Poets to read at reopening of Halifax's Piece Hall
Sowerby Bridge’s Puzzle Hall Poets will be playing their part at the reopening of Halifax’s Piece Hall on 1 August – Yorkshire Day. The poets will be giving a reading from 7pm until 9.30pm in the south-west corner of the hall, by the ice cream parlour.
The Grade I listed Piece Hall, Halifax is the last of the great 18th century northern cloth halls. It was built in 1779 for the trading of “piec...
31st July 2017
Kate Tempest and John Cooper Clarke headline BBC's Contains Strong Language poetry festival in Hull
Kate Tempest and John Cooper Clarke are among the top poets being featured by the BBC in a four-day festival it is staging as part of Hull’s City of Culture celebrations. Contains Strong Language will begin on National Poetry Day, 28 September.
The events also include Imtiaz Dharker and JoinedUp ...
31st July 2017
Honesty stars in BBC video about UK's first sign language poetry slam
A video about what was billed as the UK’s first sign language poetry slam has appeared on the BBC website. The film follows 20-year-old Honesty Willoughby, from Bristol, as she prepares for and talks ...
31st July 2017
Saboteur winner Stuart A Paterson is BBC Scotland's next poet in residence
An award-winning writer in Scots and English – who names Robert Burns as one of his biggest influences - is to be the next BBC Scotland poet in residence.
Stuart A Paterson was brought up in Kilmar...
30th July 2017
Philip Larkin's 'High Windows' flat in Hull is given listed building status
The flat in Hull that inspired the title of Philip Larkin’s poem ‘ High Windows’ - where he lived for 18 years – has been given Grade II listed building status. Larkin lived in an attic flat at 32 Pe...
29th July 2017
Plea to publishers to help place books in pubs
Here’s something to raise a glass to – a village in West Yorkshire is aiming to put itself on the poetry map by declaring itself a literary destination: Marsden the Poetry Village. Its first project i...
26th July 2017
Sixty-one poets line up to support Poetry Cafe fundraising in 10-hour Poem-A-Thon
Imtiaz Dharker, George Szirtes, Maura Dooley, Hannah Lowe, and Raymond Antrobus are among the 61 poets who will be taking part in a 10-hour Poem-A-Thon at the Poetry Society’s new-look Poetry Café on ...
21st July 2017
Northern grit: tribute tonight for a dialect poet
A dialect poet whose poems record working-class life in northern mill towns in the 19th century will be celebrated at a special night at Marsden library, near Huddersfield.
The evening on Tuesday, ...
21st July 2017
Huddersfield Poets Still at Albert
In the continuing saga, the Albert Poets are now back at the Albert Hotel (next to Huddersfield Library).
The readers for Thursday 9th April 2009, 8:00 are:
Mike Barlow
Winner of The Nat...
21st July 2017
The death of Sophie Lancaster: elegy by Simon Armitage shortlisted for award
A drama-documentary by Simon Armitage - Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, an elegy to a student who died after being attacked in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire - has been shortlisted f...
21st July 2017
Simon Armitage heading west on new poetry trek
Simon Armitage is embarking on a second walk as a “modern-day troubadour”, in which he offers poetry as payment for his bed and board, as he journeys on foot along the north coast of the South West co...
21st July 2017
Local poet Simon Armitage to read at Marsden library
Local lad and Oxford professor of poetry Simon Armitage will be reading at Marsden library on Friday 4 November as part of the library’s Local Writers Reading series. Friends of Marsden Library, forme...
21st July 2017
Simon Armitage wins Oxford professor of poetry election
Simon Armitage has won the contest to become the next Oxford professor of poetry, a post second only in prestige to that of poet laureate. Carol Ann Duffy, the poet laureate, was said by the Guardian ...
21st July 2017
Spoken word star Matt Abbott is guest poet at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Write Out Loud Marsden are starting 2017 with a bang, with leading spoken word artist Matt Abbott lined up as guest poet at Marsden library on Wednesday 18 January. Matt runs the spoken word label Nym...
21st July 2017
Poet in residence Simon Armitage renews links with sculpture park
Simon Armitage will be poet in residence during 2017 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, a place that has particular poetic memories for him. The park at West Bretton, near Wakefield, celebrates its 40th...
21st July 2017
'We need to talk about Robert': how Simon Armitage sees Dylan's Nobel prize
The Oxford professor poetry, Simon Armitage, will be giving his thoughts on Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize for literature in a lecture next month. Armitage lectures once a term during the four years of his t...
21st July 2017
Perchance to dream? Write Out Loud at Marsden library tonight
Don’t drop off … but the theme for February’s Write Out Loud Marsden, on Wednesday 15 February, is Sleep. Entry is a £2 donation to this open-floor poetry event, hosted by Rosie Wilkinson, at Marsden ...
21st July 2017
The pleasure principle at Write Out Loud Marsden tonight
Lenten abstinence may be the order of the day for some but on Wednesday 15 March Write Out Loud Marsden is inviting poets to share poems on the theme of “debauchery, bad habits and guilty pleasures”. ...
21st July 2017
Write Out Loud at Marsden library tonight
Write Out Loud Marsden is moving from its usual Wednesday slot to Tuesday, starting from this month. April’s Write Out Loud Marsden will be on Tuesday 18 April, at Marsden library at 7.30pm, entry £2....
21st July 2017
Laycock, Armitage, Write Out Loud: walkers to launch Marsden poetry trail
Walkers are being invited to come along on Monday 24 April at 9am to help launch a poetry trail in the Pennine village of Marsden in West Yorkshire. The 9.5-mile walk will start at the stone, pictured...
21st July 2017
Packing 'em in at Write Out Loud in Marsden tonight
“All creatures …” is the theme for Marsden Write Out Loud in the Meeting Room at Marsden Mechanics Hall on Tuesday 16 May. Come and join in at this open-floor event, whether to read your own poems, so...
21st July 2017
It's a rap! Write Out Loud's theme is movies tonight at Marsden library
Write Out Loud Marsden is switching nights again – and this month it will be held on Thursday 15 June at Marsden library, in Marsden Mechanics Hall. The theme is “motion pictures”, inspired by the fac...
21st July 2017
Write Out Loud at Marsden library tonight
Life’s a beach? Get in that optimistic mood at Write Out Loud Marsden on Thursday 20 July, where the theme is “holidays”. Join fellow poetry lovers at 7.30pm at Marsden library to read your own poems,...
20th July 2017
Write Out Loud Sale at the Waterside tonight
Rebecca Audra Smith and Andy N are the guest poets at Write Out Sale at the Waterside arts centre on Tuesday 18 July. Entry is £3/£2 to this open mic poetry night, which starts at 7.30pm. More details...
18th July 2017
Write Out Loud Woking at the New Inn tonight
Write Out Loud Woking is back at the New Inn, Send, near Woking, on Monday 17 July for another night of free, open-mic poetry beside the Wey Navigation canal. It's hosted by Rodney Wood and Greg Freem...
17th July 2017
Spotting Joy! Poet becomes the 'face' of Nationwide
A performance poet who cut her teeth at Write Out Loud open mic nights at Wigan, Sale, Stockport and Bolton has become the “face” of the Nationwide Building Society in its current advertising campaign...
16th July 2017
Write Out Loud at Bolton Socialist Club tonight
Write Out Loud Bolton is at Bolton Socialist Club on Sunday 16 July, 7.30 for 8pm start. Your hosts at this open mic poetry night are Jeffarama! and Gordon Zola. Entry is £1 plus £1 raffle ticket. Mor...
16th July 2017
Write Out Loud Wigan at the Old Courts tonight
Write Out Loud is back at the Old Courts, Wigan on Thursday 13 July for another riproaring night of open-mic poetry. It’s free, and it starts at 8.30pm. More details and Map
13th July 2017
Julian Jordon is compere at launch of open mic poetry at Birstall library tonight
A new open mic poetry night opens its doors at Birstall library in Batley on Wednesday 12 July. Organised by the Friends of Birstall Library, and supported by Write Out Loud, it will be compered by Wr...
12th July 2017
Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight
Members of Write Out Loud Stockport will be meeting at Stockport art gallery on Monday 10 July to share their poems. Each month contributions are fashioned into a collage poem, and you can read June’s...
10th July 2017
'A burnt matchbox in the sky': Ben Okri's angry poem about Grenfell Tower
Novelist and poet Ben Okri has written a powerful, angry poem about the victims of Grenfell Tower, who died when their tower block in Kensington was engulfed in flames on 14 June. The blaze, which kil...
8th July 2017
Radical poet Heathcote Williams dies aged 75
The radical poet, playwright, and actor Heathcote Williams has died at the age of 75. He wrote a number of book-length polemical poems over several decades, including works about the devastation being...
7th July 2017
Denise Riley wins £5,000 Roehampton Poetry Centre prize
Denise Riley has won the £5,000 Roehampton poetry prize for her collection, Say Something Back, which documents grieving and loss. It had previously been shortlisted for both the Forward and TS Eliot ...
5th July 2017
'Ye are many - they are few!' Jeremy Corbyn quotes Shelley at Glastonbury
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn enlisted the power of poetry when he delivered a rousing speech to thousands at Glastonbury music festival at the weekend. Concluding his speech on the main Pyramid stage b...
1st July 2017
Tony Walsh's Manchester poem 'This is The Place' is released as a single
Tony Walsh’s poem ‘This is The Place’, which went global after he read it at the vigil for the Manchester Arena bombing victims, has been released as a single.
The Manchester Evening News reports...
1st July 2017
