Daljit Nagra to chair Royal Society of Literature in its 200th year
Award-winning poet Daljit Nagra has been appointed chair of the council of the Royal Society of Literature, it was announced today. The Bookseller quoted him as saying: "Becoming chair of the RSL is the greatest professional honour of my life.
“I look forward to continuing our work in celebrating the diversity and wealth of classic and contemporary literature. As literature finds new readers a...
30th November 2020
British Library says sorry to family of Ted Hughes after linking distant ancestor to slave trade
The British Library has apologised to the family of the former poet laureate Ted Hughes, after it linked him to the slave trade through a distant ancestor.
Hughes’s name had been included on a spreadsheet from the library listing more than 300 figures with “evidence of connections to slavery, pro...
26th November 2020
Huddersfield Choral Society to premiere two pandemic works with words by Simon Armitage
Huddersfield Choral Society will on Saturday 28 November be performing two new works in response to Covid-19, with lyrics by the poet laureate Simon Armitage, and music by composers Cheryl Frances-Hoa...
25th November 2020
Amy Glynn wins £2,000 Troubadour international poetry prize
Amy Glynn has won the £2,000 Troubadour international poetry prize with her poem ‘Entre-Deux-Mers, June’. She is from Lafayette, California. Second was Michael Lavers, from Provo, Utah, with ‘Filter Q...
25th November 2020
Move top poetry prize nights out of London, urges TS Eliot judge
One of the current judges of the TS Eliot prize has suggested staging the next live TS Eliot Prize reading event at somewhere like Scarborough or Grimsby, instead of in London.
Award-winning poet A...
25th November 2020
Eavan Boland, who died earlier this year, on Costa poetry shortlist
The Irish poet Eavan Boland, who died earlier this year aged 75, has been shortlisted in the poetry category of the Costa Book Awards, it was announced on Tuesday night. Her most recent collection, Th...
24th November 2020
Leading Australian poet admits borrowing without attribution after intervention by poetry sleuth
Has poetry sleuth Ira Lightman cracked another major case? It would appear so, judging by a recent public admission by a leading and multi-award-winning Australian poet. The Australian newspaper has r...
24th November 2020
Celebrate with a brew! Film of poem by Julian Jordon on theme of refugees and cuppas wins TV award
A short film made last year for Refugee Week of a poem – a villanelle – by Write Out Loud’s Julian Jordon has won the animation category in the Royal Television Society’s Yorkshire awards. The award w...
21st November 2020
Joy Harjo appointed to third consecutive term as US poet laureate
The first Native American poet to serve as America’s poet laureate, Joy Harjo, has been reappointed to a rare third term by the Library of Congress. Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, was...
19th November 2020
Simon Armitage reads 'The Bed' at centenary service for Unknown Warrior
The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, on Armistice Day - Wednesday 11 November - read a new poem, ‘The Bed’, to mark the 100th anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. The p...
12th November 2020
Poets get together to aid Black Lives Matter UK with single release
A group of artists and producers have come together to release a single supporting Black Minds Matter UK. ‘Birds’ is a poetic collaboration between the Tongue Fu collective and poets Salena Godden, pi...
11th November 2020
WE'RE BUILDING A NEW WRITE OUT LOUD – AND ASKING OUR POETRY COMMUNITY TO HELP US
We all know that the world has changed immeasurably since March. Almost as much as it has done since Write Out Loud was formed nearly two decades ago. And one thing that’s been clear for all of us to ...
10th November 2020
Two poems - by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen - for Remembrance
For Remembrance, Write Out Loud would like to share two very well-known poems from the first world war, by Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Owen wrote: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The ...
10th November 2020
