Six black British poets on Black Lives Matter, and publishing challenges in the UK
The Observer has published interviews with six leading black British poets – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Vanessa Kisuule, Raymond Antrobus, Grace Nichols, Kayo Chingongi, and Malika Booker, pictured. The interviews are inspirational and important, and Write Out Loud believes our readers need to know about them. Here are some extracts from those interviews:
Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was born i...
28th June 2020
Frail Rosen home after three months in hospital with Covid-19 but not fully recovered
The writer and poet Michael Rosen has returned home, after spending three months in hospital with Covid-19, including many weeks in intensive care. His wife Emma-Louise Williams posted this picture on Twitter with a one-word caption: “Home!”
On Thursday a still-frail Rosen said on Twitter: "I ver...
27th June 2020
Luke Wright performs his 100th consecutive online show - and now he plans a break
Indefatigable performance poet Luke Wright notched up his 100th consecutive spoken word show since the lockdown on Twitter last night – and now he’s finally taking a break. Luke will be switching to p...
27th June 2020
'I wanted a real live reacting audience ... live streaming isn't the same thing at all. But now I've been converted to the potential of online gigs'
The Covid19 pandemic lockdown has hit live performance hard. Venues and artists have suffered loss of incomes, gigs and festivals have been cancelled, and book and album launches have had to be deferr...
20th June 2020
Stockport Write Out Loud poets record eight weeks of lockdown in anthology
Members of Stockport Write Out Loud have produced an anthology of pandemic poetry, titled Eight Weeks of Lockdown, a week by week poetic diary about their thoughts and experiences.
Each week took a...
17th June 2020
He's tweeting again: recovering Michael Rosen returns to social media
The poet and writer Michael Rosen has returned to Twitter, almost three months after being taken to hospital with suspected Covid-19 and spending many weeks in intensive care.
Rosen, aged 74, who i...
14th June 2020
Poetry Foundation promises sweeping changes after Black Lives Matter resignations
The Poetry Foundation has promised sweeping reforms after an extraordinary few days in which its president, Henry Beinen, and the chair of the foundation’s board, Willard Bunn III, resigned in respons...
14th June 2020
Simon Armitage's band LYR sets sail with debut album Call in the Crash Team
Simon Armitage has found a place for “some little bits of writing that I really didn’t have a home for” – by turning them into lyrics performed by a band called LYR (Land Yacht Regatta) who will be re...
6th June 2020
Simon Armitage's band LYR sets sail with debut album Call in the Crash Team
Simon Armitage has found a place for “some little bits of writing that I really didn’t have a home for” – by turning them into lyrics performed by a band called LYR (Land Yacht Regatta) who will be re...
6th June 2020
Black people suffer police brutality in the UK, George the Poet tells Newsnight
A poet who was interviewed about the politics of race on the BBC’s Newsnight programme this week insisted there were parallels between the riots in the US following the death of George Floyd, and blac...
3rd June 2020
Midlands arts organisation Scriptstuff launches pandemic anthology
Midlands-based arts organisation Scriptstuff Entertainment has published an anthology of poetry written in response to the lockdown and the spread of Covid-19. Formatted to resemble a classic open mic...
2nd June 2020
Poetry online: perhaps there's an open-mic future that might include Zoom when all this is over?
Don’t get me wrong. We at Write Out Loud Woking love our regular venue in the cafe area at the Lightbox museum and art gallery. It makes us feel part of a wider arts community – and we know they value...
1st June 2020
