How to combat lockdown: poetry group's online magazine has readers in 20 countries
Poetry groups have reacted in different ways to the pandemic. Quite a few have shut up shop, waiting for it to blow over so we can all return to live venues. A number have switched to online events on platforms like Zoom and found it surprisingly easy to get used to. Judging from the green shoots of Zoom events appearing on Write Out Loud’s online Gig Guide, this is an increasing number.
Others...
30th January 2021
'The dead are still here holding our hands': Jackie Kay's moving poem on BBC's Newsnight
The Scottish makar, Jackie Kay, contributed a moving and memorable poem on BBC’s Newsnight on Wednesday night, during a programme that centred on the government’s announcement earlier in the day that deaths from Covid in the UK had reached 100,000.
Kay wrote ‘Darling’ several years ago about the ...
27th January 2021
'Do Not Ask': a poem to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
Today – 27 January - is Holocaust Memorial Day. The Holocaust Memorial Trust (HMDT) encourages remembrance in a world scarred by genocide, remembering the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaus...
27th January 2021
'Democracy can never be defeated': Amanda Gorman is youngest poet to perform at inauguration
Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to perform at a presidential inauguration on Wednesday, winning wide praise for her inspirational and thoughtful poem 'The Hill We Climb'. The 22-year-...
23rd January 2021
'All I knew was that I was to go to Abbey Road and bring three poems'
One of the poets involved in the Cerys Matthews poetry and music album project has spoken of his “joyous surprise” at being asked to contribute, and of attending a recording session at the famous Abby...
19th January 2021
Marianne Faithfull to release album of Romantic poetry readings
Legendary 1960s figure Marianne Faithfull has unveiled her latest album project – reading the works of the Romantic Poets, including Keats’ To Autumn, and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley’s Ozymandias, a...
18th January 2021
TV programme on Cornwall pays tribute to poet Jack Clemo
A tribute has been paid during a TV series about Cornwall to “one of Cornwall’s most celebrated poets”, Jack Clemo. In a section of Rick Stein’s Cornwall, Stein talks to writer Philip Marsden about ...
18th January 2021
Singer and DJ Cerys Matthews in album project with 10 poets
Musician and DJ Cerys Matthews is a great champion of poetry. The singer, songwriter and broadcaster, who hosts a weekly music show on BBC Radio 6 Music, has chaired the Forward prize judges in 2014, ...
18th January 2021
Alexa, what's the latest about Brian Bilston, poet laureate of Twitter?
The poet laureate of Twitter, Brian Bilston, is a bit less of a mystery man these days. For a while it’s been known that he is actually Paul Millicheap, a former academic publisher from Oxford, aged 5...
14th January 2021
TS Eliot Prize readings and announcement of winner to be streamed on Sunday 24 January
The £25,000 TS Eliot Prize readings will be combined with the chair of the judges’ announcement of the winner in a streamed event hosted by Ian McMillan at 7pm on Sunday 24 January. Tickets for the ev...
12th January 2021
Write Out Loud regular offers free copy of spare poetry pamphlet to first email claimant
Write Out Loud regular MC (Mark) Newberry is offering a free copy of a poetry collection about the American civil war that was recently reviewed on this website to the first email claimant. Following ...
9th January 2021
'Walking generates poetic ideas ... I always come back with a couple of good adverbs': Simon Armitage on BBC's Saturday Live
Simon Armitage spoke about the process of becoming poet laureate on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live at the weekend. He said that at first, “as I understand it, there were a number of conversations going o...
9th January 2021
Poetry is precious in these '24-7' times, says Carol Ann Duffy
Poetry can provide an antidote to a “24-7 babble … which is not good for our mental health”, the former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy told listeners on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour this week.
She add...
9th January 2021
Eavan Boland wins posthumous Costa poetry prize
The Irish poet Eavan Boland, who died last year aged 75, has been posthumously awarded the Costa poetry prize, it was announced on Monday night. Her final collection, The Historians, published in Octo...
4th January 2021
