Top poetry performers Tony Walsh, Rachel Long, Louise Fazackerley, Luke Wright and Antonia Jade King will be taking part in an online Write Out Loud fundraising event on Thursday 28 January as our Crowdfunder appeal nears its 31 January deadline (you can also donate on our Paypal page). The free event will be broadcast live on Write Out Loud’s Facebook page from 7-9pm, with an open mic section as well – five slots of three minutes each. Email matt@writeoutloud.net if you’d like to book a slot. It’s first come, first served.  

The event will be recorded using Zoom but broadcast live on our Facebook page, and because it's a public page, no Facebook account is required to watch the stream.

A separate poetry ‘fun raiser’ event for children - a Giant Poetry Party - has been staged and streamed on Tuesday 26 January.

2020 taught us the value of poetry in difficult times for solace, commentary, confrontation, celebration, connection, and myriad other reasons. It taught us the power of the poetry community. We’re proud of what you helped us achieve with our ‘Beyond the Storm’ fundraising for the NHS, alongside the quality of the poetry and sheer volume of people involved and connections it created.

Although 2021 threatens fresh challenges, we know we have poetry to carry us through, with open mic sessions set to remain on Zoom, online workshops growing in popularity around the globe, new writers emerging, and established ones producing vibrant, visceral new work.

We’re asking you to support us in supporting others. Write Out Loud has made a huge difference to people’s lives – through poetry - in the past 18 years. With your help Write Out Loud wants to continue supporting the poetry community throughout 2021 and beyond. We want to be equipped to enable, champion, inspire, and connect poets no matter what happens during the pandemic, and continue that once it’s over.

This includes those schoolchildren we will be introducing to writing their own poems, and reading them out loud; local groups operating via Zoom or face-to-face (eventually); freelance artists and groups whose work we will continue to report on; or individuals discussing their work in our online community.

Right now, our fundraising campaign is at 22% of its target. We have until midnight on 31 January to receive donations, each of which will be doubled by One Community, up to a total of £10,000. Please give anything you can.

Remember: you can donate on our Paypal page too. Either way, it can be doubled as part of this campaign.

A colossal thank you to everybody who’s donated so far. If you can’t afford to donate, please share the campaign through your channels. It all helps!

Take care and stay safe,

the Write Out Loud team