StAnza Reveals Headline Names for 2019 Festival
StAnza, Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, has unveiled some of the headline acts which will make up another impressive programme for 2019. In keeping with its reputation of being a truly international affair, next year’s programme will not disappoint, featuring poets from all over the world who will travel to join many more from Scotland and the rest of the UK. The annual festival will tak...
30th October 2018
‘The Legacy’ by Jennifer Malden is our Poem of the Week
This week, our Poem of the Week comes from Jennifer Malden, who is awarded this recognition for the second time for her piece 'The Legacy'. Jennifer found time to answer our Q&A before returning to her idyllic life in Sardinia. Why wouldn't she want to live there – it's inspiring her poetry, and she...
29th October 2018
Prose, Poem, or Prose-Poem? Does it Matter?
One area of contemporary poetry that interests me is a blending of familiar categories, especially what’s usually defined as prose and what’s usually defined as a poem. Each of the terms suggest a set...
26th October 2018
Marsden Poetry Jam at the Railway Inn
THE drive over to Marsden from my home in Stockport can be glorious but this year it was a louring, drenching trip ending in a flooded car park and a soggy walk to the Railway Inn for this year’s poet...
26th October 2018
Ghosting for Beginners: Anna Saunders, Indigo Dreams
Anna Saunders’s Ghosting for Beginners is a rich procession of phantoms and monsters. An undercurrent of anxiety for the material world grounds the collection: these spirits are anything but fey; thes...
26th October 2018
On the Wing: Ros Woolner, Offa's Press
Ros Woolner lives in Wolverhampton with her partner and two teenage children. Her poem ‘Sack of Night’ came second in the inaugural Wolverhampton literature festival competition. She works as a transl...
26th October 2018
Festival Set To Light Up Bolton This Autumn
Communities across Bolton will help make the town shine when the inaugural Bolton Light Festival begins later this month. The festival is a new event for the town and has been developed from the lant...
24th October 2018
"We Should Do This!": A Journey into Poetry
A huge welcome to Write Out Loud’s newest contributor, Kyle McCall Wilson:
Hello, my name is Kyle and I write under the name Munkyle The Poetry Machine, I also supposedly make music under the name ...
23rd October 2018
The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Light - O’ - Love’ by Katlego Maake Jr
This week, our choice is a poem by Katlego Maake Jr, whose poem Light - O' - Love is reproduced below. We're still waiting for Katlego's responses to our traditional Q&A which is such an integral part...
22nd October 2018
The Lyricism of Shattered Phones
It was a world first for Winchester Poetry festival - the first time Irish poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa has performed in England, even visited, in fact, and the first time she'd read from her second Engli...
21st October 2018
Language on the Side of Freedom
Language is of course the point when it comes to a poetry festival, not stars or trends but what writers on the stage are doing with words. In a time when the deep impact of colonialism and empire is ...
21st October 2018
Punching Cork Stoppers: Neil Leadbeater, Original Plus
The poems in this chapbook by Neil Leadbeater represent a love letter to Lisbon, to Portugal, and to its cork groves in particular. In the capital the poet hears fado music, a form of song characteris...
18th October 2018
The Other Guernica: Derek Sellen, Cultured Llama
Readers who are unfamiliar with Spanish art might be expected to find 65 poems on the topic something of a challenge. Yet such is Derek Sellen’s passion for his subject and so varied are his approache...
18th October 2018
Hollie McNish: Plums, Mums and Football Coaching
Plum. **** (Four stars)
Hollie McNish. Winchester Poetry Festival, October 2018
Hollie McNish was the perfect headline finish to a hugely successful 2018 Winchester Poetry Festival. Her hon...
17th October 2018
So Many Highlights at the Winchester Poetry Festival
The third Winchester Poetry Festival drew to a close yesterday with founding trustee and Festival Chair Stephen Boyce thanking and paying tribute in suitable fashion to the staff and volunteers who ma...
17th October 2018
Poetry & The Great War, a series: 3 The Battle of the Somme
After nearly two years of intense conflict a battle took place in the Valley of the Somme between the British Army and the German Imperial Army. It had been long in the planning stage and at the behes...
16th October 2018
Free Verse: The Poetry Book and Magazine Fair
I recently attended Free Verse: The Poetry Book and Magazine Fair. This was held at Senate House, London, on the 22nd September and managed by the Poetry Society. An annual event, Free Verse presents ...
16th October 2018
Swiftscape: Frances White, Seventh Quarry Press
Frances White is a member of a poetry group that was formed by the late Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of Dylan Thomas. She grew up near London and has strong family ties in south Wales. The venues she has ...
16th October 2018
The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Missing Soul’ by Joanna Halliday
As Autumn kicks into gear we welcome a new face: Joanna Halliday, whose piece 'Missing Soul' becomes the latest Poem of the Week. As always, you'll find the poem in this article if you missed it when ...
15th October 2018
Poetry Competition Supports Young Persons Charity
5 Aspects of ME are a charitable organisation, based in Lancashire, that supports children and young people aged 7 to 16 years. The 'M' stands for Mentoring and the 'E' stands for Education - the two ...
14th October 2018
Matt Abbott: Two Little Ducks
In June 2016, Matt Abbott’s hometown of Wakefield voted 66% Leave. Either side of referendum day, he was volunteering at a Calais Jungle refugee camp just 22 miles from Dover. Now this rising star of ...
14th October 2018
Poetry Jam at the Marsden Jazz Festival
The famous, incredibly popular Marsden poetry jam at the Marsden jazz festival is on Sunday 14th October, a weekend when this Pennine village has music everywhere: its Mechanics Institute, its famous ...
13th October 2018
This is Just to Say: John Woodall, Offa's Press
The title of this pamphlet collection is a nod to the well-known poem by William Carlos Williams which goes under the same name. Woodall’s poem, which echoes several of the lines found in the one by W...
11th October 2018
Young Poets Name Sylvia Plath Top Poet of All Time
A survey of young poets by The Poetry Society released for National Poetry Day reveals their Top 3 Poets as Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare.
A survey* of young writers aged 11-17...
9th October 2018
12-year-old Ide Crawford named St Pancras International's 2018 poet laureate
Today, St Pancras International announced 12-year-old Ide Crawford as the winner of the 12th Betjeman Poetry Prize. After beating thousands of entrants with her poem, 'The Moors', the prestigious win ...
9th October 2018
Foyle Young Poets of the Year 2018 Winners Announced
The Poetry Society has announced today the top 15 winners and 85 commended poets of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2018 at a prize-giving ceremony at the Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall...
8th October 2018
Roy McFarlane launches collection in Black History Month
Birmingham’s former poet laureate Roy McFarlane launched his second collection on Thursday – National Poetry Day – at the Birmingham literature festival. The Healing Next Time, which has been publishe...
8th October 2018
‘Peace, love and understanding have left the building’ is our Poem of the Week
The latest in our ever-lengthening line of Poem of the Week comes from Jon Stainsby. His piece Peace, love and understanding have left the building is reproduced below for you to enjoy, along with his...
8th October 2018
Mapping: Mark Totterdell, Indigo Dreams
One of the pleasurable tasks I was invited to undertake at my secondary school – one of the few, to be honest – was to devise an Ordnance Survey map from my own imagination, complete with all the nece...
6th October 2018
Creativity, Career & Capitalism: Jade Cuttle talks to Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher is an American-British poet currently living in London who I first met through the incredible Foyle Young Poet of the Year Competition, currently celebrating its twenty year anniversary...
5th October 2018
Write Out Loud Helps You Join the Celebration - Somewhere!
There’s poets, this Thursday, in Caerphilly library,
Get Cabaret in Glasgow or Comfy in Coventry.
From the Cafe's in London to Speakeasy Carlisle
Too far? Well click here, then consider a wh...
5th October 2018
Her 100 Cerdd: Four Poets, 24 Hours, 100 Poems
Literature Wales is pleased to announce the return of Her 100 Cerdd as part of its National Poetry Day celebrations.
Now in its sixth year, the Her 100 Cerdd is a challenge for a team of four Welsh...
5th October 2018
Poetry & The Great War, a series: 2 The Outbreak of War
As Britan went to war in 1914 it did so at the height of its imperial power with the largest navy the world had ever seen. As a nation we were considered invincible with London at the hub of the world...
4th October 2018
Spotlight: Writers in the Bath
Emma Purshouse chats to Cora Greenhill to get the low down on ‘Writers in the Bath.’
EP:- So how long has Writers in the Bath been running?
CG:- Writers in The Bath has been running for 4 ...
3rd October 2018
New Writing: The Quirks and Quiddities
As with previous books in this series, the Manchester Anthology VI includes a selection of new voices from The University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing. Poetry, novel extracts and short stori...
1st October 2018
Laura Taylor - Fault Lines
One of the UK’s most incisive performance poets is on a whistle-stop tour of London in October to promote her second collection ‘Fault Lines’
‘Fault Lines’ is a “poetic battle cry. I’d like my teen...
1st October 2018
These are the Moments that Poetry Brings
As some of you may know, I run a monthly open mic poetry night in Warwickshire. For many of us, the organisation of such an event is a labour of love taken on not for financial gain but for the joy o...
1st October 2018
Creative Writing for Carers in Manchester
New arts for health programmes and initiatives are taking place at The University of Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery with the aim of making art and creative writing more accessible to carers or tho...
1st October 2018
‘Second Chances’ by Jane Briganti is Write Out Loud’s Poem of the Week
As a result of close-minded teachers, Jane Briganti tells us, art took a back seat in her life for many years. I'm sure many of us can relate to that, and part of Write Out Loud's rationale is to prov...
1st October 2018
