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
'Each year he dug, bulldozed, and set fire to those determined vines'
My boyhood home in Iowa was surrounded by honeysuckle bushes that my father sprayed with the hose on summer evenings, and we'd open the windows and have forties air conditioning, a cool damp breeze. Here's an entirely different stand of honeysuckle, from Karla Morton, poet laureate of Texas. It's fr...
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...
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
'The Farmer's Wife' by Cynthia Buell Thomas is Poem of the Week
The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘The Farmer’s Wife’ by Cynthia Buell Thomas, a poem that is based on memories “about my mother’s people who were simple country farmers in eastern Ontario … I u...
30th July 2017
Deadline nears for Foyle Young Poets competition
Kayo Chingonyi and Sinead Morrissey will be judging the 2017 Foyle Young Poets competition, organised by the Poetry Society for poets aged 11-17. Kayo Chingonyi said: “I will be looking for poems that...
29th 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
Carrie Etter to judge £500 Bradford on Avon poetry competition
Carrie Etter will be judging the £500 Bradford on Avon arts festival poetry competition. Organisers want poems of up to 20 lines on the theme of “flights of fancy”. The deadline is 30 July. More detai...
28th July 2017
'Skiffle' by Leon Stolgard is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is 'Skiffle' by Leon Stolgard. Skiffle orginated as a term in the US in the first half of the 20th century, and became popular in the UK in the 1950s, where it...
28th July 2017
Deadline nears for £1,000 Winchester poetry prize
Sarah Howe will be judging the £1,000 Winchester poetry prize. The deadline is 31 July. More details
27th 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
Moving readings wind up marathon poetry festival
It began with a stiff climb early one morning in April to commemorate the centenary of the death of Edward Thomas, and ended in July with an evening of powerful and moving poetry, interspersed with cl...
25th July 2017
'Like newlyweds, my parents slip out of their clothes'
Here's a lovely poem that imagines the afterlife by Emily Ransdell, who divides her time between Washington and the Oregon coast. This poem appeared first in The Cortland Review.
BOWLING IN H...
23rd 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
'Study Abroad' by Michaela Sheldon is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Study Abroad’ by Michaela Sheldon, a drama student from Newfoundland who is looking forward in the poem to coming to Harlow, England. As some have already c...
21st July 2017
What would Alice have said? Conger on menu as poets cram in for anthology launch
There was a definite air of Lewis Carroll at the launch of a poetry anthology in Guildford on Monday night. The author of Alice has links with the Surrey town – he wrote Alice Through the Looking Glas...
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
Seeing stars on a Sunday morning in Marsden at Write Out Loud's poetry jam
It must be something in the air of Marsden. It’s a funny time of day to hold a poetry open mic – at 11 on a Sunday morning – but it works. The sixth Write Out Loud poetry jam, compered by Write Out Lo...
21st July 2017
Flowers by the Road: David Coldwell, Templar
David Coldwell resides in the West Yorkshire Pennines, and at the heart of this pamphlet is an elemental, almost mystical relationship with landscape. The lines in the poems are long and conversationa...
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, Marsden rock star
Simon Armitage's poems hand carved into Pennine rocks form the outcome of Ilkley Literature Festival’s Stanza Stones poetry project, which launched in style in the Pennine watershed town of Marsden - ...
21st July 2017
'Giving something back to the landscape, whether it wanted it or not' - Simon Armitage on the Stanza Stones
Originally the plan was for one, enormous Stanza Stone - a kind of “poetic Mount Rushmore, that you could see from the moon” – but there wasn’t the budget for it, Simon Armitage told the audience at ...
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
'Why Marsden is important to me': poet tells of inspirational backdrop
Poet and painter David Coldwell is launching his debut poetry collection, Flowers by the Road, on Wednesday 8 February at Marsden library. In an interview with Write Out Loud David, a regular reader a...
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
'With him gone the house had begun to float out onto emptiness'
There are three and a half million of you reading this column in print and online, and I appreciate every one of you. I want to take advantage of your attention to pass along the news of the death of ...
17th 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
A funny thing happened on the way to the poetry workshop ...
Humour in poetry is a funny thing. No, scrub that. Try again. Writing about a workshop on comedy in poetry … no, that doesn’t work either as an intro. Start again. One of the poems we looked at the da...
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
Then Come Back: Pablo Neruda, Bloodaxe
Neruda was a towering, universal writer, a Nobel prize-winner, described by Gabriel García Marquez as the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language. His poetry reaches even those who don’t rea...
14th July 2017
No Tigers: Dominic Berry, Flapjack
This is the fourth poetry collection by Manchester's premier Queer Vegan Poet, Dominic Berry. He gets about a bit does Dom, to put it mildly. With gigs and tours in such far-flung places as Germany, F...
14th 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
'We flew through the waves, his hand guiding the tiller'
We've used several of Elise Hempel's poems in this column, and this one is from her latest book from Able Muse Press, Second Rain. To be a child, out for a fast ride in a boat with a father, well, tha...
10th 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
'When the Future Came' by John F Keane is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘When The Future Came’ by John F Keane, a commentary on contemporary events. Responding to a new set of interview questions John said: “If poetry doesn’t com...
9th 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
Hippocrates prize anthology, ed. by Michael Hulse and Donald Singer
The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine ranks as one of the more unusual, and now well-established, international poetry awards. It was founded in 2009 by Donald Singer and Michael Hulse with th...
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
Deadline nears for £1,000 Ledbury poetry festival competition
Fiona Sampson will be judging the £1,000 Ledbury poetry festival competition. The deadline is 13 July. More details
4th July 2017
'Boys who knew when you were posing, waiting for someone to say, "smile" '
"You can't go home again," said Thomas Wolfe, and you can't put your hand in the same river twice. Change is relentless. But we can still, in memory, go back to where we were. This poem is by P Ivan Y...
3rd July 2017
This was the place to be: primary pupils inspired by Manchester poem perform with panache
This is the place where our future begins; this is the place where hope is alive, in a north Manchester primary school in Moston, just two miles from the Manchester Arena bombing. This is the place wh...
3rd July 2017
'Pheasants' by David Blake is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week
The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Pheasants’ by David Blake. It was inspired by a time when David worked in a restaurant kitchen in Devon and the owner brought in pheasants that he had shot ...
2nd 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
Spaced out on cosmic poetry in starry night at the Troubadour
Out in space the numbers are mind-boggling – and so it proved at Monday’s reading at the Troubadour, too. I’m still trying to get my head round the fact that around 60 poets took to the basement stage...
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
