Story of poet's traumatic, near-fatal fall featured on BBC Radio 3
A poet’s near-fatal fall into a millpond in which she broke her back in seven places and meant a long, painful recovery has been turned into a radio programme on BBC Radio 3. Alison Lock later distilled the traumatic experience into a poetic sequence titled Lure.
The accident happened in April 2017, when Alison was out walking her dog. She had to drag herself out of the water and along a path f...
25th April 2021
Poetic talents blossom: crowd-sourced poem celebrates spring 2021
A crowdsourced poem celebrating the coming of spring 2021 composed from 400 contributions has been weaved together by the nature writer Elizabeth-Jane Burnett in a project by the National Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Burnett has created a poem called ‘Spring, An Inventory’,...
21st April 2021
Byron's deathbed cheque that helped Greek fight for independence
As Greece celebrates the bicentenary of its war of independence, a banknote has been unearthed by the Observer newspaper in the country’s state archives that offers lasting proof of the poet Lord Byr...
18th April 2021
Poet laureate's elegy to Duke of Edinburgh on day of funeral
Simon Armitage has carried out one of his more traditional functions as poet laureate – by publishing a poem about the Duke of Edinburgh on the day of the royal consort’s funeral.
Prince Philip die...
18th April 2021
Online play to paint picture of Irish poet Eavan Boland
A theatre production about the life of the late Irish poet, Eavan Boland, will be livestreamed and available on demand later this month. Boland: Journey of a Poet is the story of her life through her ...
17th April 2021
A first for poetry as Amanda Gorman tops US books bestseller list
Amanda Gorman, who became the youngest poet at 23 to read at a presidential inauguration in January this year, recently hit no 1 on USA Today’s bestselling books list with her Washington poem ‘The Hil...
14th April 2021
Poet laureate begins tour of nation's libraries in Ashby-de-la-Zouch
The poet laureate Simon Armitage is to begin a 10-year tour of the UK's libraries, launching it via a livestreamed reading in Ashby-de-la-Zouch on 26 April. Each spring he will perform live readings a...
8th April 2021
Final day for voting in the first round of the 2021 Saboteur awards
There have been very few live spoken word events in the last year – but here are this year’s Saboteur award nominations coming round again anyway! The 2021 voting form still includes best spoken word ...
7th April 2021
Poets and musicians celebrate 'tastefully tantric' Totnes and Barrel House venue
A poetry and music film celebrating a live venue in Totnes, and “the many poets and musicians who have made their home in Devon” has been released on YouTube. The film is a collaboration between Julie...
4th April 2021
Russian poet's family memoir longlisted for International Booker Prize
A family memoir by the Russian poet Maria Stepanova and translated by UK poet Sasha Dugdale - both pictured - has been included on the longlist for the International Booker Prize. In addition to In Me...
1st April 2021
