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Accessibility? Must do better. Disabled poet Shaun Fallows looks back at the good and bad times on his Arts Council-funded tour

I could have kicked myself back in the summer when I realised I’d written the wrong date on the calendar for disabled poet and wheelchair user Shaun Fallows’ gig at the Poetry Jam in Durham. I’ve known Shaun for a few years online and on Zoom, but I’d never seen him live. Both of us were looking forward to meeting up. So I had to get in touch afterwards to say sorry, and to ask him how the tour to...

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Interview

Deadline nearing for National Poetry Competition entries

The 31 October deadline is nearing for the Poetry Society's £5,000 2024 National Poetry Competition entries. This year's judges are Stephen Sexton, Romalyn Ante and John McAuliffe. More details here

 

ILLUSTRATION: KATE DEHLER 

 

 

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Competitions

Normal, or what? Gerry Potter's poem features in TV comedy

A well-known north-west poet has written a poem that will be performed in the final episode of the current hit TV comedy series ‘Alma’s Not Normal’. Gerry Potter told his Facebook followers: “The wors...

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News

Miniskirts in The Waste Land: Pratibha Castle, Hedgehog Poetry Press

Irish-born Pratibha Castle, who currently resides in Sussex, holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. A former singer, artist and holistic therapy workshop facilit...

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Review

Wanted - a volunteer to expand Write Out Loud's Gig Guide!

Did you know that the Write Out Loud website started out as just a gig guide, emailed to poets in Bolton and the surrounding area back in 2004? In the following year it turned into a website, and deve...

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Write Out Loud

John Burnside wins Laurel eco-poetry prize

John Burnside, who died earlier this year aged 69, has been posthumously awarded the 2024 Laurel prize for his collection Ruin, Blossom (Jonathan Cape), it was announced on Saturday night.

The £5,0...

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News

The Warfield Poems: Patrick B Osada

Patrick Osada’s collection The Warfield Poems is a lament for his village in Berkshire that over the last few decades has largely been swallowed up by the “tentacles” of housing development reaching o...

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Review

'We ride the electric horse without any reins': poet Shaun Fallows on disability and freedom

Shaun Fallows was born with cerebral palsy, and is a wheelchair user. Last year the Wigan-based poet appeared on a Channel 5 programme to talk about disability, and also published his first poetry col...

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Interview

‘Don’t go flashing those metaphors!’: Isobel and sisters give poetry jam a kick up the syntax

Some traditions simply refuse to die. Back in 2010 Write Out Loud’s website founder Julian Jordon inaugurated the first Write Out Loud open-mic poetry jam at the Tunnel End Inn during Marsden jazz fes...

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Review

‘You never quite know what’s going to count as a religious poem’: Rowan Williams on his anthology of spiritual poetry

“Poetry is one of the things that religion does to you … I believe that good poetry comes from the same sort of place as religious faith.” Thus spoke Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury, a...

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Berwick literary festival

New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock dies aged 90

The New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock, who celebrated her 90th birthday in February with the publication of her Collected Poems, has died in the North London Hospice in Finchley, after a short illness.

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News

Small and Necessary Lives: Ron Scowcroft, Wayleave

Originally from Greater Manchester, Ron Scowcroft has lived in the Lancaster area since 1985. After a career in teaching and academic research, he began writing poetry in 2006. He is the author of two...

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Review

Collected Poems: Fleur Adcock, Bloodaxe

Weighing in at over 600 pages, this is a substantial volume. Too big to be delivered through the letterbox, but handed in at the front door, it has given me an opportunity to renew my acquaintance wit...

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Review

Battery Rocks: Katrina Naomi, Seren

Katrina Naomi grew up close to the sea in Margate and now lives in Cornwall, where she combines her love of writing with sea swimming and a passion for wild places. Her poetry collections have won Aut...

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Review

Victoria Chang wins 2024 Forward prize for best collection

The American poet Victoria Chang has won the £10,000 Forward prize for best collection with ‘With My Back to the World’ (Corsair), which engages with the paintings and writings of Agnes Martin, the ce...

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News

'Now I have the courage to show everyone my voice': meet this year's Foyle Young Poets award winners

“It means the world to me to win the Foyle Young Poets award. I have been writing for a very long time – privately, always hunched over the family computer, letting my ideas meander onto the document,...

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Young Write Out Loud

Your chance to take the stage: Write Out Loud's poetry jam at Marsden jazz festival!

Write Out Loud returns to Marsden in West Yorkshire for its popular annual open mic poetry jam at the jazz festival on Sunday morning 13 October 11am-1pm. This year we are delighted to have secured a ...

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Events

Jacqueline Saphra to judge Waltham Forest competition

Jacqueline Saphra will be judging the £400 Waltham Forest poetry competition on the theme of Friendship. There is also an extra prize for the funniest poem. The deadline is 14 October. More details

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Competitions

Remembering and celebrating a tree that broke hearts

“It was the perfect tree, in the perfect place.” So said poet, performer, writer and broadcaster Kate Fox, in launching a book of poems at Waterstones in Newcastle to commemorate the shocking felling ...

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Review

Posthumous collection by young poet is on TS Eliot prize shortlist

A posthumous collection by a young poet who was found dead after a festival last year is among the shortlisted books for this year’s £25,000 TS Eliot prize. Adam, which is Gboyega Odubanjo’s debut ful...

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News

Record attempt, online open-mics, the poetry of a town: it's National Poetry Day!

The theme of this year’s National Poetry Day is ‘counting’ – and here’s just a taste of some of the events today. One event is an attempt to break the world record for the largest poetry lesson, colla...

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News

Poetry student jailed for throwing soup over Van Gogh painting

A young poet and climate activist who took part in a Just Stop Oil protest which involved throwing soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London in 2022 has been jailed.

...

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News

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