Meet Neil Astley, celebrated Bloodaxe editor - and our competition judge
Bloodaxe … what an arresting name for a poetry publisher. I may have first come across Neil Astley’s name when my wife gave me the second anthology in the Bloodaxe Staying Alive series, Being Alive, as a Valentine’s Day present. In such an enormous volume, you could not help but find poetry that you liked. Coincidence or not … but 2004 was also the first year that I started writing poetry since my...
12th April 2025
When Neruda arrived in search of Write Out Loud (in a manner of speaking)
The Write Out Loud team has perhaps been more focused on our 20th anniversary and fundraising poetry competition than the recent World Poetry Day. Mea culpa!
And yet we consider ourselves internationalist in outlook. Right from our website's launch (May 2005), our logo was the beret-clad figure ...
12th April 2025
Write Out Loud looks back … at the early days of lockdown. How did poets cope?
As part of our 20-year anniversary celebrations, Write Out Loud will be looking back at significant moments for us and the wider poetry world over the last two decades. They don’t come much more signi...
12th April 2025
Caroline Bird Poetry Masterclass available to all
Following Anthony Anaxagorou's mind-stretching masterclass, re-released last week, we've now re-launched Caroline Bird's workshop, giving you a whole new set of challenges to stretch and stimulate you...
6th April 2025
Poetry Masterclass with Matt Abbott (available now!)
Third and final in our masterclass series, is Matt Abbott's workshop in which he provides a number of triggers for writing about personal history, ones that get attendees re inspired to jot down a fe...
31st March 2025
Write Out Loud’s sell-out Poetry Masterclasses are back!
Want to give your poetry a boost with new ideas, new skills, and new challenges? Here's how: watch the videos of our series of masterclasses from professional poets at the top of their game.
Write...
23rd March 2025
Young Write Out Loud is out and about: join us at Slaithwaite’s Moonraking festival!
An important part of Write Out Loud’s 20th anniversary year is expanding our work with children and young people. And what better way to start than by linking up again with poet and performer Louise F...
12th February 2025
What does the word ‘Echoes’ say to you? Countdown to Write Out Loud’s poetry competition to mark our 20-year anniversary
In a few days’ time Write Out Loud will be launching a big poetry competition to mark our 20th anniversary year. We’re very excited about it! The theme of the competition will be ‘Echoes’ – and it wil...
1st February 2025
