in on goal: the pioneers of women's football and today's players
In 1921 the Football Association banned women from playing on FA grounds – a ban that was not rescinded for 50 years. Offside, a play written by spoken word’s Sabrina Mahfouz and Hollie McNish, tells ...
1st April 2017
Maura Dooley to judge £1,000 McLellan poetry prize
Maura Dooley will be judging the £1,000 McLellan poetry prize. The deadline is 21 June. More details
1st April 2017
