Those travelling by the London Underground recently might have noticed many of the posters are advertising past attractions ‘Coming Soon – April 2020’, or that everything smells exceptionally clean. However, one feature remains just as it ever was – and that’s the Poems on the Underground posters. A new set of Poems of the […]
News
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, ‘The Nineties’, and reflects on its origins – 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 Nick’s 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 Writers’ 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
‘Hermit Crab in a Doll’s Head’ 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 £100 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 Cupid’s Arrow Competition
Poetry Society Member Vic Pickup is the winner of Hedgehog Press’s second annual Cupid’s Arrow Love Poetry Competition for her poem ‘Him, building me a bookcase.’ 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 Stevens’ 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 […]

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 Jastrzębska. 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 Winchester’s 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 […]
Poetry to read together for #ReadingTogetherDay
To celebrate The Reading Agency’s #ReadingTogetherDay, The Poetry Society has asked poets for some of their top recommendations of poetry books grown-ups can read with their children: National Poetry Competition commended poet Cheryl Moskowitz is herself a children’s book writer, having most recently published The Corona Collection – A Conversation, exploring children’s perspective on life […]

Tina Cole wins Yaffle Prize
Poetry Society Member Tina Cole has won this year’s Yaffle Prize, winning £200 for ‘Nothing but the strength of names’. Here are the opening lines… Tina was born in the Black Country and now lives in rural Herefordshire. She likes to write about people and relationships good or bad. Her collection – I Almost Knew […]

Michael Grieve on shortlist for £20,000 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award
Poetry Society Member Michael Grieve is on a shortlist of seven for the biennial £20,000 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, given by the Edwin Morgan Trust and judged by Kathleen Jamie and John Glenday. Michael lives in Fife where he works as a bookseller. He is a graduate of the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge, […]

Fokkina McDonnell, Polly Atkin, Suzannah V Evans, Jennifer Lee Tsai & Hannah Hodgson win Northern Writers’ Awards
All five recipients of this year’s Northern Writers’ Awards for Poetry are Poetry Society Members: Fokkina McDonnell, Polly Atkin, Suzannah V Evans, Jennifer Lee Tsai and Hannah Hodgson. Established in 2000 by New Writing North, the Northern Writers’ Awards supports work-in-progress by new, emerging and established writers across the North of England. The Awards support […]

Alan Weadick wins Mairtín Crawford Poetry Award
Moyra Donaldson and Naomi Foyle have chosen Poetry Society Member Alan Weadick as the winner of the fourth Mairtín Crawford Poetry Award. Alan receives £1,000 and a 3-night stay at the wonderful writing and reading retreat ‘The River Mill’. The award, organised by the Belfast Book Festival, is aimed at writers working towards their first […]
A new National Poetry Competition writing resource from Eric Berlin
The Poetry Society has released the second in this year’s series of National Poetry Competition writing resources, suitable for individual writing or group activity and discussion. July’s resource is written by US poet Eric Berlin, who won the 2015 National Poetry Competition with his poem ‘Night Errand’ – a poem set in an upstate New […]
Young Poets Networkers translate over Zoom
For the second time, The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network teamed up with Modern Poetry in Translation to challenge young writers worldwide to try their hand at translating poetry. This summer, young poets are being asked to translate a Persian poem by Suhrab Sirat, an Afghan poet in exile. As part of this partnership YPN […]

Caleb Parkin announced as new Bristol City Poet
Poetry Society Member Caleb Parkin has been announced as the new Bristol City Poet, following in the footsteps of Vanessa Kisuule and Miles Chambers. Caleb will hold the role from 2020-2022. Caleb is a poet, performer, facilitator and filmmaker with a particular passion for inclusive environmentalism; wellbeing; arts, culture and heritage; and LGBT+ pride. His […]

Kate Clanchy wins Orwell Prize
Congratulations to Poetry Society Member Kate Clanchy who has won this year’s Orwell Prize for Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, a book about her experience of teaching in state schools for several decades. “In this book, a brilliantly honest writer tackles a subject that ties so many people up in knots […]

Matt Abbott and Theresa Lola announced as Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award Patrons
We are delighted to announce that this year’s Patrons of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award are Matt Abbott and Theresa Lola! Matt is a poet, educator, and activist from Wakefield. His debut collection for children, A Hurricane in my Head, was published by Bloomsbury in summer 2019. In April 2020, he released […]

Laura Scott wins Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Laura Scott who has won the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize for her debut collection So Many Rooms (Carcanet, 2019). This prestigious prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first full collection has been published in the preceding year, by a UK or Ireland-based publisher. The winning […]
The Poetry Society launches virtual shelves for young readers
With libraries beginning to re-open, The Poetry Society launches a series of virtual bookshelves with reading suggestions for young people. We’re also asking you to send in your own poetry recommendations for young readers. Find out more. above: shelfie by Foyle Young Poets Browse, borrow, request, renew – lovely words to me. A library […]
Menagerie of menace: a Q&A with Arna Miller, 2020 National Poetry Competition artist
When searching for this year’s commission for our annual National Poetry Competition artwork, The Poetry Society immediately fell in love with Arna Miller’s menagerie of cute but strangely menacing animals, cast into vintage, circus-like artwork alongside beautiful lettering. You can see Arna’s artwork for this year’s competition above, and read our interview with the […]
Reimagining Glastonbury
It’s that time of year when, in normal circumstances, some 200,000 people would don their wellies and flower crowns, and head off to camp in a field for four days. Yes, it’s Glastonbury weekend! Although this year’s festival was cancelled, the BBC has stepped into the breach with a whole programme of highlights from past […]

The Poetry Review: Summer issue just out
Poems that transcend their moment and are renewed with fresh meaning in the wake of future events is an aim of the latest issue of The Poetry Review, edited by Emily Berry. The issue features new poems by Moniza Alvi, Isabelle Baafi, Jodie Hollander, Amaan Hyder, Tom Jenks, Rachel Long, D. Nurkse and Jack Underwood, […]
Phoebe Stuckes and Jo Burns win the Geoffrey Dearmer and Hamish Canham Prizes
The Poetry Society is pleased to announce a duo of award winners, for two fantastic poems published across our publications in 2019. Congratulations to Phoebe Stuckes, who has won the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize for ‘Thus I became a heart-eater’. The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize is for the best poem published in The Poetry Review by a […]
Clare Best, Stephen Keeler and Maria McManus win Coast to Coast to Coast prize
The four winners of the third Coast to Coast to Coast Individual Poet Journal Competition have been announced and each will receive Limited Edition hand-stitched journals – including Poetry Society Members Clare Best, Stephen Keeler and Maria McManus, alongside Sarah Salway. The journals will be created for launches in Liverpool in Spring 2021. There were […]

Jonathan Edwards wins Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition
Glyn Maxwell has selected his winners of this year’s Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition. First prize goes to ‘Curling’ by Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan is the Editor of Poetry Wales and runs poetry feedback sessions – Poetry Surgeries – on behalf of The Poetry Society and you can book online sessions with him now. Second prize […]
Poetry Review Midsummer Offer
Coinciding with the release of the Summer issue of The Poetry Review, The Poetry Society is running a Midsummer digital subscription promotion from Midsummer’s Day on 24 June running until 7 July. Use the code MIDSUMMER20 at the checkout on the Exact Editions website for 20% off a year’s digital subscription (normally £24.99, now £19.99) […]
“ST. AGNES’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!” The @poetrysociety #Keats200 celebrations begin next week with the Eve of St Agnes Read Along on Zoom Wed 20 Jan 7pm GMT. Find out more and book here bit.ly/stagneseveread… (image credit: Linda Hughes)
'It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.' ― Molière #BOTD in 1622 Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Listen in to a new Caroline Bird play on Monday twitter.com/carolinebirduk…
If you happen to be home on Monday 😉 my new radio play is on @BBCRadio4 at 2pm, directed and produced by brilliant radio wizard @MairBosworth and starring Jessica Hynes, Sinead Matthews, @TracyWiles, @yeshaleymcgee +Kerry Shale https://t.co/z8PqQDtuaz
— Caroline Bird (@CarolineBirdUK) January 15, 2021
@PoetrySociety - the Poetry Review worth it for this poem alone. My jaw dropped. Retweeted by The Poetry Society
“Keep two miasmas apart” - Covid meets Oulipo twitter.com/and_otherpoems…
An oulipian (N+10) poem collage made from current guidelines https://t.co/n8LD17uGk6 pic.twitter.com/Jd81u7vG3d
— Josephine Corcoran (@And_OtherPoems) January 13, 2021
Unwind with a fabulous baker's dozen of poetry hits courtesy of @elainefeeney16 in the latest Poetry Mixtape accompanying the Winter Poetry Review bit.ly/feeneypoetrymi… #desertislandpoems
News from our group in Germany! twitter.com/samegelstaff/s…
Just decided which poem I’m reading tomorrow night at @PoetrySociety #German Stanza...It’s going to be my narrative poem ‘The Pirate of @LlandogerTrow,’ a comment on #homelessness in Britain today! #Bristol Thankyou to @Rainbow_Poems Lucy for your support x 👍🌈#writing pic.twitter.com/WTASLZDxI9
— Samantha Egelstaff (@SamEgelstaff) January 12, 2021
A few days remain to get a discounted annual subscription to the digital edition of The Poetry Review including the latest exciting issue. Until 14 Jan you can get up to 25% off using code WINTEROFFER2020 at the online checkout! bit.ly/digitalpoetryr…
Now I must be mute. I am sincere only when I am silent. So, only when I am silent do they settle upon me - words - a flock of birds in a tree at nightfall. Adelia Prado (trans Barbara Howes) Still time to catch BBC documentary on the Brazilian poet bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04…
Yes! It is January and that means it is TS Eliot Prize readings time! 24 Jan is the date for your diary! twitter.com/tseliotprize/s…
The T. S. Eliot Prize Readings will be combined with the chair of the judges’ announcement of the winner in a fabulous streamed event hosted by Ian McMillan at 7pm on Sunday 24 January. Get your ticket now: https://t.co/FS99sompZy@southbankcentre @IMcMillan pic.twitter.com/zJGr7bjwB0
— T. S. Eliot Prize (@tseliotprize) January 11, 2021
Such freezing weather is like a hand lightly pressed against grey water. Hands will not break it since there’s little there to break only this pale light which is about to turn into something darker. We should wake from it. Give us our white nights. Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Alexander Pope's manuscript of The Iliad c.1720. He was so enjoying the description of Achilles' sheild that he sketched his own version. Retweeted by The Poetry Society
What phrases or stories sustained you through difficult times when you were very young? @SmritiPH @katefoxwriter @wanderinggaia and @frankcottrell_b join @imcmillan to talk about hope and optimism. 10pm. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Don't miss the Zoom launch for the Winter issue of The Poetry Review on Thurs 28 Jan 7pm GMT. The line-up includes Graham Mort, Meredi Ortega, Rushika Wick and Jason Allen-Paisant. Free, donations welcome. Book at bit.ly/reviewwinter20…
"I knew he was – would become – a poem as soon as I set eyes on him." Graham Mort on his poem 'Cock Pheasant' from the latest Winter issue of Poetry Review. Read the full 'Behind the Poem' piece at bit.ly/mortpheasant