'My kingdom for a train' ... poems for 18 rail stations along the Shakespeare Line
Rail passengers in the West Midlands can enjoy a little extra inspiration and entertainment when travelling on the Shakespeare Line – from Birmingham Moor Street to Stratford-upon-Avon - with the release of 18 specially written poems.
The poems by 18 West Midlands writers were commissioned for each of the 18 stations along the line. Passengers can download the poems using the Overhear app on th...
29th May 2021
Manuscript of Emily Bronte's poems may fetch £1.2m
A handwritten manuscript of 29 of Emily Bronte’s poems, with pencil corrections by her sister Charlotte, is going up for auction as part of a collection that has been out of public view for nearly a century, the Guardian has reported.
Arthur Bell Nicholls, the widower of Charlotte, sold the major...
29th May 2021
Bloody Amazing! Taboo-breaking anthology wins accolade
One of the stories that emerged from the recent Saboteur awards was the success of Bloody Amazing, the best anthology winner, “full of taboo-breaking poems about bleeding” - menstruation and the menop...
28th May 2021
Jane Lovell wins £5,000 Gingko eco-poem prize
Jane Lovell, pictured, has won the £5,000 Gingko eco-poetry prize for her poem ‘Ming’, the Poetry School has announced. Second was Daniel Fraser (‘Field Notes’), and third was Emily Groves (‘What Surv...
25th May 2021
Myanmar poet dies in detention after interrogation
A Myanmar poet has died in detention and his body was returned with the organs removed, his family said. The Guardian reported the death of Khet Thi, who wrote: “They shoot in the head, but they don’t...
18th May 2021
Simon Armitage's Oxford lectures on poetry to be published
The collected lectures of the poet laureate Simon Armitage when he was Oxford Professor of Poetry are to be published this week. In A Vertical Art Armitage tries to identify a ‘common sense’ approach ...
17th May 2021
Luke Wright voted best spoken word performer in Saboteur awards
Luke Wright, who performed nightly on Twitter for 100 consecutive nights from his Suffolk home at the beginning of lockdown last year, has won the Saboteur award for best spoken word performer, it was...
16th May 2021
Sharing poetry and photos and anthology launch on Dylan Thomas Day
A host of events are lined up on Friday, 14 May, to celebrate International Dylan Thomas Day. It’s the anniversary of the date when Under Milk Wood was first read on stage at 92Y The Poetry Centre in ...
14th May 2021
Nonagenarian's poetry collection becomes Amazon bestseller after granddaughter's Twitter plea
A 92-year-old poet has soared to the top of the Amazon poetry bestseller list, after his granddaughter urged friends on Twitter to support the book. Gordon McCulloch’s 101 Poems includes poetry about ...
14th May 2021
Lemn Sissay and Benjamin Zephaniah on Indie Book Awards list
Two books by leading poets are on the shortlist for the Indie Book Awards, it was announced today. They are Lemn Sissay’s memoir My Name Is Why, and Benjamin Zephaniah’s children’s novel Windrush Chil...
14th May 2021
Separation, loss, inspiration: six poets talk about how the pandemic affected them
Raymond Antrobus was separated from his new wife for nine months during the pandemic lockdown; Hollie McNish lost her grandmother and found herself watching her funeral online; Jay Bernard lost two gr...
8th May 2021
Last few hours for voting in the Saboteur awards!
Publishing and life partners Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams have notched up three shortlist nominations in the indie Saboteur awards, to be voted on over the next few weeks. Ronnie a...
4th May 2021
Simon Armitage launches library tour at 'Ashby-de-la-Zoom'
Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire seemed a fitting place to begin Simon Armitage’s 10-year – sorry, make that nine-year – lockdown-affected tour of the selected libraries of the nation, big and smal...
1st May 2021
