Michael Rosen’s poem for 75th anniversary of Anne Frank’s diary
Michael Rosen has written a new poem, Sonnet for Anne Frank, to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of her diary. He chose a sonnet, he is quoted as saying, because the form has a "certain kind of dignity" and gives the reader "time to reflect".
The poem speaks directly to Anne, addressing her as ‘you’ throughout, giving the poem an immediacy, as if she is still there, in hiding, and h...
25th June 2022
Remembering the tragic death of Shelley, 200 years on: news presenter Reeta Chakrabarti and film director Jane Campion head events
The bicentenary of the death by drowning of the Romantic and radical poet Percy Bysshe Shelley at the tragically young age of 29 is to be marked by readings by celebrities early next month. The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association is organising two events. The first on Wednesday 6 July from 6-8pm at O...
24th June 2022
Jo Bell to judge £1,000 Winchester poetry prize
Jo Bell will be judging the £1,000 Winchester poetry prize. The deadline is 31 July. More details
24th June 2022
'A tiny magical man makes me an offer'
This poem captures one of the peculiar, private deals that we sometimes make in a world that seems to be marching on, completely out of our control. Some might call it a prayer, or a spell, or a stran...
22nd June 2022
Tony Walsh poem celebrates bomb survivor’s Kilimanjaro climb
Longstanding friend of Write Out Loud, Tony Walsh, has followed up his powerful, internationally-renowned poem for the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing with another, this time for one of those ...
21st June 2022
The poetry of things, and of people, too: reunion of the Troubadour crowd at festival book launch
A live gathering of old poetry friends took place for the first time in well over two years on Monday night, when regulars of Coffee-House Poetry at the Troubadour met once more, this time at a church...
19th June 2022
Poetry and all that jazz: Grace Nichols and John Agard in Chichester
Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry winners Grace Nichols and John Agard will be performing together with British jazz award winners Julian Stringle (clarinet, vocals) and Dominic Ashworth in a Poetry and J...
19th June 2022
'Incensed' Julian Jordon's video riposte to Dorries and Johnson
Write Out Loud’s founder Julian Jordon has issued a video riposte to culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ recent TikTok foray into rap. Julian’s film, titled ‘Avoiding The Rap (with no apologies to Nadin...
17th June 2022
Rewriting Shakespeare: poet aims to set record straight on Richard
Has Richard III received a relentlessly bad press over many centuries? And is our most revered of English writers, William Shakespeare, largely to blame? Poet Imogen McHugh certainly thinks so.
Lau...
17th June 2022
The shortlists for this year's Forward prizes
A poetry collection about which a Write Out Loud reviewer wrote, “I will be surprised if it is not shortlisted for an award or two. It certainly should be”, is a contender for this year’s £10,000 Forw...
17th June 2022
The Battle: Antony Owen, Knives Forks and Spoons Press
In this authentic and deeply moving poetry pamphlet, Antony Owen lays down a battle with mental health, ranging from diagnoses and suicide, to the effects depression has on one’s sex life, to line man...
16th June 2022
Closing time at Costa: Hannah Lowe becomes final winner of award
Hannah Lowe, who won the overall £30,000 Costa book award this year with her poetry collection The Kids, will be the last winner of the award. In a statement from the company, Costa’s CEO Jill McDonal...
11th June 2022
Death of Paula Rego recalls moment when poetry and art met
Tributes have poured in following the death of world-renowned artist Paula Rego at the age of 87. We at Write Out Loud have recalled a moment in 2015 when poetry reacted to Rego’s art, with the severe...
10th June 2022
Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis awarded MBE
The poet Gwyneth Lewis has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to literature. Lewis, from Cardiff, was the inaugural national poet of Wales in 2005.
On Twitter she...
4th June 2022
'I've been very much won over by the Queen': poet laureate delivers his platinum jubilee poem
The poet laureate Simon Armitage has revealed his platinum jubilee tribute to the Queen. The poem is titled ‘Queenhood’, is 70 lines made up of seven stanzas, and concludes: "For generations we will n...
4th June 2022
A moorland beacon: animated prose-poem documents the seasons of Winter Hill
As a child in 1950s Oldham, Winter Hill was just a name we saw on the TV test card, that of a tall tower somewhere near Bolton transmitting a new station called Granada. It being ITV, thus carrying ‘c...
2nd June 2022
