Prague, Bristol, Amsterdam, Barcelona: poet posts his poems by pasting them on city walls
Meet The Writing Is On The Wall – a poet who ‘self-publishes’ by “bothering walls” with his poems. He came to Write Out Loud’s notice recently when he stepped up to the open-mic at the recent Morden Tower 60th anniversary event in Newcastle. It was a return to public spoken word for a poet who for the last couple of years – from Prague to Bristol to Amsterdam to Barcelona to London – has been conc...
29th June 2024
When did the ‘culture wars’ really start? Maybe back in the 60s …
In the heady days of the 1960s veteran north-east poet Tom Pickard was a kind of culture warrior, even though he may not have seen it in quite those terms at the time. But at an event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of poetry readings at Newcastle’s Morden Tower last weekend, he told of how he had...
29th June 2024
Disabled performance poet Jackie Hagan dies after long illness
Write Out Loud has been saddened to learn of the death of award-winning performance poet and playwright Jackie Hagan at the age of 43, after a long illness over a number of years. Her partner Miles Ha...
29th June 2024
Clare Shaw to judge Winchester poetry prize
Clare Shaw will be judging this year’s £1,000 Winchester poetry prize. The deadline is 31 July. More details
29th June 2024
Celebrating nature, mourning lost landscape: England’s ‘awkward’ poet John Clare
John Clare, that widely admired 19th century poet of nature, who also wrote about countryside used by ordinary people that was lost to land enclosures, died on 20 May 1864, and this year marks the 160...
28th June 2024
We're all here thanks to the rhizodont: not a lot of people know that
What are we doing to the planet? What is technology doing to us? These are the common themes, according to the poet herself, within the new collection of poetry by Katrina Porteous, who might well be ...
25th June 2024
Lisa Kelly at Write Out Loud Woking on Thursday
Lisa Kelly will be guest poet at Write Out Loud Woking at the Fiery Bird on Thursday 27 June. Lisa is associate editor with Magma magazine, has two collections out with Carcanet (the last one was a Po...
24th June 2024
From open-mic to £1,000 poetry prize: how feedback encouraged Trystan Lewis to try his luck
A spoken word poet who only started writing again after getting some positive feedback at Morecambe poetry festival in 2022 has won a £1,000 poetry competition with his poem ‘Don’t tell Dad’. Trystan ...
22nd June 2024
Fran Lock and Alan Morrison to judge Bread and Roses poetry awards
Fran Lock and Alan Morrison will be judging the 2024 Bread and Roses poetry award organised by Culture Matters. There will be five prizes of £100 each for the best poems. Entry is free, and the deadli...
19th June 2024
National Poetry Competition is open for entries
The Poetry Society's £5,000 2024 National Poetry Competition is now open for entries. This year's judges are Stephen Sexton, Romalyn Ante and John McAuliffe, and the deadline for entries is 31 October...
19th June 2024
Dave Morgan at Write Out Loud Woking on Zoom tonight
The co-founder of Write Out Loud, Dave Morgan, will be the guest poet at Write Out Loud Woking on Zoom on Wednesday 19 June, reading from his new collection On Not Being Observed. Dave is a writer, co...
19th June 2024
Out of the Ordinary: Heather Cook, Frosted Fire
The poems in Heather Cook’s debut pamphlet may deal with apparently ‘ordinary’ subjects, but they are certainly not run of the mill. I first read these poems a year ago, when I provided one of the end...
16th June 2024
Why is the sonnet still popular?
Here’s the second – or is it the third? – in our occasional series on poetic forms, in which we invite you to look at and maybe have a go yourself. This time around, it’s the sonnet. Shakespeare is fa...
15th June 2024
Helen Ivory to judge Gloucestershire poetry society competition
Helen Ivory will be judging Gloucestershire Poetry Society’s £200 open poetry competition. The deadline is 31 July. More details
PHOTOGRAPH: BLOODAXE BOOKS
6th June 2024
Celebrating queer poets in the north-east: new open-mic night in Darlington
A new open mic poetry night to celebrate queer poets in the north-east is being launched in Darlington later this month. Hook, Line & Thinkers at the Queerish Bookshop will have two featured poets (to...
2nd June 2024
Remembering Morden Tower: Tom Pickard stages event to mark 60th anniversary
Poet Tom Pickard will be looking back to the days when he and his wife Connie hosted Allen Ginsberg and Basil Bunting and many other leading poets at the legendary Morden Tower in Newcastle later this...
2nd June 2024
