Fast Forward Open Mic

7.30pm Tarmount Studios Shoreham-by-Sea. Open mic poetry & short stories with Katrina Quinn.

Open mic

The Poetry of John Keats

Exploring the National Poetry Day theme of Choice through the poems of Keats.
2-3.30pm St Mary de Haura church Shoreham-by-Sea. Free event.

Performance, Free

Poetry Pharmacy

12-2pm at St Mary de Haura church
Shoreham-by-Sea. Poetic remedies for the trials & tribulations of life.

An Audience with Lemn Sissay

National treasure, best-selling writer and presenter, and one of Britain’s most exciting poets, Lemn Sissay will be headlining Woolwich Works especially for National Poetry Day 2021.

Lemn is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer, international poet, performer playwright, artist and broadcaster. He has read on stage throughout the world: from The Library of Congress in The United States to The University of Addis Ababa, from Singapore to Sri Lanka, Bangalore to Dubai, from Bali to Greenland, and very soon Woolwich Works!

Lemn will be reading from and expanding on the poems published in his collection Gold from the Stone.

Performance

Poetry Evening

Event to be held at St Andrews Church Centre, Clevedon on October 7. Doors open 6:30 pm.

Readings of poetry by local poets from 7-9 pm. Special feature: Reading of Arthur Hallam's poem 'Oh Poetry, Oh Rarest Spirit of All' Hallam is buried at St. Andrews. Hallam was engaged to Lord Tennyson's sister and an inspiration to Tennyson. One of Tennyson's most famous poems 'In Memorium' was dedicated to Hallam.

Tickets £5 include seating & refreshments.

Tickets available at the bookshop and on Ticketron. Limited number of seats available.

Performance

Finding your Voice

A free poetry workshop delivered by poet Liam Christopher, author of 'Modern Day Love Letters - Love, Brexit and Coronavirus. Join us at the library to celebrate National Poetry day. Event starts at 5.30pm.

Performance, Free, Library

A Celebration in Rhyme

A Celebration in Rhyme has been developed to help schools celebrate the stories your pupils love in verse - by writing and performing a collaborative School Poem in just a single day!

After a quick assembly sharing our love of poetry and issuing the overall challenge, children will participate in collaborative writing workshops, usually for a year group at a time. Using our unique “RunAround” methodology, KS2 / P4 - P7 classes will choose the themes and content, creating the lines as they go - with EYFS and KS1 / P1 - P3 providing the chorus. And the outcome? A beautifully crafted poem extolling the wonder of stories that’s unique to your school - and that will get its very first performance at a second, celebratory assembly at the end of the day!

To find out more about our Poetry Workshops please contact us on 0151 708 8886 or email info@ascreatives.com

BOLD

Inkandescent present a queer poetry soirée hosted by Nathan Evans with John McCullough, Andreena Leeanne & Kat Dixon

Above the Stag Theatre, 72 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP
Thursday 7th October, 19:30, £10

Inkandescent serve up spirited spoken word with a side of film and music. For National Poetry Day, we're joined by John McCullough—whose latest collection Reckless Paper Birds won the 2020 Hawthornden Prize for literature and was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award—Andreena Leeanne—founder of Poetry LGBT and whose collection CHARRED is shortlisted for the 2021 Polari First Book Prize—and Kat Dixon—whose poems have appeared in The Rialto, Butcher’s Dog, Tears in the Fence, Queerlings, South Bank Poetry and Mslexia.

Inkandescent were founded in 2016 by Justin David and Nathan Evans to champion diverse writers underrepresented in the mainstream.

'McCullough has a reputation for crafting lyric poems of the everyday with a surreal twist. In Reckless Paper Birds, the familiar yet strange is rarely more than a stanza away.'—The Guardian

Reckless Paper Birds is a timely and necessary collection which vibrates with protest; these poems are talismans against hate.’—Richard Scott

www.inkandescent.co.uk
@InkandescentUK

www.nathanevans.co.uk
@nathanevansarts

www.johnmccullough.co.uk
@JohnMcCullough_

www.andreena.co.uk
@Survivor.Andreena.Leeanne

@katdixon2012

Performance

Poetry Double Bill: Polly Atkin and Kim Moore

Much With Body is Polly Atkin’s startlingly original second collection. The beauty of the Lake District is both balm and mirror, refracting pain and also soothing it with distraction. Much of the landscape is lakescape, giving the book a watery feel, the author’s wild swimming being just one kind of immersion. Here the natural world is revered with an uneasy awe, contingent upon knowledge of our fragility and mortality.

All The Men I Never Married is Kim Moore’s eagerly awaited second collection. It is pointedly feminist, challenging and keenly aware of the contradictions and complexities of desire. The numbered poems take us through a gallery of exes and significant others where we encounter rage, pain, guilt and love. A powerful collection of deeply thoughtful and deeply felt poetry.

Performance, Free

The Litfest Poetry Mosaic: National Poetry Day with Hannah Hodgson

Many great poems have been written about choice, from Shel Silverstein’s ’The Voice’ to Julia Donaldson’s ‘I Opened a Book’, and from Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ to Grace Nichols’ ‘Harbour’ – about choosing a human hug over constant digital contact. Many of these poems are available online, others can be found in a book you might have at home or can get at the library.
Hosted by Hannah Hodgson, this event will feature some of the best poems written on the theme of choice from the past. It will also be a showcase for Northwest poets – of all ages – who are writing today.

In the days leading up to National Poetry Day, Hannah Hodgson will curate a selection of outstanding poems from those submitted to the Litfest Poetry Mosaic, and on 2nd October Litfest will contact those poets (or a nominated reader) to invite them to read their work online at this special National Poetry Day showcase event!

After the event, all the submitted poems will remain online in our specially created Litfest Poetry Mosaic.

Performance, Free

Book the Babysitter: Poetry on Parenting with the Mum Poet Club

This National Poetry Day, join the Mum Poet Club for an evening of poetry on parenthood.

Thursday 7 October 2021 from 7:30pm, £10

At The Chapel at JCT, 83 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8TB (just behind Oxford Circus Street tube station).

A raucous, magical, powerful and cathartic evening of poetry about the magic and the mayhem of parenting.

With moving, hilarious and beautiful poems from experienced and award-winning performers to passionate and talented first timers - all members of the Mum Poet Club - this is sure to be an evening of tears, laughter and high quality poetry.

The Mum Poet Club was born in lockdown as a way to connect, support and encourage poetry-writing parents and has now hundreds of active members across the UK and publishes a regular poetry zine.

Reviews for Book the Babysitter:

“A magic night – I left feeling inspired and uplifted.”

“Absolutely stunned by the poetic talent and the range of poems and feelings.”

“All the poets blew me away with their work – the emotion and strength in the room was palpable.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night I was so excited about falling in love with poetry again. The amazing women who shared their words were so inspiring. Thank you for a magical evening.”

Performance, Open mic

After the Voices: Song-settings of Alice Oswald and W.S. Merwin

Featuring the American composer-pianist Eric McElroy and the distinguished English tenor James Gilchrist, this song-recital is presented as part of the 2021 Oxford Lieder Festival. It features the premiere of McElroy's song-cycle 'After the Voices: Six Poems of W.S. Merwin' as well as a newly commissioned song-setting of poetry by Alice Oswald (Oxford's Professor of Poetry).

Performance

Pop-Up Haiflu

Come and view the beautiful Haiflu poem at Chatham Library, created as part of the Estuary Festival. A Haiflu is a collaborative visual poem, inspired by the beautiful Medway Estuary.
Be inspired, write your own Haiflu and post it into the box.

Free, Exhibition

East Riding Festival of Words poetry competition

The East Riding Festival of Words poetry competition is now open for entries. This year's theme is 'My reason to be cheerful' - because we all need something to be cheerful about at the moment!

Once again entries are being judges by a panel of Yorkshire poets, led by James Nash.

There are 13 cash prizes available;
Adult
Collection HQ prize £500
East Riding Gold prize £200
East Riding Silver prize £150
2x Highly Commended £25 each

Young poets
East Riding Secondary 1st prize £75
East Riding Secondary 2nd prize £50
2x Highly Commended £25 each
East Riding Primary 1st prize £75
East Riding Secondary 2nd prize £50
2x Highly Commended £25 each

There is also a £100 voucher prize for prison inmates.

The competition closes on Saturday 27 November and there will be a prize giving event at North Bridlington Library, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire on Saturday 29 January 2022. For full terms and condition and to submit entries go to www.festivalofwords.co.uk

Prize

Virtual Reality Poetry

Celebrate National Poetry Day in a new way as we allow you to experience performance poetry through our virtual reality devices.
Attendees will be provided with a virtual reality headset to view a selection of prerecorded performances.

Performance, Library

The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour

‘Great Poetry Read By Great Actors’

The Josephine Hart American Poets Hour:
Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath & Walt Whitman

Cast of A-list actors - to be announced shortly.

Marking 35 years of ‘The Poetry Hour’’
And the 10th anniversary of the loss of our much-missed Founder, novelist, & producer, Josephine Hart.

Venue Partner: The British Library

Performance, Library

National Poetry Day at St Andrew’s Junior School

Celebrating poetry - reading, writing, listening to and performing poetry.

Performance

Derby Poetry Festival

Four days of headline poetry and workshops in city Centre venues from October 7th - 10th.

For further details go to the Derby Poetry Festival Facebook page.

Performance, Library, Open mic

An Evening with Tishani Doshi

Our 2021 online contemporary poetry reading series, “Go to the poets, they will speak to thee”, is curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore. We will be listening to what poets have to say about our turbulent times, and how poetry can cross borders to challenge, delight and inspire us. Each event in the series is part reading, part open mic – and the theme of the open mic changes every month!

In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth argues that “the Poet is the rock of defence of human nature; an upholder and preserver, carrying everywhere with him relationship and love”. Our guest poet this month is the wonderful poet Tishani Doshi, who will be reading from her latest Bloodaxe and Forward Prize shortlisted collection A God At The Door. Throughout this book the redemptive and revolutionary possibilities of poetry are revealed. In a poem dedicated to Indian political poet and activist Varavara Rao, imprisoned since 2018, she writes “I am trying to be a dangerous poet”. Our open mic theme this month is to explore what a Poet is, starting with Wordsworth’s line “the Poet is”.

Performance, Open mic

Lincolnshire Schools Poetry Competition

A competition open to students in Lincolnshire schools to write a poem on the theme of 'Choice'. The poems will be judged by Stamford Poet Laureate, Rob Elks and the winning poems displayed in the Library of the Willoughby Memorial Gallery, Corby Glen.

Prize, Exhibition

Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival

Bristol's annual poetry festival, taking place digitally in April 2021 with workshops, events, readings, panel discussions and a poetry film screening.

Performance, Free

Strictly Speaking at The Wells Maltings

Everyone is invited to come and share a poem that they've written or a poem that they love at our Strictly Speaking event. A friendly, supportive atmosphere all are encourage to attend. £5 per ticket and a bar will be available for ordering drinks.

Performance, Prize, Open mic

Push the Boat Out

Join writer Katy Hastie at a family friendly drop-in poetry session, inspired by our 'Marine: Ian Hamilton Finlay' exhibition, to make nautical collage poems that fold into origami boats to sail the seven seas. All welcome, no experience necessary - just bring your imagination. Katy Hastie is a writer and poet from Glasgow who works on experimental and hybrid forms of storytelling in community, cultural and academic settings.

Free

CREATION:Poetry for National Poetry Day

CREATION:Poetry are an online poetry community based in Sheffield who host online open mics on the third Wednesday of every month, as well as poetry workshops and courses. For National Poetry Day CREATION will be hosting a special event with performances from some of Sheffields best poets.

Performance, Open mic