Seamus Heaney's tribute to Edward Thomas in new war anthology
A poem by Seamus Heaney, written two months before he died, has been published as part of a memorial anthology marking next year’s centenary of the outbreak of the first world war. Heaney’s ‘In A Field’ was inspired by Edward Thomas’s ‘As the team’s head-brass’, a poem apparently about rural life but overshadowed by world events. Thomas was killed at the front in 1917. Poet laureate Carol Ann D...
31st October 2013
Forward winner Michael Symmons Roberts among TS Eliot contenders
The Poetry Book Society has announced the shortlist for the TS Eliot prize, which will be awarded early next year. The list includes Michael Symmons Roberts’ Drysalter, which won the Forward prize for best collection earlier this month. The full list, selected by judges Ian Duhig, Imtiaz Dharker ...
29th October 2013
The Write Out Loud interview: Jo Bell
Jo Bell has been the canal laureate for a year, navigating the waterways, from the north-west to the south-west to the Midlands, in pursuit of poetry. In an interview with Greg Freeman she talks of...
27th October 2013
Ringing the changes at Write Out Loud Middleton
Write Out Loud Middleton continues its popular monthly open mic poetry event on Sunday 27 October at the Ring O’ Bells, St Leonard’s Square, Middleton, with Norman Warwick taking over the reins fro...
27th October 2013
Daisy Behagg wins £5,000 Bridport prize
Daisy Behagg has won the £5,000 Bridport poetry prize with her poem, ‘The Opposite of Dave’. Judge Wendy Cope said of the poem: “They say that funny poems don’t win competitions. Well, this one did...
26th October 2013
Pascale Petit wins £10,000 Manchester poetry prize
Pascale Petit has won the £10,000 Manchester poetry prize, organised by Manchester Writiing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. The award was announced last night at the Baronial Hall, Ch...
25th October 2013
Patience Agbabi at Long Poem magazine reading
Forward prize shortlisted poet Patience Agbabi will be reading at Long Poem magazine’s launch of issue 10 at the Barbican library in London, on Wednesday 23 October, at 6pm for 6.30. Other readers...
21st October 2013
Rob Auton, Steve Pottinger and Wendy Klein in Pop Up Poetry anthology
Rob Auton, Steve Pottinger, Wendy Klein, AF Harrold, David Cooke, Mel Jones, Agnes Meadows, Bethany W Pope and Paul Sutherland are among more than 50 poets in the Pop Up Poetry anthology, to be lau...
20th October 2013
'Made from grit and granite': Tony Walsh's stirring poetic tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson
Leading performance poet Tony Walsh (Longfella) has written a poem in honour of Sir Alex Ferguson – and read it out at the renaming of a road in tribute to the former Manchester United manager.
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19th October 2013
Joy France triumphs again as Commonword slam champ
Poet and comedian Joy France has won the Commonword Superheroes of Slam title in Manchester to complete a remarkable week of triumphs. On Saturday she had appeared at Manchester’s Women in Comedy f...
17th October 2013
Animal magic: Carol Ann Duffy fires off poem after badgers remark
A remark by a government minister about “badgers moving the goalposts” that captured the nation’s imagination has inspired the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, to compose a new poem. ’22 Reasons fo...
17th October 2013
Linda Cosgriff's South Africa poem in human rights anthology
A poem about censorship in South Africa in the apartheid era by Linda Cosgriff, a member of Stockport Write Out Loud, is included in a new anthology, In Protest: 150 Poems for Human Rights, that al...
12th October 2013
Wanted: 100 poets to kick off rugby league World Cup match
Walt Whitman said: “To have great poets, there must be great audiences’” - so a rugby international crowd should do nicely. Although sport and poetry might seem unlikely teammates, the spoken word...
12th October 2013
The A-Z of poetry: Write Out Loud unveils new listing service
Write Out Loud has rolled out its Poetry Directory, a brand-new listing service that complements our famous Gig Guide. It’s already packed with publications, festivals, competitions and other poetr...
12th October 2013
Poetry on the canals: laureate Jo Bell at Birmingham festival
Canal laureate Jo Bell will be reading new poetry inspired by canals by well-known and unknown voices as part of the Waterlines project on Saturday 12 October in Birmingham, the hub of England’s ca...
11th October 2013
The Beat is Back: poetry mixes it with jazz at Marsden
Write Out Loud, now an established poetry presence at Marsden's renowned Jazz Festival, this year introduces poetry and music show, The Beat is Back, as well as our ever-popular brunchtime Poetry J...
11th October 2013
Write Out Loud at Wigan tonight
Write Out Loud Wigan convenes on Thursday 10 October for another shindig at the Tudor House hotel in Wigan. Entry is free at this ever-popular open mic event, which kicks off at 8.30pm. More detai...
10th October 2013
Evidently: new poetry night launched in Salford bard's heartland
A regular poetry night is being launched in the heartland of Salford bard John Cooper Clarke. Evidently, at the Black Lion, Salford, starts on Monday 14 October, and then runs every second Monday o...
8th October 2013
Behind the scenes at the Poetry Library
The pleasures and benefits of using the Poetry Library are extolled by fellow 60-year-old John Hegley in his poem, ‘From a Grateful Borrower’, one of six currently beamed on to and broadcast from L...
8th October 2013
Michael Symmons Roberts wins top Forward prize
Michael Symmons Roberts has won the £10,000 Forward prize for his collection Drysalter, a spiritual sequence of metaphysical poems. Emily Berry’s Dear Boy took the prize for best first collection,...
8th October 2013
Robert Frost tops the list on BBC's Poetry Please request show
Robert Frost tops the 10 most broadcast poems on BBC radio’s poetry request show, Poetry Please, with Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Edward Thomas close behind. The revelation comes in advance of p...
5th October 2013
From poetry to stand-up comedy: Joy France's one-woman show
Not that long ago Joy France stepped on to the stage to make her open mic debut at Write Out Loud Wigan. Now, many gigs and awards later, the north-west poet is appearing in her first one-woman sho...
4th October 2013
Let's make a big splash on National Poetry Day
A poetry breakfast, a poetry relay, a poetry marathon and poets performing in tube stations are among the huge number of events taking place in London, Edinburgh, Grasmere, Havant, Grimsby, Chorlto...
3rd October 2013
Forward book of poetry launched at Brick Lane on eve of prize night
The Forward book of poetry, which accompanies the annual prizegiving and contains the work of many illlustrious, commended poets as well as the shortlisted ones, was launched on Monday night at Ro...
1st October 2013
