Members' AreaWith 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 […]
News
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) […]
A new eco-poetry National Poetry Competition writing resource from Pascale Petit
For this year’s National Writing Day, The Poetry Society has asked Pascale Petit to delve into the National Poetry Competition archives, taking two poems from the competition’s history as the starting point for a brand new writing resource on eco-poetry. Whether poets are looking for prompts for group discussion on nature writing, or want a […]
Windrush Day in poetry
22 June marks Windrush Day. To commemorate it and to celebrate the work of Caribbean poets, The Poetry Society will be sharing poems by poets of the Windrush generation from the Poems on the Underground collection on Twitter throughout the day. Poems on the Underground has been offering poetry to London’s tube travellers since 1986. […]
Here Comes the Sun
Inspired by Stonehenge’s plan to live-stream the Summer Solstice, The Poetry Society is gathering together a selection of sunshiny (and sunburnt) poems to accompany the northern hemisphere’s longest day. Check #poetrysolstice on The Poetry Society’s Twitter account on Sunday 21 June for some sun-themed poetry, and if you or young writers you know are inspired […]
Bloodaxe Archive writing challenges – all winners now online
Over the past few months, The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network has been working with Newcastle University, asking young poets to delve into and respond to the digital Bloodaxe Archive. We launched a series of four writing challenges, designed to lead young poets down new paths and to write in response to poems they found […]
Poetry Society Members pick up Society of Authors awards
Congratulations to everyone who received a Society of Authors award this year, including a healthy number of Poetry Society Members. Neil Rollinson and Inua Ellams each receive a Travelling Scholarship, enabling British creative writers to keep in touch with colleagues abroad. Roseanne Watt receives a £4,000 Somerset Maugham Award for published work by writers under […]
Refugee Week 2020: Young Poets Network poetry challenge
15-22 June is Refugee Week 2020. To mark it, The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network has launched a new poetry translation challenge in partnership with Modern Poetry in Translation. Young people up to the age of 25 are invited to co-translate a poem by Suhrab Sirat, a poet, writer and journalist in exile from Balkh […]
Valzhyna Mort shortlisted for Best Single Poem in the 2020 Forward Prizes for Poetry
Congratulations to Valzhyna Mort who has been shortlisted in the Forward Prizes’ Best Single Poem Category for her poem ‘Nocturne for a Moving Train’, first published in The Poetry Review’s Autumn 2019 issue. The poem, which draws the personal, the political and the pastoral into the focus of a single cross-continental train journey, can be […]
Jeanette Burton wins Welshpool Poetry Competition
‘On the eve of my 40th birthday I watch a news report about a pet alligator’ is the brilliant title by Poetry Society Member Jeanette Burton, chosen by Jonathan Edwards as the winner of this year’s Welshpool Poetry Competition. Jeanette wins £150 for her poem and had another, ‘It is difficult to write a poem […]
Vanessa Lampert 2nd in Fish Poetry Prize
Billy Collins has chosen Poetry Society Member Vanessa Lampert‘s poem ‘Some Pleasures’ in second place in the Fish Publishing poetry prize. Vanessa wins a week in residence at Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat in Ireland. All the winning poems will be published in the Fish Anthology 2020. Billy said of Vanessa’s poem: A version […]
Joanna Ingham wins Paper Swans Press competition
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Joanna Ingham, picked by Wendy Pratt as the winner of the inaugural Paper Swans Press competition for her poem ‘Scan’. “Scan takes a complicated, emotionally difficult situation and transforms it into a landscape. It’s an imagery dense poem that never loses the metaphorical map, a poem which keeps the reader […]
Mary Noonan and Julia Copus on Walcott shortlist
Poetry Society Members Mary Noonan and Julia Copus are included on the shortlist for the first annual Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry – to be awarded to a full-length book of poems by a living poet who is not a US citizen published in the previous calendar year. The 2019 short list is: • T.O. […]
Rosalind Easton and Sarah Wimbush win Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition
Congratulations to Poetry Society Members Rosalind Easton and Sarah Wimbush, who join Jill Penny and Wendy Pratt as the winners of this year’s Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition, judged by Imtiaz Dharker and Ian McMillan. Rosalind Easton wins for her collection Black Mascara (Waterproof). Black Mascara (Waterproof) is full of wicked invention, retelling […]
Sarah James and Judith Wozniak top Hippocrates Prizes
The winners have been announced for the 2020 FPM-Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine: and they are both Poetry Society Members. Sarah James (Leavesley) is the winner of the Open Prize and Judith Wozniak has won the Health Professional Prize. This year’s judges were Roland Jackson and Lawrence Sail. With an awards fund of £5500, […]
Alasdair Paterson wins Candlestick ‘Getting Older’ Competition
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Alasdair Paterson who will be published alongside Elvire Roberts and Mark Granier for winning the Candlestick Press ‘Getting Older’ poetry competition from 900 entries judged by Costa-shortlisted poet John McCullough. All three poets each receive a cash prize and their poems will appear in Ten Poems about Getting Older to […]
Members’ news round-up: Gary Bills, Pnina Shinebourne, Christopher M James, Yvonne Reddick, Alison Lock, Coral Rumble, S K Grout, Jo Burns
Congratulations to Gary Bills, a runner-up in the 2020 Robert Frost Poetry Contest for his poem ‘Change After Whispers’. Hailing from Ledbury, Herefordshire, Gary was the only British poet in the list of ten. Pnina Shinebourne is longlisted for her novel-in-verse Unbridled Messiah in the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. The longlist for the Prize, now […]
Terry Dyson wins Exmoor Society Poetry Competition
The Exmoor Society has announced the winners of its poetry competition for 2020. The purpose of the competition is to inspire people about Exmoor, one of England’s finest landscapes, and especially poignant this year with the travel restrictions. The judges were impressed with the standard of entries. Rachel Thomas, The Exmoor Society Chairman, said: ‘I […]
Michaela Coplen and Felicity Sheehy 1st and 2nd in York Poetry Prize
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Members Michaela Coplen and Felicity Sheehy, first and second in the York Poetry Prize judged by Sean O’Brien. Michaela’s winning poem ‘Venus Victrix’ is described by Sean as: …a subtle and musically assured dramatic monologue which revisits a theme that has fascinated American writers since Henry James and Edith Wharton – […]
Jenny Mitchell wins Fosseway Writers Poetry Competition
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Member Jenny Mitchell who has won the Fosseway Writers Poetry Competition on the theme of ‘remote’, judged by Leanne Moden. Jenny’s poem is called ‘How to Grow an Orchid’. Her prize-winning debut poetry collection Her Lost Language is available from Indigo Dreams. Her poems have been broadcast on Radio 4 and […]
Newcastle Poetry Competition results: Natalie Crick & Pippa Little
CONGRATULATIONS to Poetry Society Members Natalie Crick and Pippa Little who are second and third in this year’s Newcastle Poetry Competition Adult Poetry Prize, judged by Colette Bryce. The winner is Damien O’Brien. Hurray! to fellow Society Member Vanessa Lampert (Highly Commended) and to Foyle Top 15 winner 2018 Georgie Woodhead, a winner in the […]
Nigel Speight wins Is Royalty Relevant? Competition
Poetry Society Member Nigel Speight‘s poem ‘Auntie Florence’ has won Holland Park Press’s Is Royalty Relevant? Competition. After studying in Oxford Nigel Speight taught English Literature and was Head of an English Department. This overlapped with 40 years as a journalist in the gambling industry and a stint as a chuchwarden in St. Mary Magdalen’s, […]
Jane Wilkinson wins Strokestown Poetry Prize
Poetry Society Member Jane Wilkinson is the winner of this year’s Strokestown International Poetry Prize for her poem ‘If I were to land’. Judges were John F. Deane and Enda Wyley. Jane was first – and second – in the Guernsey International Poetry Competition earlier this year and was also winner of the Against the […]
Rachael Matthews wins inaugural Coastal Writing for Wellness Competition
Deborah Harvey has chosen Poetry Society Member Rachael Matthews’ poem ‘Ghazal: The Sea’ as the winner of the inaugural Coastal Writing for Wellness Competition. Fellow Society Members Sarah James (Leavesley) and Marion Ashton were Commended. The competition is organised by The Beach Hut, an online coastal themed platform for contemporary poetry & flash fiction: “Celebrating […]
Mother’s Milk Poetry Prize results: Sarah Watkinson
Congratulations to Poetry Society Member Sarah Watkinson, second in the 2019 Mother’s Milk Books Poetry Prize, judged by Ruth Aylett and Beth McDonough, for her poem ‘Maternity Leave in the Age of Giorgione’. Fellow Poetry Society Member Erin Coppin was Commended for ‘Plum’. Sarah has just published a pamphlet with Romola Parish, The Woods of […]
David Swann wins Binsted Prize
Stephanie Norgate has chosen Poetry Society Member David Swann‘s poem ‘Bulletin from Blue Yonder’ as the winner of this year’s Binsted Prize, part of the South Downs Poetry Festival. Fellow Poetry Society Members Pat Murgatroyd (‘Teaching Refugees in the Church Hall’) and Sue Davies (‘Stonewalling’) are second and third respectively. Stephanie: In this time of […]
Young poets on the climate emergency: psychoanalytic perspectives
Earlier in 2020, The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network teamed up with the Freud Museum London to run their third writing challenge together. They asked young poets aged up to 25 worldwide to submit poems about how the climate crisis has affected them and their mental health. The responses were overwhelming. Hundreds of poets from […]
Artlyst Art to Poetry Award longlist announcement
Artlyst and The Poetry Society are delighted to announce the longlists for the inaugural Art to Poetry Award, in both the adult and youth competitions. The Artlyst Art to Poetry Award is a new international award for poetry responding to works of art. It launched in December 2019. The adult entries were judged by the poet and art […]
The 2020 National Poetry Competition: judged by Neil Astley, Jonathan Edwards and Karen McCarthy Woolf
The 2020 National Poetry Competition is now open for entries! This year’s trio of expert judges are renowned as award-winning poets and editors. Poet Neil Astley, the distinguished editor of the poetry publishing house Bloodaxe Books, is well known for best-selling anthologies such as Being Human and Staying Alive. Jonathan Edwards has won the Costa […]
Nancy Campbell wins Ness Award for the popularisation of geography through poetry and non-fiction writing
Poetry Society Member Nancy Campbell is the recipient of the Royal Geographic Society’s Ness Award for the popularisation of geography through poetry and non-fiction writing. These are part of a series of awards that recognise extraordinary achievement in geographical research, fieldwork, teaching, policy, and public engagement. Nancy says on Twitter: “Honoured to receive this year’s […]
Heidi Williamson wins Plough Prize
Congratulations to Poetry Society Member Heidi Williamson, this year’s winner of the 2019 Plough International Poetry Prize, judged by Greta Stoddart. Greta chose Heidi’s poem ‘With a rootless lily held in front of him’. Heidi runs Poetry Surgeries by Skype on behalf of The Poetry Society, offering feedback on your poems-in-progress. In her twenties she […]
Tribute to Angela Platt
Warm tributes have been paid to Angela Platt, who died on 8 May. Angela was The Poetry Society Stanza Rep for Newport and and had been a Poetry Society Member for many years. Born in Cardiff, Angela attended school in Newport, then worked at the Inland Revenue in Cardiff and Llanishen before a teaching career […]
Penny Boxall second in Charles Causley Poetry Competition
Poetry Society Member Penny Boxall has been chosen by Michael Rosen for the second prize in the 2019 Charles Causley International Poetry Competition (won by Luke Allan) for her poem ‘The Stays’. Penny won The Poetry Society’s Stanza Competition last year and her debut poetry collection, Ship of the Line, won the 2016 Edwin Morgan […]
Eleanor Penny wins Verve Poetry Competition
Andrew McMillan has chosen Eleanor Penny as the winner of this year’s Verve Poetry Competition with Commendations for Poetry Society Members Natalie Crick, Michael Saunderson, Claire Collison, Hilary Watson, Christopher M James, Tim Kiely, Natalie Whittaker, and Jack Cooper. The results in full: 1st Prize: The Dogs by Eleanor Penny 2nd Prize: Gaylord by Jack […]
‘He returned to what he really was’: Clive James’s daughter on his poetic farewell Artist Claerwen James on growing up with an extraordinary father – and how she bonded with him in his final months when they compiled an anthology of his favourite verse theguardian.com/culture/2020/s…
A big week ahead for us at placesofpoetry.org.uk. Let’s celebrate the poetry of place this #NationalPoetryDay @PoetrySociety @PoetryDayUK @OneworldNews Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Clive James: 'The poems I remember are the milestones marking the journey of my life' theguardian.com/books/2020/sep…
Of all the books my daughter can choose and she picks The Poetry Review. Proud. Thank you @PoetrySociety #teachthemyoung #1yearold #howdoihaveaoneyearoldalready Retweeted by The Poetry Society
As we approach the 1/10 publication of the Places of Poetry anthology, @OneworldNews is releasing a new film each day, created by one of our contributors. It’s a great way to capture the feel of our community-led project. 👀 @PoetrySociety @PoetryDayUK @OrdnanceSurvey @ahrcpress twitter.com/oneworldnews/s… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
From Honeyed by @IsyMead They take a sip and begin. How my aunt, even now talks to her late husband, gets his opinion while running a bath or watering geraniums poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/honeyed
Delighted to have a poem selected by @PoetrySociety for October. About MEAD. Grew from a writing exercise about surnames. A fun idea, give it a go! #poetry #poetrycommunity #poems #PoetsTwitter #writers poetrysociety.org.uk/membership/mem… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
thrilled to be a winner of the @poetrysociety members' poems competition: Vision - poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/when-you… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
👀 Love this poem. @PoetrySociety twitter.com/OneworldNews/s… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Ready for your daily dose of poetry pleasure? Next up is Flood - Six Tweets from Gothia Falls by Helen Jagger from Cornwall
— Oneworld Publications (@OneworldNews) September 24, 2020
Pre-order the Places of Poetry anthology here - https://t.co/tkVMimoI9k pic.twitter.com/CbnYhIQXya
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible." Orwell wrote this in 1946. How do you think political language is used nowadays? How can you use it to inspire new poems? If you're 25 or younger, submit by 25 Oct: bit.ly/orwellchallenge Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Poet-for-hire with the Millennium Bridge stretching over the Thames to St. Paul's Cathedral with the prettiest blue skies for an office view. And there was a queue. #poetrylovers #amwriting Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Travelling home on the tube feeling panicky about another lockdown and the possibility of returning to working from home so soon and I found myself across from this Poem on the Underground 💪 Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Have two of these on my wall at home. This one is so good for now! I too feel somewhat cast down. This has helped me too! Thank you! @Team_English1 @EdexcelTeachers @PearsonEnglish @Catmort @ForwardPrizes @PoetrySociety @PoetryDayUK twitter.com/lucefrederick/… Retweeted by The Poetry Society
I imagine this midnight moment’s forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock’s loneliness And this blank page where my fingers move. Through the window I see no star: Something more near Though deeper within darkness Is entering the loneliness Ted Hughes #workingfromhome
Does anyone have any tips for creating an office sweepstake online? How will we get everyone's £1 and randomly send them the name of a Bake Off contestant? Retweeted by The Poetry Society
Take a look at the beautiful finished copies of Places of Poetry 😍 Coming 1st October bit.ly/PlacesofPoetry Retweeted by The Poetry Society