Jackie Kay takes over from Liz Lochhead as Scotland's new national poet
Jackie Kay has been named as Scotland’s new makar, or national poet. She succeeds Liz Lochhead, whose tenure as national poet came to an end in January. The announcement was made at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh on Tuesday. Kay said: "I'm absolutely delighted and honoured to have been chosen as Scotland's new makar and to follow in the footsteps of such really inspiring and wonderful p...
30th July 2016
Write Out Loud Middleton at the Ring O' Bells tonight
Members of Write out Loud Middleton will be meeting at the Ring O’ Bells pub, St Leonards Square, Middleton, for another evening of open-floor poetry, prose and music, beginning at 7pm, on Sunday 24 July. Your host is Eileen Earnshaw. Entry is a £2 donation. More details and Map
24th July 2016
Write Out Loud Marsden celebrates big month tonight
July, seventh month of the year in the Julian calendar, was named by the Roman Senate in honour of Julius Caesar, because it was the month of his birth. Famous Julians include novelist Barnes, musicia...
20th July 2016
'Twas Brexit, and the slithy Gove ...': 'Stabberjocky' poem is internet hit
Theresa May may be the new Tory leader and prime minister – but in the meantime a poem that mocks the post-Brexit back-stabbing in the Conservative party in the style of Lewis Carroll has gone viral o...
20th July 2016
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside arts centre tonight
Write Out Loud Sale will be meeting at the Waterside arts centre, Sale on Tuesday 19 July at 7.30pm. although those that wish can turn up earlier at 7pm for a “pre-open mic write-in”. Bring a writing...
19th July 2016
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Bolton will be meeting at Bolton Socialist Club on Tuesday 19 July, at 7.30pm for 8pm start. Entry is £1 plus raffle to this open mic poetry night, with hosts Jeffarama! and ...
19th July 2016
What the immigration caseworker saw: poet who aided MP launches collection
A poetry collection that tells stories of violence, tragedy and resilience behind immigration cases will be launched at the Nehru Centre in London on Tuesday 19 July at 6.30pm. The Immigration Handboo...
19th July 2016
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking returns to the New Inn at Send on Monday 18 July at 7.30 for 8pm. Entry is free to this open mic poetry night, hosted by Greg Freeman and Rodney Wood. More details and Map. And t...
18th July 2016
Looking for the next spoken word star at Write Out Loud Wigan tonight
Write Out Loud Wigan, the monthly open mic night that helped burnish the spoken word talents of leading poetry performers Louise Fazackerley, Joy France and Laura Taylor, is on Thursday 14 July at The...
14th July 2016
Back of the net: Wales manager Chris Coleman supports local poets in Swansea
Wales football manager Chris Coleman has endorsed a Swansea-based poetry group that launched its first poetry collection last year. The Poets on the Hill group consists of budding poets and writers f...
11th July 2016
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 11 July to share poems at this open-floor poetry night. Each month a collage poem is produced from members’ cont...
11th July 2016
Publisher achieves his quest: anthology of 'faith, doubt and wonder' is launched
In the beginning – well, the late 1990s, in fact – publisher Todd Swift, pictured, found himself in conversation with a Catholic priest, Father Oliver Brennan, pictured below, about poetry, and the hu...
10th July 2016
Sir Geoffrey Hill, former Oxford professor of poetry, dies aged 84
The former Oxford professor of poetry, Sir Geoffrey Hill, has died at the age of 84. He was best known for his 1971 collection of prose poems, Mercian Hymns, and was described by the poet laureate Car...
7th July 2016
Calder Valley Poetry publisher Bob Horne to launch his own collection
Yorkshire poetry publisher Bob Horne will be launching his own collection of poems at Brighouse library on Tuesday 5 July. Bob, whose Calder Valley Poetry press was launched at the beginning of this y...
4th July 2016
Six young poets listed for £20,000 award
There are six poets on the shortlist for the £20,000 Edwin Morgan award for the best collection of poems, published or unpublished, by a Scottish poet aged 30 or under. The six are: Claire Askew, Penn...
3rd July 2016
Bright star: find out how fame came for Keats after death
Whatever Happened to Johnny Keats? is the theme of a “picnic” event at Keats House in Hampstead, north London on Sunday 3 July. Poets Julia Bird and Mike Sims will be looking at why Keats was so excor...
3rd July 2016
'The Brontës were poets, too': stages are set for Haworth's weekend festival
As more than 100 poets from Yorkshire and beyond prepare to converge on Haworth this weekend for a two-day festival of poetry, the man who had the original idea for Poetry at the Parsonage has talked ...
3rd July 2016
Reaching around the world: new poetry production includes stories of migration and asylum
Poems from around the world, including those of Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who won the 2011 Nobel prise for literature in 2011, and German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht will be performed by ...
1st July 2016
Poet in the news: Boris Johnson pulls out of Tory leadership race
Only a few days ago Boris Johnson was being tipped as Britain’s next prime minster, following his successful leadership of the Vote Leave campaign to quit the EU. Alarmed but also intrigued by this po...
1st July 2016
