'You scuff, as you obey'
There is, of course, no hidden chapter in the “Good Book” that explores sandalled Jesus’s fashion rules, but Cornelius Eady in ‘Easter Shoes’ is being funny and deadly serious. The poem takes him back to childhood, to the pains of conformity and the forced obedience of being “dressed”, “encased” and “pinched” into decency. ‘Easter Shoes’ celebrates the petulant act of creative rebellion that he ac...
29th September 2022
When Seamus Heaney met the Queen: an appreciation of the Nobel prize-winning poet and his allegiance to people and places
During coverage after Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the focus on her well-received visit to Ireland in 2011 contained one moment that caught me by surprise: film of her speech at Dublin Castle, once the centre of British power in Ireland, showed a figure sitting at the top table. Sandwiched between Da...
26th September 2022
Laurel prize winner Linda France to appear at Durham book festival
This year’s winner of the Laurel prize, Linda France, will be appearing at Durham book festival on 14 October to lead a session titled Yours Sincerely: Writing for the Climate.
Linda France was nam...
26th September 2022
Feeling angry? Enter the Bread & Roses poetry competition
Andy Croft, publisher of Smokestack Books and poetry editor of the Morning Star, and Fran Lock, associate editor of Culture Matters, will be judging the Bread and Roses poetry award, organised by Cult...
26th September 2022
Horsing around: comedy poet Rich Davenport defies ME to produce second book of poetry
A comedy poet who suffers from ME and appeared at the recent Morecambe poetry festival has published his second book of poetry. Last weekend Rich did a set at the festival which was headlined by Linto...
24th September 2022
'It's your turn, it's always your turn, the night says'
Rachel Eliza Griffiths has written poems and composed photographs in response to the loss of her mother. She has always been fascinated by the exchange between birth and death that characterises their...
24th September 2022
Organiser Matt Panesh looks forward to 'brilliant' line-up at Morecambe's first poetry festival
Two legendary performers described by organiser Matt Panesh, pictured, as “godfathers” of the spoken word scene in the UK, will be headlining the first Morecambe poetry festival next month. Linton Kwe...
24th September 2022
Mourning for Ukraine: how poets tried to make sense of lives lost
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022, a number of UK poetry groups and organisations reacted with heartfelt events and initiatives in protest and sympathy. One was a group based in Teddin...
21st September 2022
'Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a century's weight': poet laureate’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has written a poem to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Floral Tribute is written through the metaphor of the lily of the valley, one of the late Queen's favourite fl...
20th September 2022
Carol Ann Duffy's poem published on day of funeral
Simon Armitage’s predecessor as poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has written her own tribute to the Queen. The former poet laureate has previously written a poem to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee, an...
19th September 2022
Woodview: Robert Garnham, Beatnpress
Robert Garnham is a spoken word artist who performs his comedy poetry at fringes and festivals around the UK. He writes for the Herald Express newspaper, edits the online magazine Spilling Cocoa Over ...
15th September 2022
'Bringing drought when instead we should have deluge'
There is a posture that poets sometimes take, that of the prophet speaking predictions into the world, or simply proclaiming what is happening in the moment. More often than not, the role is reluctant...
15th September 2022
Joshua Bennett and Victoria Kennefick to judge £2,000 Troubadour competition
Joshua Bennett and Victoria Kennefick will be judging the £2,000 Troubadour international poetry prize. The deadline is 26 September. More details
12th September 2022
Trauma and humour: the two sides of Martin Figura
There is a serious side to the poet Martin Figura. Quite serious. It was revealed during the first half of his set at Poetry Performance in Teddington on Sunday night, when he read the title poem, ‘My...
11th September 2022
Poet's tribute on Write Out Loud is read out in Parliament
A poem posted on Write Out Loud after the death of Queen Elizabeth II has been read out in the House of Commons by the poet’s MP. ‘Our Lily’ by Stephen Atkinson was read out in its entirely by Sedgefi...
11th September 2022
Poetry Society publishes poem by Roger McGough
The Poetry Society reacted swiftly to news of the Queen’s death. It says on its website: “As the sad news was announced yesterday of the death of Her Majesty the Queen on 8 September 2022, we thought ...
11th September 2022
‘There are not enough hours in the day to publish all the submissions that we like’
After starting out by running regular open-mic nights, Surrey-based independent poetry publishers Dempsey & Windle have published well over 100 poetry collections over the last five years (including t...
8th September 2022
The Metal Exchange: David Cooke, Littoral Press
A poet should always be curious, alive to the world in all its aspects, and David Cooke certainly is. I have also always regarded him as a practical, no-nonsense poet; one of his interests is in how t...
8th September 2022
Celebrating Blake, Shelley and Turner at Petworth House
Blakefest, an annual event that celebrates the time William Blake spent in Sussex and his links with Felpham, Bognor Regis and Petworth, will this year also commemorate the bicentenary of the Sussex R...
8th September 2022
'My seven siblings and I sheltered ourselves inside these labyrinths'
In Heather Cahoon’s poem ‘Shelter’ she manages, with simplicity and the use of deftly selected detail, to capture the mood of childhood delights that, in the manner of such things, always seem on the ...
6th September 2022
Celebrating WB Yeats in London: artwork to be unveiled
“Enwrought with golden and silver light,
…Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”
(‘He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’)
Seven years ago, at a night of poetry in west London to celebrate...
5th September 2022
Emptying Houses: Gerald Killingworth, Dempsey & Windle
Novelist, poet and playwright Gerald Killingworth studied English at Cambridge and was an English teacher for much of his career. His four years teaching English in Athens inspired him to write a play...
2nd September 2022
