Return Neruda's remains to his burial place, orders Chile judge
A judge in Chile has ordered that the body of Pablo Neruda should be returned to his grave for reburial. The Guardian reports that the poet’s remains have been lying in forensic laboratories in four countries in an attempt to determine whether his death may have been accelerated by poisoning.
Neruda, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971, was being treated for cancer. He died on 23 Sep...
28th February 2015
Live link with New York poet George Wallace at fundraising night for Bolton's Live From Worktown festival
Organisers of Bolton’s Live From Worktown festival are staging a live link with New York-based poet George Wallace, pictured, as part of a night of poetry, comedy and music aimed at raising funds for the festival, on Wednesday 18 March, at Bolton College, Deane Road Campus. Also on the bill with Wal...
27th February 2015
Deadline nears for York literature festival's £400 poetry competition
The deadline for the York literature festival / YorkMix open poetry competition is 28 February. The judge is Carole Bromley, and the first prize has been increased to £400. More details
25th February 2015
Hollie McNish: 'My mum worked night shift as a nurse and had two kids. This is nothing!'
Two of her YouTube videos have been seen a total of more than three million times. Last month leading performance poet Hollie McNish won a £10,000 Arts Foundation award for spoken word. In April she p...
25th February 2015
Campaigners win court victory in fight to preserve view from Dylan Thomas Boathouse
A campaign backed by the granddaughter of Dylan Thomas, Hannah Ellis, has won a high court victory to preserve the view from the poet’s famous Boathouse home in Laugharne – the seaside town where Thom...
25th February 2015
Deadline nears for Poets and Players £400 competition
Paul Muldoon will be judging Manchester’s Poets and Players 2015 poetry competition. The first prize is £400, and the deadline is 9 March. More details
25th February 2015
BBC's The Verb on lookout for new northern voices
Last year Wigan poet Louise Fazackerley - pictured at Write Out Loud in Huddersfield - was one of the winners. This year Verb New Voices 3 is again looking for four artists based in the north of Engla...
25th February 2015
Get your kicks just off the A3? Rich poetic mix at Petersfield Write Angle
I’d been wanting to visit the poetry night Petersfield Write Angle for quite some time. I’d been intrigued as well as informed by the detailed reviews sent in to Write Out Loud on a regular basis by i...
24th February 2015
Portrait of the poet: Elaine Feinstein talks to Michael Schmidt
Prize-winning poet Elaine Feinstein will be talking about her poetry and life with fellow poet and publisher Michael Schmidt at 2.30pm on Tuesday 24 February at the Jewish Museum in London. The event ...
23rd February 2015
Philip Levine, America's 'blue collar' poet laureate of the industrial heartland, dies aged 87
American poet Philip Levine has died aged 87. He was widely known here as a poet of the working class. He was a "large, ironic Whitman of the industrial heartland”, according to Edward Hirsch, largely...
23rd February 2015
Short of Breath: Vivien Jones, Cultured Llama
Vivien Jones lives on the north Solway shore in Scotland, and this is her second collection of poetry. Short of Breath has no overarching theme, and encompasses some subjects that are perhaps predicta...
22nd February 2015
Write Out Loud Middleton tonight at the Ring O' Bells
Catherine Coward is the guest poet at Write Out Loud Middleton, on Sunday 22 February at the Ring O’Bells pub, St Leonards Square, Middleton. Entry is a £2 donation to this open mic event, hosted by N...
22nd February 2015
Poetry can help heal Sri Lanka's divisions, says minister
Sri Lanka’s minister for higher education has called on universities to organise programmes of poetry to help “bring together” the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority. According to a report in the...
20th February 2015
Free Verse book fair: a day when poetry met the people in Red Lion Square
Would Jeremy Paxman have approved? It was a day when poetry engaged with the outside world, or at least bumped straight into it, as poems were read while marchers assembled in Red Lion Square in Londo...
20th February 2015
How does US open mic measure up?
This was my first time at a US open mic. What to expect? Would I make some horrendous cultural gaffe, a poetic equivalent of, say, not understanding the infield fly rule [a rule in baseball] ? Or my a...
20th February 2015
Tongue Fu helps Write Out Loud's Gig Guide pass 12,000 listings milestone
Chris Redmond’s Tongue Fu night of spoken word, poetry and song has helped Write Out Loud’s famous Gig Guide to notch up its 12,000th listing - in the site’s 10th anniversary year.
The regular home...
20th February 2015
International gathering of poets at Scotland's Stanza festival
One of the UK’s biggest poetry festivals, Stanza at St Andrews, will be staged early next month, as the poetry festival season begins to get into gear. Poets from the US, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Far...
19th February 2015
Soundscapes, psychogeography, and a peach of a poem at The Other Room
I thought it was time for another visit to The Other Room in Manchester, and chose a night of very enjoyable but almost indescribable work at this welcoming home of experimental poetry. As Americans s...
19th February 2015
Transatlantic special plus pies at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Poet and photographer Robert Norbury will be standing in as compere at Write Out Loud Marsden on Wednesday 18 February, in what is hoped to be a “transatlantic special”. There are plans for a live lin...
18th February 2015
No need to mind your language, Mab: loose talk that's about women's lives
At the start of her set, Mab Jones seemed a little unsure of her audience, and said she probably wouldn’t perform the poem containing her “best rhyme” … the one rhyming “Venus” with “penis”. By the co...
18th February 2015
Char March at Write Out Sale at the Waterside tonight
Poet and playwright Char March will be the guest at Write Out Loud Sale on Tuesday 17 February at the Waterside arts centre, Sale. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic event, compered by John Darwin, which...
17th February 2015
The search for peace after war: one former soldier's story
“The war starts the day you leave the army …” Former soldier Lee Blunt talks to Frances Spurrier about the impetus behind his new book of poems, From the Trench to the Park Bench: a reflection on the...
16th February 2015
The Hard Word Box: Sarah Hesketh, Penned in the Margins
In her introduction to this collection, Sarah Hesketh quotes a care worker’s words: “When you tell this story, make sure you tell it right,” and adds that the staff member at the home in Preston was “...
14th February 2015
Call for 'heritage' podcasts by spoken word artists
Performance poetry organisation Apples and Snakes is looking for spoken word artists to create podcasts with the theme of “heritage” for a monthly slot with Hive Live Radio, which is based in Bede’s W...
13th February 2015
War poet Dan O'Brien: 'I want to move the reader. Empathy is the goal'
It began when American playwright and poet Dan O’Brien heard an interview with Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist Paul Watson, in which Watson said he felt haunted by the ghost of the dead US sold...
12th February 2015
Valentine's special at Write Out Loud Wigan tonight
Tony Kinsella is the guest compere at a special Valentine’s Write Out Loud Wigan at The Old Courts, Crawford Street, Wigan, on Thursday 12 February. Entry is free to this open mic event, beginning at ...
12th February 2015
Out in the open: celebrating gay poetry, and its inspirations
I’ve been to a couple of the Poetry Library’s Special Edition readings before, but had never seen the place so packed. The reading, marking LGBT history month, was billed as ‘Hidden Desires, Hidden L...
12th February 2015
Sally Spedding to judge £400 Welsh poetry competition
The £400 Welsh poetry competition is open for entries. The judge is Sally Spedding, and the deadline is 31 May. More details
10th February 2015
'I was so stoked to get this, I cried when they announced my name': Hollie McNish on winning a £10,000 spoken word award
Top performance poet Hollie McNish has spoken about her emotions on hearing she had won the £10,000 Arts Foundation award for spoken word last week.
She told Write Out Loud: "I was so stoked to ge...
10th February 2015
Caged and uncaged poetry at Write Out Loud Stockport tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 9 February at 7pm to read and discuss their own poetry. Entry is a £1 donation. Each month a collage poem is crea...
9th February 2015
Last train from Marsden: Mr Armitage goes to Washington
Simon Armitage is famously from Marsden, as is Write Out Loud. I walked past his dad the other day, during my morning constitutional; and here I was attending his and Peter Oswald’s reading at the Fol...
9th February 2015
Relax, and listen: poet takes a back seat as Live Canon actors launch collection
Imagine it: you have a new poetry collection. The launch is arranged, you turn up, but you’re not required to read. It happens all the time when Live Canon is involved.
Thus when Marcus Smith, born...
6th February 2015
Simon Armitage to judge £1,000 Rialto nature poetry competition
Simon Armitage will judge the 2014 £1,000 Rialto Nature poetry competition, which is offering an additional prize of a tour with wildlife writer Mark Cocker of his most cherished places in East Anglia...
5th February 2015
Cornish group looks forward to visit from TS Eliot shortlist poet after winning Poetry Book Society prize
Members of a poetry group in Cornwall are looking forward to a visit from a poet who was shortlisted for this year’s TS Eliot Prize, after they won a Poetry Book Society competition.
5th February 2015
'If we enjoy it we will try to publish it': Indigo Dreams aim to give new poets a chance
Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling are Indigo Dreams Publishing, which is gaining a deserved reputation for giving many poets their first publishing opportunity. Earlier this month they were awarded the ...
4th February 2015
Poets reveal 'hidden literature' in reading at Poetry Library
Gregory Woods, Andrew McMillan, Keith Jarrett, Harry Burke and Maitreyabandhu will be reading at the Poetry Library on Wednesday 4 February at 8pm at an event titled ‘Hidden Desires, Hidden Literature...
4th February 2015
Poetry magazine Butcher's Dog has new co-editor
Submissions are open until 15 February for the next issue of Butcher’s Dog, a biannual poetry magazine founded in the north-east of England. The magazine is open to submissions from writers anywhere i...
3rd February 2015
Creativity, curiosity and generosity at Hard Rain workshop and open mic
Hard Rain is a regular free poetry workshop and reading evening that goes from strength to strength at the Thairish Cafe (formerly Isis) in Levenshulme, on the Manchester-Stockport border.
Held on...
2nd February 2015
