Derek Walcott museum in St Lucia closes after budget cut and tourism row
A museum in St Lucia on the site of the boyhood home of the Nobel prize-winning poet and playwright Derek Walcott has closed amid a funding shortfall that has been linked to disputes over tourism developments on the Caribbean island.
The Guardian reports that Walcott, who died at the age of 87 in March, attended a ceremony last year to mark the opening of the museum, housed in a reconstruction...
28th June 2017
Jackie Hagan, Raymond Antrobus, and Jane Commane win £15,000 poetry awards
Poets Jackie Hagan, Raymond Antrobus, and Jane Commane have each been awarded £15,000 inaugural Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships, in a collaboration between the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Arts Council England.
The year-long fellowships "invest in the process and practice of making poetry...
25th June 2017
Remember that game: football anthology launched in aid of Alzheimer Scotland project
An anthology of football poetry featuring more than 100 poems in aid of Alzheimer Scotland’s Football Memories project has been launched at the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park.
Contributi...
24th June 2017
Tony Walsh gives poetic verdict on election result alongside Carol Ann Duffy
It began when Tony Walsh read his poem about Manchester, ‘This is The Place’, at the vigil for the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena suicide bombing. Tony’s reading went round the world. He was asked...
23rd June 2017
Tracy K Smith is new US poet laureate
Tracy K Smith is the new poet laureate of the United States, it has been announced. The poet laureate - Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry of the United States is the full title - is appointed by the...
23rd June 2017
Northern Irish poets Michael Longley and Sinead Morrissey on Forward list
Michael Longley, who recently won the PEN Pinter prize, is one of five poets shortlisted for the £10,000 Forward prize for best collection, it was announced on Monday. At 77, Longley is the oldest of ...
23rd June 2017
Poet and novelist Helen Dunmore dies aged 64
The poet, novelist and children’s author Helen Dunmore has died at the age of 64. She had been suffering from cancer. Her poetry publisher Bloodaxe said that “we are immensely saddened by the news”.
...13th June 2017
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 12 June to share their poetry. Every month a collage poem is created from members’ contributions. You can read Ma...
12th June 2017
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking will be at the New Inn, Send, near Woking on Monday 12 April for another night of free, open-mic poetry. Your hosts are Rodney Wood and Greg Freeman. Sign up to read from 7.30pm ...
12th June 2017
Jess Green and her affirmation of nightlife on London's evening of terror
It was when the train was leaving Waterloo that news of the London Bridge terror attacks started appearing on people’s mobiles. I had to leave early to catch the last train home after attending Tubthu...
9th June 2017
London's Poetry Cafe reopening after nine-month refit
One of London’s most popular poetry venues, the Poetry Cafe, is reopening after being closed for nine months for a refit. The cafe is run by the Poetry Society, whose offices are above it in Betterton...
9th June 2017
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Gather ye at Write Out Loud Wigan on Thursday 8 June at the Old Courts for another session of free, free-range, open mic poetry. It starts at 8.30pm. More details and Map
8th June 2017
Saboteur award winner Maria Ferguson to launch spoken word night in Lincoln
Saboteur award winner Maria Ferguson will be performing her show Fat Girls Don’t Dance at the launch of a new monthly spoken word night in Lincoln on Thursday 15 June.
The WORD theatre project at L...
6th June 2017
Michael Longley wins PEN Pinter prize
The Northern Ireland poet Michael Longley has been named winner of this year’s PEN Pinter prize. Longley is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a recipient of the Queen's Gold Medal for P...
6th June 2017
Tony Walsh reads 'This is The Place' at Ariana Grande concert for Manchester bombing victims
Leading performance poet Tony Walsh will be reading his world-famous poem about Manchester, ‘This is The Place’, which he delivered at the vigil for the Manchester Arena bomb victims, at a remembrance...
4th June 2017
Yes, there's no apostrophe - Walsall's new poetry night
Jonny Fluffypunk will be headlining a new spoken word night at the Pretty Bricks pub in Walsall on Sunday 4 June at 7pm. Yes, We Cant – no, the apostrophe’s not missing - is organised by the Poets, Pr...
3rd June 2017
National Poetry Day and BBC team up with OED to unearth local words for poems
National Poetry Day and the BBC are joining forces to seek out and celebrate the nation’s great local words in 12 specially commissioned poems – one for each of the 12 BBC regions in England.
3rd June 2017
Spreading the word: launch of anthology by D/deaf and disabled poets
An anthology of poetry, essays and photographs - Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back - that was backed by a Crowdfunder appeal will be launched at Birmingham City University on S...
2nd June 2017
