North-east publisher IRON Press is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Sunday 29 October with a 12-hour poetry marathon starting at 8am in its seaside village base of Cullercoats in North Tyneside. Kate Fox will kick-off proceedings, and appearances are also promised from John Hegley, Tom Pickard, Linda France, Katrina Porteous, and Harry Gallagher, among many others.

The event is being staged at the Watch House, a former lifeboat look-out post, in Cullercoats. Entry is free. IRON was set up by its present editor Peter Mortimer, when he was living in the attic of the poet Tom Pickard and his wife Connie in Gateshead. The press has been based in Cullercoats since 1975, and its brightly coloured terrace house home is a well-known psychedelic landmark.