Lemn Sissay's memoir wins Indie Book Awards non-fiction prize
Lemn Sissay, who was recently awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours, has won the Indie Book Awards non-fiction prize for his memoir My Name is Why.
Sissay’s book, published by Canongate, tells how, at the age 17, after a childhood in a foster family followed by six years in care homes, ‘Norman Greenwood’ was given his birth certificate. He learned that his real name was not Norman. It ...
25th June 2021
Poetry publishers rally round to support independent bookshops
Poetry publishers have joined forces to support independent bookshops by offering poetry titles at exclusive discounts, the Bookseller reports. The “Indies x Indies” initiative, co-ordinated by Out-Spoken Press, Inpress and the Poetry Book Society, will support bookshops with an initial bundle of 10...
24th June 2021
Belarus poet Valzhyna Mort wins Griffin international poetry prize
Canada’s prestigious Griffin international prize – which is worth $65,000 - has been awarded to Belarus poet Valzhyna Mort for her collection Music for the Dead and Resurrected, which confronts the le...
23rd June 2021
The terrible and the absurd: a Simon Armitage film-poem Where Did The World Go?
BBC2 has screened an examination of the pandemic, using a film-poem written by the poet laurate Simon Armitage as a narrative that charts the progression of Covid, from the early rumours arriving from...
18th June 2021
Back down the garden path as poet laureate returns to his shed
Simon Armitage is heading down the garden path for a second series of The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed on Radio 4. The former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, accompanied by his 12-string acoustic,...
18th June 2021
'Today is a good day': Lemn Sissay awarded OBE in Queen's birthday honours list
Poet and playwright Lemn Sissay has been awarded the OBE in the new Queen’s birthday honours list. Sissay, who was previously awarded an MBE, said on Twitter: “Today is a good day.” Sissay, who is cha...
12th June 2021
Scientists and poets team up to explore creative links
An album pairing spoken word artists with scientists is being launched by spoken word label Nymphs & Thugs. The Experimental Words album features well-known scientists such as BBC Radio 4’s Professor ...
10th June 2021
Easy does it … some poetry organisers ready for careful return to live venues
Leading performance poet Tony Walsh is looking forward to live venue appearances again as poetry makes tentative steps towards returning to venues as lockdown eases. Tony said on Twitter: “Live events...
9th June 2021
Meet the shortlisted contenders for this year's Forward poetry prizes
The 2021 Forward prize shortlists for best collection, best first collection and best single poem are announced today. The collections in the running for the £10,000 best collection award touch on the...
8th June 2021
Poems to mark massacre at gay nightclub to be released on anniversary
Poems by 16 LGBTQ poets are to be released on an album, We Will Keep On, in response to a documentary called Disarm Hate about the Orlando massacre at a gay nightclub in the US.
On 12 June, 2016, O...
7th June 2021
Spoken word series hosted by Benjamin Zephaniah wins Bafta award for best entertainment programme
Life & Rhymes, a four-part spoken word series on Sky Arts that was filmed during lockdown in a London park, was a surprise winner of the Bafta best entertainment programme award on Sunday night, beat...
6th June 2021
Scottish poets ready to kick off the Euros
The Scottish Poetry Library is celebrating Scotland co-hosting with England the Group D matches of the Euros football championship with three live poetry events that can be watched online.
On Satur...
4th June 2021
Wigan poet Shaun Fallows included in artwork celebrating street
A regular poet and legend at Write Out Loud Wigan for the last 20 years – and more recently a regular contributor at Write Out Loud Woking on Zoom - has been included in a Wigan artwork celebrating th...
1st June 2021
