Malika Booker to judge £2,000 Women's Poetry Competition
Malika Booker will be judging the £2,000 Women’s Poetry Competition, for the best poem by an unpublished woman poet. Amy Wack, poetry editor of Seren Books, will be judging the Women’s Pamphlet Competition, with a £250 first prize and publication of the pamphlet by Seren. The deadline for both competitions, which are organised by the Poetry Book Society and Mslexia magazine, is 16 September. More ...
30th July 2019
Poetry that really matters: Ann Gray (part one)
Some weeks I despair of knowing how, and where to start. First-line nerves kick in, particularly when I worry that I won’t do justice to the guest poet. I’ve felt it particularly acutely these last few days. So if I seem especially incoherent, bear with me, and we’ll find out together whether justi...
29th July 2019
'Happy Tuesday' by Lisa C Bassignani is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Happy Tuesday’ by Lisa C Bassignani - a lip-smacker of a poem with ingredients that include an “extra-tall margarita”, chips and a “king-size” burrito, as w...
29th July 2019
'Poetry is the shortest way of conveying something really big': JCC on Desert Island Discs
Veteran punk poet John Cooper Clarke explained how he’d been a fan of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs for 60 years when he appeared on the radio show with presenter Lauren Laverne on Sunday. He adde...
27th July 2019
Simon Armitage aims high with first poem as poet laureate
Simon Armitage has composed his first poem as poet laureate, two months into the job. The poem, ‘Conquistadors’ – reproduced “exclusively” in the Guardian - marks the 50th anniversary this month of Ap...
27th July 2019
'I must have brought their home inside for fuel, heating my small house'
This column has often emphasised the importance of poetry that notices what's right under our noses, and this poem by David Mason, the former poet laureate of Colorado, who is currently living in Tasm...
26th July 2019
September: Cherry Doyle, Offa's Press
Cherry Doyle, who recently completed a BA in creative writing with the Open University, is one of the co-ordinators of Blakenhall Writers’ Group based in Wolverhampton. Born in Shrewsbury, she now liv...
26th July 2019
Write Out Loud Woking at the Lightbox tonight
Karen Swaley is the featured poet at Write Out Loud Woking on Thursday 25 July. Sign up from 7.30pm for this open mic poetry event at the Lightbox art gallery and museum in Woking, compered by Greg Fr...
25th July 2019
In praise of poetry anthologies
I’m constantly reminded that I know a lot less about poetry (and everything else, too) than I’d like. At the same time, I’m wary of the business of keeping up with everyone else who’s busily ‘keeping ...
22nd July 2019
LZRD: Alyson Hallet and Penelope Shuttle, Indigo Dreams
LZRD is a title that is notable for its absence of vowels. The human brain, so used to recognising words, quickly fills in the blanks. In the poem of the same name, Lzrd is described as a “squeezer of...
21st July 2019
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
It’s Bolton Write Out Loud on Sunday, 21 July at Bolton Socialist Club. Entry is £1 plus raffle to this open-mic poetry event compered by Jeffarama! and Gordon Zola. Arrive from 7.30pm for 8pm start. ...
21st July 2019
'Log In*' by Laura Taylor is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
This week's Poem of the Week is 'Log In*' by Laura Taylor, a wonderful reflection on a life as seen through both the physical memories held and the clever device of internet security. Laura has create...
18th July 2019
'The garden still waiting for whatever might come'
If you've ever been released at last from a lengthy illness you know that the world can look different, strangely illuminated. Here's a poem about that kind of awakening by Judith Harris, who lives in...
17th July 2019
John Cooper Clarke to appear on Desert Island Discs
Veteran punk poet Dr John Cooper Clarke will be appearing on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday 21 July at 11.15am. The Bard of Salford, who started billing himself as Dr after being awarded an h...
17th July 2019
Here comes summer at Marsden Write Out Loud tonight
Summer is the optional theme at Marsden Write Out Loud at Marsden library in Peel Street, Marsden on Wednesday 17 July. Share your own poems, read your favourites or just listen - everyone welcome. It...
17th July 2019
Step up to the mic at Sale Write Out Loud's annual slam tonight
It’s Write Out Loud Sale’s annual summer poetry slam on Tuesday 16 July. Start time is 7.30pm at the Waterside arts centre, Sale, and entry is £3. More details and Map
16th July 2019
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets competition
The 31 July deadline is looming for this year's Foyle Young Poets of the Year award for poets aged 11-17, with this year’s judges Jackie Kay and Raymond Antrobus. This year’s winners will be announced...
15th July 2019
My kind of poetry: six new poems from David Constantine
Well, I hope my recent post sent you off to buy David Constantine’s Collected Poems, and maybe his prose work, too, and possibly the published lectures. At the very least I hope it got you wanting mor...
15th July 2019
My kind of poetry: David Constantine
I’m feeling something of a fraud, having recently read the latest spat about the Oxford poetry professorship concerning one Todd Swift. I’ve never heard of him. It reminds me yet again that I know nex...
15th July 2019
Wigan Write Out Loud at the Old Courts tonight
It’s Wigan Write Out Loud at the Old Courts in Crawford Street, Wigan on Thursday 11 July. Kick-off is at 8pm for this free night of open-mic poetry. Established poets and newcomers are welcomed to a ...
11th July 2019
The Quality of Mersey, edited by Barry Woods
Knowing your place is all the rage these days; just look at the well-deserved success of the current Places of Poetry map. (And if you haven’t already posted a poem or two up there, make sure you do s...
9th July 2019
The Poem of the Week is 'Now Birds Ravage The Cherries' by Devon Brock
The Poem of the Week is 'Now Birds Ravage the Cherries' by Devon Brock. Utilising nostalgia and metaphor as a poetic framework for something much deeper, Devon once again shows he can capture a moment...
8th July 2019
Chinese poet Yu Yoyo launches first English-language collection
A young Chinese poet has published her first book of poetry in English. My Tenantless Body, by Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo, conveys the distinct and often disturbing aspects of female experience in contem...
8th July 2019
Poetry map's 2,000 poems, and still counting ...
A project aimed at creating a poetry map of England and Wales has seen almost 2,000 poems posted in its first month. The four-month Places of Poetry project, which was launched at the beginning of Jun...
8th July 2019
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Stockport Write Out Loud meets on Monday 8 July at Stockport art gallery to share poems. Entry is £1.50 to this open-floor poetry evening. Each month poets’ contributions are used to put together a co...
8th July 2019
The Poem of the Week is 'Ring Around the Poison Ivy' by Mae Foreman
This weeks Poerm of the Week is 'Ring Around the Poison Ivy' by Mae Foreman. A hypnotic nursery rhyme with a dark heart, like all the best rhymes it juxtaposes bright imagery with a darker, more serio...
1st July 2019
Claudia Rankine to judge €10,000 Moth poetry prize
The Forward prizewinning poet Claudia Rankine will be judging the €10,000 Moth poetry prize for a single unpublished poem. Four shortlisted poems will appear in the spring issue of The Moth magazine, ...
1st July 2019
'The shout across the garden to say another flower is about to break'
The following poem by James Davis May, published in 32 Poems Magazine, has a sentence I'd like to underline, because it states just what I look for in the poems I choose for this column: "We praise th...
1st July 2019
