TS Eliot shortlist announced as prize is increased to £25,000
Ocean Vuong, who recently won the Forward prize winner for best first collection, has been included in the 2017 shortlist for the TS Eliot prize, which has been increased to £25,000 to mark the 25th anniversary of the award, the Poetry Book Society announced on Thursday.
Judges Bill Herbert (chair), James Lasdun and Helen Mort picked their list from a record 154 poetry collections submitted by ...
23rd October 2017
‘Marilyn Monroe of literature’? Discussion on lives of poets is drawn to Sylvia Plath
To label Sylvia Plath as “the Marilyn Monroe of literature” is glib and facile - but in order to understand her work, you do have to know about her troubled life with Ted Hughes that ended with her suicide. That was a message from US academic Sarah Churchwell at a discussion at the Poetry Internatio...
21st October 2017
Award-winning poet's one-woman show in Saddleworth
Rosie Fleeshman, who won the best spoken word award at this year’s Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, will be presenting her one-woman show, Narcissist in the Mirror, at Millgate arts centre in Delph...
21st October 2017
Poet gives first reading after accident that left her in brace with broken back
A poet who broke her back in seven places after falling into a pond while walking her dog earlier this year will be launching her latest collection at Marsden library on Wednesday 18 October.
Aliso...
18th October 2017
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside tonight
Angela Topping and Kevin Bamford are the guests at Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside arts centre, Sale on Tuesday 17 November. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic poetry night. Doors open at 7pm. More ...
17th October 2017
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Hosts Rodney Wood and Greg Freeman will be welcoming regulars and newcomers to Write Out Loud Woking, at the New Inn, Send, near Woking on Monday 16 October. Entry is free to this night of open-mic po...
16th October 2017
Milestone moment as Write Out Loud's competition anthology is unveiled
It was the very satisfying end of a journey on Saturday at Long Compton in Warwickshire, with the grand unveiling of Write Out Loud’s Milestones poetry competition anthology. The location was the agm ...
15th October 2017
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Hosts Jeffarama! and Gordon Zola will be welcoming poets – experienced and newcomers – to Write Out Loud Bolton at Bolton Socialist Club on Sunday 15 October for another night of open-mic poetry. Entr...
15th October 2017
Freed Iranian poet honoured as 'writer of courage'
An Iranian woman who began writing poetry in prison has been named 2017 International Writer of Courage at the PEN Pinter Prize ceremony at the British Library.
Mahvash Sabet was freed last month, ...
15th October 2017
Poetry International turns 50 with weekend of global voices at Southbank
London’s Southbank Centre is celebrating 50 years of Poetry International, which was launched by Ted Hughes in 1967, with a series of events featuring global voices at the Royal Festival Hall over the...
15th October 2017
Remembering a ground-breaking book of poetry, 50 years on
“They called the book The Mersey Sound. We didn’t want it. It looked as if we were cashing in on the Beatles – and of course we were. We were christened the Pop Poets – not as in Pop Art but as in pop...
15th October 2017
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Open mic poets will be in full cry at Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts on Thursday 12 October. Entry is free and it starts at 8.30pm. More details and Map
12th October 2017
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will meet on Monday 9 October at Stockport art gallery at 7pm for their monthly readaround. Each month members’ contributions become part of a collage poem, and you...
9th October 2017
Young Syrian refugee wins Betjeman poetry prize with lament for her country
A 13-year-old refugee from Syria has won the Betjeman poetry prize for 10-13-year-olds with her poem ‘Lament for Syria’. Amineh Abou Kerech, from Oxford, was presented with her prize beside the statue...
8th October 2017
Can it get any better? Write Out Loud's poetry jam at The Railway in Marsden
Write Out Loud’s annual open mic poetry jam takes place on Sunday October 8, from 11am to 1.30pm, at The Railway inn, Marsden. It’s compered, as ever, by Write Out Loud’s co-founder Julian Jordon, en...
6th October 2017
Can you earn a living as a poet? Discussion offers advice on how to pay the rent
There is no magic shortcut to making a living as a poet. That warning from discussion panel chair Sarah Hesketh at the Poetry Book Fair in London on Saturday may not have surprised her audience at all...
6th October 2017
Lines on loneliness: Catherine Graham wins Jo Cox poetry prize
Catherine Graham has won the Jo Cox poetry prize organised by Carers UK for her poem ‘The Washing Machine’. The award for poems exploring loneliness was launched in honour of the former Batley and Spe...
2nd October 2017
Seven thousand words for human: Poetry Library bids to preserve poems in endangered languages
The National Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre in London marked National Poetry Day by launching a project to collect and preserve poems in endangered languages - and has commissioned four poets...
2nd October 2017
