Members' AreaFollowing on from our Q&As with Karen McCarthy Woolf, our next National Poetry Competition Q&A comes from Neil Astley, poet and editor of Bloodaxe Books. What advice would you give to entrants looking at a blank page? You shouldnât be looking at a blank page if youâve haven’t already got a line in your head […]
News
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award Results
The Poetry Society has announced today the top 15 winners and 85 commended poets of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2020 at a virtual prize-giving ceremony. Find the winning poems here. Run by The Poetry Society and generously supported by the Foyle Foundation, this has been an extraordinary 22nd year for The […]
Congratulations to all on the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist
Huge congratulations to all on the 2020 T.S. Eliot Prize shortlist, judged by Lavinia Greenlaw (Chair), Mona Arshi and Andrew McMillan. The shortlisted poets are: Natalie Diaz â Postcolonial Love Poem (Faber) Sasha Dugdale â Deformations (Carcanet) Ella Frears â Shine Darling (Offord Road Books) Will Harris â RENDANG (Granta) Wayne Holloway-Smith â Love Minus […]
Poems grow on trees: Foyle Young Poets 2020
To celebrate the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2020 in readiness for this year’s awards cermony, The Poetry Society has commissioned artist Imogen Foxell to create an illustration that brings together motifs for all one hundred winning poems from this year’s competition, from banana to boot, peacock to pack of cards. […]
Louise GlĂŒck wins Nobel Prize
Congratulations to the celebrated US poet Louise GlĂŒck, who has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature, the fourth woman to win the prize for literature since 2010. The Swedish Academy, which oversees the award, said that GlĂŒck had been recognised for “her unmistakable poetic voice, that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”. Born in […]
Derek Mahon, 1941â2020
We are sorry to report that Derek Mahon, among the most celebrated of modern Northern Irish poets, died in Cork on 1 October 2020, following a short illness. He was 78. Mahon’s poem, ‘A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’, is often chosen as a ‘desert island poem’, and his poem ‘Everything is Going to be […]
The poetry eye test
As part of The Poetry Societyâs National Poetry Day celebrations behold a âVisionâ-themed quiz, the âPoetry Eye Testâ. Can you identify all ten bespectacled poets correctly? To enter, email your ten answers to [email protected] with the subject line POETRY EYE TEST by 10am Monday 5 October to win one of three copies of the new […]
Lesley Ingram wins The Poetry Society’s 2020 Stanza Competition
We are delighted to announce that Lesley Ingram from Herefordshire Stanza is the winner of our 2020 Stanza Competition for her poem âConfessionâ, chosen by Heidi Williamson. Heidi: âThe quiet title âConfessionâ draws us in to intimately witness a domestic scene with repercussions across the years⊠The poem interrogates what is felt and meant between […]
A bard’s eye view: National Poetry Day 2020
Happy National Poetry Day! This year’s National Poetry Day is on the theme of ‘Vision’ and to celebrate The Poetry Society has assembled a glittering array of activities through the day including video readings of Stanza and Member competition winners, a retrospective of poetry films, a quiz, a writing resource and a special free online […]
Members’ News round-up
Dan Simpson has been appointed as Poet-in-Residence for St Alban’s Cathedral. Read more S. K. Grout and Roy McFarlane second and third in Ambit Poetry Competition. Julie Irigaray, Yvette Siegert and April Yee Commended. Read more Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poetsâ Prize longlist: Vicki Husband, Annie Fan, Eve Ellis, Charlotte Knight, Bryony Littlefair, Jeri Onitskansky, […]
The Poetry Review: autumn harvest
In the post: the new Poetry Review, a really vital journal of record for these stormy times when worked-on language can be our lighthouse and our lifeboat.” â Ian McMillan on Twitter, September 2020 The latest, magnificent issue of The Poetry Review, edited by Emily Berry, is just published. It includes fiery, speculative and moving […]
The Poetry Society AGM 2020
If you are a member of The Poetry Society, please join us at The Poetry Society AGM 2020, from 6.30pm, Monday 23 November 2020. Due to coronavirus restrictions, this year the AGM will be held online via Zoom, which we hope this means even more of you than usual will be able to come along […]
A modern-day spell against the darkness
The Poetry Society in association with the Canal & River Trust have commissioned a new poem by Hebden Bridge poet Ian Humphreys. Ianâs poem â âTreading Waterâ â is a tender elegy for his mum, set near where he lives alongside the Rochdale Canal. He says ‘The poem describes a walk we went on a […]
Anne Stevenson, 1933â2020
Anne Stevenson, a hugely influential poet, penetrating critic and passionate presence in British and American poetry and letters, died on 14 September 2020, at the age of 87. She had a rich life. Though born in Cambridge, England, of American parents, Stevenson’s earliest years were spent in the States where her father, a philosopher, taught […]
Polite Safety Notice film to screen at virtual social change film festival
The poetry film ‘Polite Safety Notice’, adapted by animator Aindri C from the Mark Fiddes poem of the same name, has been selected for screening at the ChangeFest Virtual Film Festival 2020, the International Social Change Film Festival. The film has been selected for a ‘Climate Change, Environmental Sustainability and Animal Justice’ programme of short […]
International Literacy Day shelfie special
Today is International Literacy Day, an annual celebration of reading and writing to emphasise the importance of literacy as a human right and the importance of lifelong literacy learning for youth and adults. International Literacy Day 2020 focuses on âLiteracy teaching and learning in the COVID-19 crisis and beyond”, during a turbulent year when many […]
“Read forensically”: A National Poetry Competition interview with Karen McCarthy Woolf
The next in our series of Q&As with the National Poetry Competition 2020 judges is here, this time with poet and broadcaster Karen McCarthy Woolf. It joins our previous ice cream-themed Q&A with Jonathan Edwards. What advice would you give to entrants looking at a blank page? A blank page can be daunting. Give yourself […]
The lyric eye: National Poetry Day 2020
Now less than a month away, this yearâs National Poetry Day takes place on 1 October 2020 and the theme is vision. To celebrate the occasion on the day, The Poetry Society is lining up a glittering array of activities for you to engage with, whether youâve time that day to give poetry a fleeting […]
Poems now arriving on platform 2
Those travelling by the London Underground recently might have noticed many of the posters are advertising past attractions âComing Soon â April 2020â, or that everything smells exceptionally clean. However, one feature remains just as it ever was â and thatâs the Poems on the Underground posters. A new set of Poems of the […]
Masks and sea creatures: new resources accompany Poetry Review
The Poetry Society has developed new workshop resources as an accompaniment to The Poetry Review, which provide points of discussion and writing prompts inspired by poems selected from the journal. These resources can be used in the classroom, with fellow poetry enthusiasts, or for individuals to spur their creativity while exploring some intriguing new poems. […]
Sandeep Parmer and Mary Jean Chan feature in the newest Poetry Review podcast
The Poetry Review‘s new podcast is here, featuring a discussion between Review contributor Sandeep Parmar and Mary Jean Chan, guest co-editor with Will Harris of the spring 2020 issue. Sandeep reads her poem, âThe Ninetiesâ, and reflects on its origins â growing up in California at the time of the L.A. riots, which followed the […]
Julia Copus wins inaugural Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry
Arrowsmith Press, in partnership with The Derek Walcott Festival in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, have announced Poetry Society Member Julia Copus as the winner of the first annual Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, awarded to a full-length book of poems by a living non-US citizen. Julia’s collection Girlhood was chosen to receive […]
A new National Poetry Competition writing resource from Ella Frears
The next in our series of writing guides is here, this time by National Poetry Competition 2018 commended poet Ella Frears. Ella’s resource explore how poems can be made timeless, looking at poems exploring the unknowable and inexpressable – and the way the timelessness of those poems can apply to the here and now. You […]
Brand new digital content from The Poetry Society: Nick Makoha podcast and more
Indoors this weekend thanks to some long-awaited rainfall? Here’s a roundup of all our latest digital content for you to enjoy. Will Harris speaks to Nick Makoha in The Poetry Review’s latest podcast Will Harris and Nick Makoha, prizewinning poets both, talk about Nickâs poems in the spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review and […]
International Cat Day
To mark International Cat Day, The Poetry Society has gathered up a series of cat poems and readings to accompany the global celebration of our feline friends. Check #InternationalCatDay on The Poetry Society’s Twitter account on Saturday 8 August for a series of cat poetry videos (and puns) from the recent Poetry Society Members’ Poetry […]
Poetry Society Members’ News round-up: Creative Future Writers Award, Crabbe Poetry Competition, Vernal Equinox, Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary
Helen Grant, Liam Bates and Ginny Darke were on the shortlist for a Creative Future Writersâ Award. The aim of the award is to give an opportunity to writers to develop their work through training, mentoring, assessment and coaching. The Poetry Society’s Helen Bowell wins a Bronze award. Read more David Healey was Highly Commended […]
Cindy Botha wins Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition
âHermit Crab in a Dollâs Headâ by Poetry Society Member Cindy Botha is the winner of this year’s Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition judged by Pascale Petit. Fellow Society Members Jo Peters and Jemma Borg were Highly Commended. Cindy Botha began writing poetry in late 2017 as a relief from being sole-carer for her […]
Jenny Mitchell, Antony Owen and Trisha Heaney receive Bread and Roses Poetry Awards
Culture Matters, sponsored by Unite, have awarded Bread and Roses Poetry Awards to Poetry Society Members Jenny Mitchell and Antony Owen. There’s a prize of ÂŁ100 each and an anthology of the poems of around a further 20 entrants will be published later in the year. The judges, Andy Croft of Smokestack Books and Mary […]
Vic Pickup wins 2nd Annual Cupidâs Arrow Competition
Poetry Society Member Vic Pickup is the winner of Hedgehog Press’s second annual Cupidâs Arrow Love Poetry Competition for her poem âHim, building me a bookcase.â As well as being a poet, Vic is a writer and reviewer based in Hampshire. Her writing has found its way into anthologies, magazines and webzines, earned her top […]
Jenny Mitchell wins Segora Poetry Competition
Poetry Society Members finished first, second and third in this year’s Segora Poetry Competition, judged by Martyn Crucefix. Jenny Mitchell was awarded first prize for ‘Encountering a Slave Girl Held’. Jenny was joint winner of the Geoff Stevensâ Memorial Poetry Prize 2019, and winner of the Fosseway Poetry Competition 2020. Her debut collection is Her […]
Poetry at risk at GCSE
Poetry will become optional at GCSE next year, the exam regulator Ofqual announced today. This temporary measure has been introduced because of the Covid pandemic, after schools had expressed concerns about their abilities to cover the full range of subject areas within the GCSE English Literature curriculum. All students will still have to write about […]
Success for Pat Winslow and S Niroshini in Poetry London Prize
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Members Pat Winslow and S Niroshini, second and third in this year’s Poetry London Prize, judged by Ilya Kaminsky. The winner is Eleanor Penny, who has won multiple prizes with The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network. Pat won second prize for her poem ‘1971, Northaw’. She was the winner of The […]
Sheila Aldous wins the Welsh Poetry Competition
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Sheila Aldous, winner of the 2020 Welsh Poetry Competition, judged by Sally Spedding. Sheila had two other poems Highly Commended too! Sheila is a North London girl with Devon in her soul. Living on the banks of the River Teign she is inspired by life generally, but also the natural […]
Tim Kiely wins Indigo First Pamphlet Competition
Poetry Society Member Tim Kiely is the co-winner of this year’s Indigo First Pamphlet Competition, alongside Lauren Colley. Tim is a criminal barrister and poet living in London. His work has appeared in South Bank Poetry, Lunar Poetry, The Morning Star, Spontaneous Poetics, and Ink, Sweat & Tears, as well as the Emma Press anthology […]
Linda France, Matt Howard, Pascale Petit on Laurel Prize Longlist
UK Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, and the Poetry School, have announced the longlist for the inaugural ecopoetry prize, The Laurel Prize – including Poetry Society Members Linda France, Matt Howard and Pascale Petit. The longlist for published collections of poetry was judged by Simon Armitage, Moniza Alvi and Robert Macfarlane. The prize awards will be […]
Lawrence Illsley wins Live Canon Collection Competition
Poetry Society Member Lawrence Illsley has been chosen by Glyn Maxwell as one of three winners of the 2020 Live Canon Collection Competition and will be offered publication. Lawrence’s collection A Brief History of Trees was described as: “brilliantly arboreal in both form and matter, a psychologically acute odyssey through grief and history, with its […]
Success for Simon Maddrell and Chloe Balcomb in Frogmore Prize
The 2020 Frogmore Poetry Prize has been awarded to Ron Scowcroft for his poem ‘Greylags in Fog’. He receives two hundred and fifty guineas and a two-year subscription to The Frogmore Papers. The judge this year was Maria JastrzÄbska. Poetry Society Member Simon Maddrell was first runner-up for his poem ‘The Snow Leopard Bites Its […]
Ellora Sutton and Elsie Hayward win top prizes in the Artlyst Art to Poetry Awards
Ellora Sutton (left), winner of the Artlyst Art to Poetry Award adult prize and Elsie Hayward (right), winner of the youth prize Ellora Sutton and Elsie Hayward have been announced as the inaugural winners of the Artlyst Art to Poetry Award, a new international ekphrastic poetry competition, run by Artlyst in association with The Poetry […]
Remembering Sue Wrinch and Sylvia Herbert
We are sorry to hear of the deaths of Poetry Society Members Sue Wrinch and Sylvia Herbert. From Isabel Rogers, on behalf of North Hampshire Stanza Group: “Sue Wrinch, Poetry Society Member, founder member of North Hampshire Stanza and organiser of Winchesterâs Loose Muse monthly writing and performing event, died suddenly in July. “All of […]
Writing ice cream and eating poetry: a Q & A with National Poetry Competition judge Jonathan Edwards
Today is Ice Cream Day and to mark this occasion The Poetry Society has turned to National Poetry Competition judge and ice cream aficiniado Jonathan Edwards to offer up some of his thoughts on how to best appreciate ice cream and poetry, both separately and together, and to dispense a few pieces of sage competition advice […]
âand when she speaks â doves, and when she speaks â flight, and when she speaks â passionâ The latest issue of Poetry Review has finally made it to Munich. I really love @EleanorHooker_âs new work, especially these poems from âtracesâ âšâšâš Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Wow this poem by John McCullough @PoetrySociety 'Mostly I want to be understood, for others to know why I act this way, but what if I don't understand either? Each self is a plural place' Trying to understand is at the heart of #socialwork #PoetryHelps Retweeted by The Poetry Society
I was truly staggered by Caleb Femi's Poor. My review for @PoetrySociety: poetrysociety.org.uk/book-review-dr⊠Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Love the vintage illustration for the @PoetrySociety National Poetry Competition and can't wait to submit! đđŒâš Retweeted by The Poetry Society
THANK YOU! We hit a lovely landmark today as we have over 210,000 followers â€ïž According to Wiki (so it must be true) that's bigger than the population of lovely Aberdeen - the Granite City!
@AnnaJensenArt's front cover for the new Poetry Review is đ„đ„đ„ For this issue I checked out @ranjithoskote's The Atlas of Lost Beliefs and @rrobinson72's A Portable Paradise. They were both a pleasure to read, even if I stumbled a bit on the Robinson. Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Lovely review of @CalebFemi_ 's 'Poor' (@PenguinUKBooks, published Nov 5th) in The Poetry Review by Stephanie Sy-Quia: 'He writes with a grace and persistence which cannot, and will not, one hopes, be ignored'. Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Wonderful launch readings tonight with @no1_emily @PoetrySociety if you enjoyed Jane Feaver's great essay on John Clare in the review, you might enjoy a listen to our latest ep featuring I Am, poem as friend to Brian Cox bit.ly/34gXq0M Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Totally agree - the first time I'd been to a Poetry Review launch and was blown away by the quality of the readings twitter.com/NicolaMJackson⊠Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Really great launch of Autumn Poetry Review tonight - powerful voices including Valzhyna Mort. Important stuff @PoetrySociety Retweeted by The Poetry Society
I'm missing aspects of analogue life so much, but tonight's readings for The Poetry Review Autumn launch were fantastic, & reminded me how lucky I am to have access to such stellar online poetry events. Many thanks @ValzhynaMort @Kimerama @LukeKennard Fiona Benson @PoetrySociety Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Tonight @PoetrySociety Review launch readings were spicy witty arresting provocative moving tender and true ... if you are not yet a subscriber do check out Poetry Review and @no1_emily âa great selections and intros poetrysociety.org.uk/publications-s⊠Retweeted by The Poetry Society
This was a great event with readings which brought this issue of the Poetry Review alive. Valzhyna Mort read some of her work addressing the historic and current situation in Belarus with astonishing clarity and conviction. Breathtaking imagery and mesmerising repetitions. twitter.com/PoetrySociety/⊠Retweeted by The Poetry Society
really enjoyed the @PoetrySociety zoom launch for the autumn Poetry Review - exquisite and deeply moving readings đ Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Powerful reading from @ValzhynaMort at tonight's @PoetrySociety launch of #ThePoetryReview. Really looking forward to getting her forthcoming collection "Music for the Dead and Resurrected." Engaged, committed poetry for our times. @PoetryProgRTE @IrishLitTimes @poetryireland Retweeted by The Poetry Society
âWho doesnât need a little spiciness on Tuesday evening?â âŠ@no1_emilyâ© paying tribute to Fiona Bensonâs memories of her teen experiments with BodyShop mini bottles âŠ@PoetrySocietyâ© autumn đ launch đ - small touches of joy come gently đ Retweeted by The Poetry Society
âŠ@LukeKennardâ© aiming for a âPlease make it stop!â đ response from listeners but instead generating rainbow-farting saviour dolphins đŹđđŹ for our delight âŠ@PoetrySocietyâ© đ đ đ aka autumn launch đâĄïž Retweeted by The Poetry Society
âŠ@ValzhynaMortâ© asking listeners to keep their eyes & thoughts on the crime of state sponsored violence - âmy guts have been emptied like bellows for the best soundâ - âpick me for a sister Antigone/ I have a face like a bright shovelâ - key words âŠ@PoetrySocietyâ© đ Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Hey this is soon and Iâm still washing up twitter.com/poetrysociety/⊠Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Join us for The Poetry Review Autumn launch on Zoom Tuesday 20 Oct 7pm BST. The line up includes Fiona Benson, @LukeKennard, @ValzhynaMort and Kimberly Reyes @Kimerama, introduced by ed. @no1_emily. Book now! https://t.co/oxWBpBoTNZ pic.twitter.com/M4YypB21Tc
— The Poetry Society (@PoetrySociety) October 16, 2020
Look what came in the post today! Immensely humbled to have been included alongside some amazing poets, but to appear in the same anthology as Anne Bronte! Thanks @placesofpoetry @OneworldNews @PoetrySociety Retweeted by The Poetry Society