Di Slaney wins Write Out Loud’s ‘Echoes’ competition with ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’ - in memory of a ‘dear friend and inspiration’

Di Slaney has won Write Out Loud’s 20th anniversary ‘Echoes’ poetry competition with her poem ‘Dolly Parton’s wig’, written in memory of the late poet Kathryn Bevis, who died last year from cancer two months after publishing her first collection, The Butterfly House, with Seren. Our competition judge, Neil Astley, editor and publisher of Bloodaxe Books, said Di Slaney’s winning poem was “a fitting tribute echoing a poet loved ...

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News and Opinion

Heartening news about the healing power of open-mic poetry – something we at Write Out Loud have always evangelised about – has come in an article in ...

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This was an eco-festival - with plenty of poetry - that put forward a positive view for the future of our world. Alnwick’s What a Wonderful World fest...

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Words from three of Scotland’s leading poets have been unveiled on the Scottish Parliament’s Canongate Wall, on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Earlier this y...

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To Haydon Bridge in Northumberland, to find the cottage where the poet Philip Larkin and his long-time lover, Monica Jones, met four or five times a y...

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In her mid-20s, Len Pennie is already a poetry phenomenon. She became renowned on social media such as TikTok during lockdown for posting a "Scots wor...

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The 2025 National Poetry Competition, run by the Poetry Society, is open for entries. This year’s judges are Denise Saul, Ian Duhig and Susannah Dicke...

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For two decades or more, the name Henry Normal was most often associated with an illustrious string of hit television comedies such as The Mrs Merton ...

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Marilyn Longstaff lives in Darlington and is a member of Vane Women writing collective. In 2003, she received a Northern Promise Award from New Writin...

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