Pat Edwards to judge Ironbridge Festival of the Imagination competition
Pat Edwards will be judging the £300 Ironbridge Festival of the Imagination poetry competition. The deadline is 17 September. The fee to enter is £4. If multiple poems are entered in the same submission, £10 will be charged for three poems and then £3 for each subsequent poem in that submission. Maximum number of poems in a single submission is five. More details
31st July 2023
Jessica Mookherjee to judge Gloucestershire poetry competiton
Jessica Mookherjee will be judging the Gloucestershire Poetry Society open poetry competition. First prize is £150, and entry is £4 per poem. The deadline is 31 August. More details
31st July 2023
‘I’ve loved being out and about’: why poetry’s mystery man Brian Bilston decided to take to the stage and meet his audience
Back in 2016, Write Out Loud interviewed the ‘poet laureate of Twitter’ Brian Bilston about his astounding success. In a wide-ranging interview we touched on why, at that time, he preferred to shroud ...
26th July 2023
There is an England: Harry Gallagher, Stairwell
Harry Gallagher is a poet who grew up in Middlesbrough and now lives on the North Tyneside coast. He is a very popular poetry figure in the north-east, and also a singer-songwriter and playwright. He...
26th July 2023
The beauty and the pain: a view of strife-torn Sri Lanka, by more than 100 poets
“The time is right – the moment is now – for the world to know Sri Lanka better: its beauty and its pain.” These words come from the introduction to a new anthology of Sri Lankan and diasporic poetry ...
24th July 2023
Deadline nears for entering Foyle Young Poets of the Year award
The 31 July deadline is close for entering the Poetry Society’s 2023 Foyle Young Poets of the year award. This year’s judges are Jonathan Edwards and Jane Yeh, and 2023 marks the award’s 25th annivers...
23rd July 2023
Zaffar Kunial to judge £1,000 Winchester poetry prize
Zaffar Kunial will be judging the £1,000 Winchester poetry prize. The deadline is 31 July. More details
20th July 2023
‘The most beautiful light’: poets say sad goodbye to John Foggin
A much-loved and admired poet from Yorkshire who gained a significant circle of friends in the wider poetry world because of his enthusiasm and passion for his craft, has died at the age of 80 after a...
20th July 2023
Definitely not Auden! Archives reveal why some leading names were ruled out for poet laureate
Some top poetry names of the 20th century were ruled out by Downing Street as candidates for poet laureate, including WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Robert Graves, newly released government files reveal,...
20th July 2023
Overcoming racial inequity - 'incubating' poets of colour
The Poets of Colour Incubator, a collaboration between Words of Colour and Manchester Poetry Library, will provide support for talented poets of colour to build sustainable careers amid racial inequit...
19th July 2023
Luke Wright gets personal about adoption and family in Silver Jubilee show
Luke Wright is celebrating 25 years on the stage by unveiling a new show in time for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Luke Wright’s Silver Jubilee will preview at Latitude on 22 July, and Ventnor Fringe ...
17th July 2023
True north: Simon Armitage goes to Arctic research station
Poet laureate Simon Armitage has travelled to the UK Arctic Research Station, pictured, where he will create new works inspired by the visit. The UK Arctic Research Station is managed and operated by ...
17th July 2023
Spoken word, out loud! Forward prizes announce first performance poetry shortlist
The Forward prizes has announced the shortlist for its new category of best single performance poem. The contenders are Zena Edwards (‘Human. This Embodied Knowledge’); Michael Pedersen, pictured (‘Th...
8th July 2023
Ukrainian poet and novelist dies from injuries after missile attack
The award-winning Ukrainian novelist and poet Victoria Amelina has died from injuries received in a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in Ukraine last week.
PEN Ukraine announced she had died ...
4th July 2023
Poet's plea for boat refugees quoted on BBC's Question Time
A line from a poem by Somali-British poet Warsan Shire was quoted on BBC’s Question Time on Thursday night as a panellist replied to an audience member who asked: “Is it time to give up on the Rwanda ...
1st July 2023
