Simon Armitage welcomes spring and the National Trust's blossom campaign
The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, has written a poem that welcomes spring, as well as marking World Poetry Day. ‘Plum Tree Among the Skyscrapers’ conjures up a plum tree growing through a “cracked slab in a city square”, and is the first in a collection of poems inspired by blossom that have been commissioned by the National Trust. In his poem Armitage goes on to describe the little tree as a “a ...
29th March 2023
'Witty and a touch sardonic' Write Out Loud poet planning new collection
A Write Out Loud poet and Poem of the Week winner is planning to publish his second full collection this year, after his first was hailed as “witty, sympathetic and just a touch sardonic” in an online quarterly poetry magazine.
In a long and detailed review in The High Window, Stuart Henson went ...
26th March 2023
John Cooper Clarke poem that's a favourite at weddings goes global - thanks to the Arctic Monkeys
Is it now the world’s favourite poem? According to an article in the Guardian, a musical version of John Cooper Clarke’s ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by the Arctic Monkeys has clocked up almost a billion stream...
20th March 2023
Ambit ends publication after 64 years with issue 249
The quarterly poetry, fiction and art magazine Ambit, that was launched in 1959, has announced that it is ending publication with its 249th issue. A statement by its chair, Tim Bax, said: “Over the ye...
19th March 2023
Yes Life: Dominic Berry, Flapjack Press
Manchester-based performance poet Dominic Berry has twice been voted best spoken word artist in the Saboteur awards. The affirmative title Yes Life gives a major clue to the uplifting content of most ...
19th March 2023
Call to keep £20,000 Coleridge anti-slavery poem in UK
An anti-slavery poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has warned.
Coleridge wrote th...
18th March 2023
'It's me, she said. It was the physio': Michael Rosen recounts his Covid ordeal, step by step, in new collection
In early March 2020 the poet Michael Rosen was doing what he normally did, making school visits, socialising. Then Covid struck him down, and nearly killed him. He spent three months in hospital, of w...
17th March 2023
Poet, reviewer and artist Carla Scarano D'Antonio dies suddenly
The co-compere of Write Out Loud Woking at the Lightbox, and a regular reviewer for Write Out Loud, Carla Scarano D’Antonio, has died suddenly and unexpectedly at her home at the age of 60.
Ita...
15th March 2023
Pupils 'missing out' on poetry in primary schools
Primary schools in the UK have “limited poetry book stock” and there are “many barriers” to the teaching of poetry, with a majority of teachers feeling that they don’t have enough knowledge about poet...
15th March 2023
Global online celebration on World Poetry Day
A global online poetry celebration will take place on World Poetry Day, Sunday 19 March, staged by Cultivating Voices LIVE poetry, and featuring Archana Sahni, Mbonisi Zikhali Zomkhonto, Raine Geogheg...
14th March 2023
Performance poet Thick Richard at Write Out Loud Sale
Performance poet Thick Richard will be the guest poet at Write Out Loud Sale on Monday 20 March at the Waterside arts centre. Thick Richard has published two collections of his work with Flapjack Pres...
12th March 2023
The Ghostly Effect: Paul Surman, Dempsey & Windle
Oxford-based poet Paul Surman’s first collection, Places (Oversteps Books) was published in 2018. A further collection, Seasons of Damage and Beauty (Dempsey & Windle) followed in 2021. He is a member...
10th March 2023
The Taking Part: Joe Williams, Maytree Press
This short collection by Joe Williams comes with an evocative cover image by Walker Scott. In a Lowryesque scene in a back street a hunched figure passes by while two youngsters play football, the goa...
10th March 2023
Chris Hardy to judge £300 Slipstream Poets competition
Chris Hardy will be judging the £300 Slipstream Poets open competition. Entries must be no longer than 60 Lines. The deadline is 15 March. More details
8th March 2023
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head: Warsan Shire, Chatto & Windus
Warsan Shire’s first full collection captivates the reader with the precision and pressing rhythm of her lines that reflect the urgency of her message. Shire is a Somali-British poet who was born in N...
6th March 2023
Julia Webb to judge £600 Ver Poets competition
Julia Webb will be judging the £600 Ver Poets competition. The deadline is 30 April. More details
6th March 2023
Wendy Klein to judge £300 South Downs competition
Wendy Klein will be judging the £300 South Downs poetry festival competition. The deadline is 15 April. More details
6th March 2023
Poetry of place: Gaia Holmes wins £10,000 Arts Foundation award
Popular Yorkshire poet Gaia Holmes has won a prestigious £10,000 Arts Foundation Future Awards fellowship for Place Writing, for her poetry collection Where The Road Runs Out (Comma Press). The collec...
4th March 2023
