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Foyle deadline, new Poetry Surgery, NPC resources and more...
The Poetry Society E-bulletin • August 2015

Greetings

from The Poetry Society

Hi Poetry Fan,

Welcome to your monthly Poetry Society e-bulletin.

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award closes today. If you are a poet aged 11-17, or know one who should be sending their work for consideration, act quickly!

We've got some great events coming up, including an intimate reading with poet Amy Blakemore in August, and what promises to be an exuberant celebration of the poetry and songs of waterways with Canal Laureate Jo Bell on 2 September. You can also now book your tickets for the Psychoanalytic Poetry Festival events in London (19 Sep) and Edinburgh (20 Sep).

We have a new Poetry Surgery now available in York, with poet Carole Bromley, and you can listen online to the wonderful 2014 Annual Lecture with Carolyn Forché, The Poet As Witness, online for free. It's a fascinating talk, and well worth the time.

Our 2015 Annual Lecture in October will be with Pulitzer Prize-winning former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove, and will tour to London, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, so we hope you'll have a chance to catch that in person.

If one e-bulletin a month isn't enough, you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook for all the latest poetry news and updates.

Until next time, Paul and Sophie.

Paul McGrane (Membership)
Sophie Baker (Marketing)

Poem of the Month

California Gold Rush

If I could write like Tolstoy

by Laura Scott

­­                                                          
                                                      you’d see a man
dying in a field with a flagstaff still in his hands.

I’d take you close until you saw the grass
blowing around his head, and his eyes

looking up at the white sky. I’d show you
a pale-faced Tsar on a horse under a tree,

breath from its nostrils, creases in gloved fingers
pulling at the reins, perhaps hoof marks in the mud

as he jumps the ditch at the end of the field.  
I’d show you men walking down a road,  

one of them shouting to the others to get off it.
You’d hear the ice crack as they slipped down the bank  

to join him, bringing their horses with them. You’d feel
the blood coming out of the back of someone’s head

warm for a moment, before it touched the snow.
I’d show you a dead man come back to life.

Then I’d make you wait – for pages and pages –
before you saw him go to his window

and look at how the moon turns half a row
of trees silver, leaves the other half black.
 



First published in The Poetry Review, summer issue, 2015. Find more poems and poets on our website
 

Poetry Society News

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award – deadline today!


Young poets aged 11-17 have until midnight GMT tonight (31 July) to send us their entries for the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. 

Judges Liz Berry and Michael Symmons Roberts will choose 15 top winners who are published in our anthology and attend a residential Arvon writing course or receive a poet residency in their school (age dependent). The top 100 poets will also receive a year’s youth membership of The Poetry Society, a range of book prizes and continuing support via publication, performance and internship opportunities.  

Entry is free with full details of how to enter on our website.

National Poetry Competition - Enter now!

The National Poetry Competition is open for entries. Judged by Sarah Howe, Esther Morgan and David Wheatley, with a closing date of 31 October 2015. First prize is £5000 plus publication in The Poetry Review and the chance to read at top festivals around the UK. Find out more about how to enter online...
 

Competition Resources

Visit our website for discussion tips about the winning poems from 2014 – and a host of other articles and advice about entering the competition. More resources will be added as we approach the deadline, so keep an eye out for updates through August and September!

Upcoming Events

Poet Sessions #7 – Amy Blakemore

12 August. Library Club, Covent Garden, London.

Amy Blackemore will give an intimate poetry gig, part of a series of monthly events celebrating the most exciting new poets from The Poetry Society’s Young Associates scheme. Amy is a twice former winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and has just released her first debut full-length poetry collectionHumber Summer with Eyewear.

Lifted – Poems & Songs of the Waterways

2 September 2015, 7.30pm. Canal Café Theatre, Little Venice, London

A thrilling celebration of canal culture in words and music. Jo Bell (“Witty, sexy and deft” – Stuart Maconie) performs lyrical and joyous new poems written during her time as the UK’s Canal Laureate. Learn to walk slowly and quite often sideways. Hark to the ratchet sound of summer winding in. Smell the diesel and try not to get distracted by the duck sex.

Dead Rat Orchestra are adventurers adrift on a wave of sound and possibility, steering their boat through the idioms of Folk and Improv, with music that’s acutely haunting, occasionally brutal and raucously joyful. 

Tickets: £8/£6 concessions plus £1.50 annual theatre membership & booking fees may apply
Box office: 020 7289 6054. canalcafetheatre.com

Presented by The Poetry Society in association with the Canal & River Trust.

The Creative Unconscious
Psychoanalytic Poetry Festival

19 September 2015, 10am-5.30pm. Freud Museum, London

The Poetry Society and the Freud Museum present an all-day event examining the creative unconscious, with leading speakers from the worlds of poetry and psychoanalysis, including Nuar Alsadir, Alan Buckley, Vahni Capildeo, Annie Freud, Kathryn Maris and Maurice Riordan

The programme includes performances, talks and conversation on subjects including the unruly WB Yeats, New York School poet Joe Brainard and the taming of interrupted dreams.

Tickets are £60 or £45 for students/concessions/members of The Poetry Society or Freud Museum, and now available on the Freud Museum website.

Psychoanalytic Poetry Pop-up – Edinburgh

20 September 2015, 11.30am-6pm. The Sutton Gallery, Edinburgh

‘He wasn’t clever at all: he merely told / the unhappy Present to recite the Past / like a poetry lesson’
(‘In Memory of Sigmund Freud’, W.H. Auden).


Psychoanalysis and poetry have long been mutually fascinated. In this day-long event, poet Nuar Alsadir is interviewed by psychoanalyst Ken Robinson and reads her delicate, mysterious poems, while there is an opportunity to take part in a workshop led by the Scottish Poetry Library’s JL Williams on writing from the unconscious. 

Tickets will be available soon from the Scottish Poetry Library.

The Poetry Society Annual Lecture 2015

Rita Dove – ‘How does a shadow shine? Poetry, Music & the Underside of History'

 

King's College London (13 Oct) • University of Liverpool (20 Oct) • Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (22 Oct) • University of Edinburgh (23 Oct)


Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winner and former US Poet Laureate, will give the 2015 Poetry Society Annual Lecture, which will this year tour to London, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh. 

Rita Dove made history when she became the first African-American Poet Laureate. In this lecture, she will look at the poet’s role in re-shaping, reframing and reimagining history, interweaving her talk with poems. Find out more about the Annual Lecture tour on our website.

The lecture is presented in association with Birmingham Literature Festival and Writing West Midlands.
Image courtesy of Spark Media.

Save the date! – National Poetry Day 2015 

8 October. Theme: Light

Poetry Surgeries with the Poetry Society


Take your poems to a new level with the help of our team of established poets and tutors. Book below or call Paul McGrane 0207 420 9881.

Poetry Prescription

Send up to 100 lines of poetry for an appraisal by one of our highly-qualified poet tutors. Find out more and submit your work online.

The Poetry Review

The summer issues of The Poetry Review (featuring Nick Laird, Graham Mort, Daljit Nagra, Alice Oswald and Sara Peters) and Poetry News, our members' newsletter, are out now. If you're not a member, then come and join us. You can also buy individual copies of The Poetry Review on our website.

Poetry Society Education

Summer Writing Opportunities

SLAMbassadors UK

The Poetry Society’s national youth slam is open for entries over the summer. Open to young people aged 12-18, SLAMbassadors UK uncovers the next generation of spoken word artists.
 
This year’s judge is our first ever winner, Anthony Anaxagorou, and winners receive the chance to perform with Anthony and with SLAMbassadors UK artistic director Joelle Taylor at the Southbank Centre in October. Winners also benefit from a weekend poetry masterclass year’s mentoring from Joelle. Past winners include Kayo Chingonyi, Megan Beech, Vanessa Kisuule, Aisling Fahey and many more.
 
The closing date is Wednesday 30 September 2015. For details on how to enter please visit the website: slam.poetrysociety.org.uk

Timothy Corsellis Prize 

Our celebrated Second World War poetry prize is open again for entries from young people aged 14-25. This year, as well as a poetry prize we have a new essay competition addressing the legacy of Second World War poetry and its place in the poetic canon.
For more information and how to enter, please visit the website

Young Poets Network

As well as the Timothy Corsellis Prize, we have plenty to keep young poets busy over the summer. We have a writing challenge in collaboration with the Museum of London, looking at the history of women’s suffrage, captured in pictures by one of the first female press photographers Christina Broom.
 
There’s plenty more to come over the summer, with our annual Foyle Young Poets take-over of the site throughout August, so keep your eyes on the site for more information, or sign up to receive updates.

Stanza News

Stanzas are poetry groups run voluntarily by Poetry Society members, where members can present poems-in-progress for feedback, run events, or whatever they want to do. Visit our website for more information. New Stanzas have recently been started in Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, and High Weald.

Stanza Poetry Competition: Darkness

This annual competition is open exclusively to Poetry Society members who are also members of a Poetry Society Stanza. The theme for 2015 is ‘darkness’ and our judge is Jo Bell.

Email or post up to two poems, max 40 lines. Free entry. Closing date is Monday, 14 September 2015 and the winners are announced on National Poetry Day, 8 October 2015. Poems to be sent in anonymously, with contact details on a separate sheet, plus the name of your Stanza and your Stanza rep. Please read the rules before sending your poems. Good luck!

Stanza Bonanza

Norwich v Walthamstow

Wed 26 August 2015, 7pm

Another great night of poetry with The Poetry Society Stanzas. Tonight we have poets from Norwich, including Julia Webb - 2011 winner of The Poetry Society's Stanza Competition, and Forest Poets, Walthamstow.

Free, no need to book, and everyone very welcome – the more the merrier – upstairs at The Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2.

More details

Members' Offers

Poetry Society Members Matt Reilly (Gateshead), Allis Hamilton (Australia), Cindy Lee (Isle of Wight), Sarah Grigor (Inverness), Richard Myers (Cannich), and Loeke Stok (Gorran Haven), have each won a copy of Ten Bedtime Poems – Volume Two in our latest prize draw.

Candlestick Press kindly donated six copies, including poems from Auden, Byron, Donne, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Yeats, and more. Available from www.candlestickpress.co.uk or good bookshops.

The Voice and The Echo at Shakespeare’s Globe – Members' Discounts!

29 Aug; 4, 5 and 9 Sep.

Shakespeare’s Globe are pleased to present a new classical and contemporary poetry series. Each evening will feature famous works by one of England’s most beloved wordsmiths (Donne, Herbert, Blake and Hopkins), as well as responses to these works from critically acclaimed contemporary poets (including Carol Ann Duffy, Craig Raine, Jackie Kay and Peter Oswald).
 
Poetry society members receive £10 off selected seats or £5 standing seats when they use the code PCDPOETRY.
Call 0207 401 9919.

Voices in Vision: Poetry on the Small Screen – 2-4-1 ticket offer

August 2015, BFI Southbank

The BFI’s season on poets and poetry includes a fascinating collection of moments where poets are seen discussing the work of another – unusual bedfellows in this collection include Maya Angelou on Robert Burns and Craig Raine on Philip Larkin.

Don’t miss the special selection of  extracts from Six Centuries of Verse which features the diverse and radical voices of The Liverpool Poets, Benjamin Zephaniah and Spike Milligan amongst many others.
 
To enjoy two tickets for the price of one simply quote 'POET' online, in person or over the phone. Box Office: 020 7928 3232.

Poetry Café

The Poetry Café is a diverse arts-events space and vegetarian café in Covent Garden, London, run by The Poetry Society. You can find out more about what's on at the café, or sign up to the café-specific mailing list, on our website.
 

Summer closing

Please note that The Poetry Café is closed for its summer break, 17-31 August.
 

Café Exhibition

Animallages

until 29 August 2015

Artist-poets Jude Cowan Montague and Daniel Lehan are collaborators for Animallages, the latest exhibition in The Poetry Café. Taking poetry and animals as their theme, they have created a new visual construction, the ‘animallage': Lehan’s collaged tales of true romance track bears, birds and other beasts he encountered on his travels through Canada and London. Montague has cut up her award-winning monoprints and rearranged them to create odd, emotional fragments of cinema on paper. Influenced by Surrealism, Kenneth Patchen and Bruno Schulz, both artists use found texts to unexpected, playful and suggestive effect.
Find out more
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Poem of the Month

Society News

Upcoming Events

The Poetry Review

Education

Stanza News

Members' Offers

Poetry Café

Other news

    

Poetry Society Website

Poetry Society Poll

The results are in!

Last month we asked how many poetry magazines you subscribe to, or read regularly. Most of you, 63%, fall into the 1-3 category. But a good number, 33%, do subscribe to 4 or more. Very few, 4%, to none. Keep reading!

This month's poll question:
Do you think more poetry should rhyme?
Take the Poll

Members' Success

See our News section for more on these stories, and from  the poetry world:
  • Geraldine Clarkson (Leamington Spa) wins Poetry London Competition
  • Aly Stoneman (Sherwood) wins Buxton Poetry Competition
  • Danielle Hope (London) among Welsh Poetry Competition winners
  • Victor Tapner (Billericay), Tania Hershman (Bristol) take top spots in Munster Literature Centre competition
  • Davina Prince (Kirby Muxloe) wins East Midlands Book Award

The Poet as Witness


"Memory is wounded space: not only a spring or a well but also a tomb."

Listen to Carolyn Forché's 2014 Poetry Society Annual Lecture, now available online.

National Poetry Competition Filmpoems

Check out the fantastic poetry films made from winning poems in collaboration with Filmpoem, and listen to the winners read their work.

Other News

BBC Proms Extra Lates

Thursdays until 9 September. Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room, London. Informal late-night music and poetry, featuring young talent. The events are free, but tickets must be booked in advance.

Upcoming events in August feature poets Megan Beech (6 Aug); William Letford (13 Aug); Inua Ellams (20 Aug) and Liz Berry (27 Aug).

Poetry on the Small Screen

2-24 August, BFI, London

A series of events at the BFI in London, celebrating poetry on the small screen.

The annual Broadcasting the Arts strand at the BFI looks at how various art-forms have been covered by television. This year the focus is on poetry and in a short season we will explore the various methods and styles used to bring this spoken (and written) word world to the small screen. From the use of poets to discuss other poets and poets reading their own works to dramatic interpretations of poems, analytical overviews and appreciations from impassioned aficionados. Find out more online.

The Lost City

Saturday 8 August 11am to 4.30pm
The theme of this poetry workshop is how London and other cities have changed over time and what's been lost and gained. There will also be a ‘meet the editor’ session with South Bank Poetry Magazine's Peter Ebsworth and Katherine Lockton, with guidance on how to submit work to hard copy British poetry magazines. All levels, including beginners, welcome. £34/£30. The Poetry Café, London. Find out more.

Creative Writing Online

Booking open for September 2015 start

Study creative writing with UEA and Writers’ Centre Norwich. An invaluable opportunity to benefit from UEA’s international expertise and reputation in the field. Places are strictly limited to ensure a tailored experience. You’ll receive personal feedback on your work, far out weighing the level of individual advice usually received through online study. Choose from beginner and intermediate courses in fiction and poetry. Find out more.

Eric Gregory Awards: Entry Open

Deadline: 31 October

The Society of Authors’ Eric Gregory Awards are given to poets under the age of 30 for a collection of no more than 30 poems. Founded Dr Eric Gregory for the encouragement of young poets, these prestigious prizes have been given since 1960.
 
For full terms and conditions, and to enter for free, visit the Society of Authors website.

The Poetry London Masterclass

October 2015 and February 2016.

A series of three weekend masterclasses with leading poets: Glyn Maxwell (17-18 Oct) and Annie Freud (20-21 Feb 2016). An opportunity to spend two days working to improve your poetry alongside a small group of fellow poets. Each masterclass will be limited to twelve places, so early booking is essential

Discover Wordsworth in free online course

Have you ever wondered how Wordsworth came to write his poetry and what inspired him? Lancaster University is launching a new online course which explores the influence of the Lake District on William Wordsworth and the writing process behind some of his best-known poetry. Produced in association with the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere.

The Voice and The Echo at Shakespeare’s Globe

29 Aug; 4, 5 and 9 Sep.

Shakespeare’s Globe are pleased to present a new classical and contemporary poetry series. Each evening will feature famous works by one of England’s most beloved wordsmiths (Donne, Herbert, Blake and Hopkins), as well as responses to these works from critically acclaimed contemporary poets (including Carol Ann Duffy, Craig Raine, Jackie Kay and Peter Oswald).
 
Poetry society members receive £10 off selected seats or £5 standing seats when they use the code PCDPOETRY. Call 0207 401 9919.

New Alice Oswald print

A beautiful limited edition print of Alice Oswald’s extraordinary new poem ‘Shadow’ is now available to buy. The print, published in an edition of 300, is designed by Kevin Mount and is published by The Letter Press in association with The Poetry Society. Each print has been folded by hand and is supplied in a specially stamped envelope, signed by the poet. 

Available to buy from The Poetry Society webshop at a members’ price of £5 (£7 non members), plus postage.

Plax Poetry Competition

Closing date 31 July

PLAX Jewellery invites entries for a short poem titled 'Just like a Pearl' for a chance to win £500 and £500 worth of PLAX Pearl Jewellery. The competition is free to enter, and the closing date is 31 July. Find out more on their website.

National Literacy Trust Poetry Prize

Closing date 31 August

Write a short poem about reading and books and it could be used to inspire children across the country! 

All forms of poetry are accepted, from sonnets to free verse to rap. Send us your poems inspired by reading and literature, and one of them could feature in a poster campaign in schools across the UK – plus you'll win £250 of Bloomsbury books, an iPad and a framed poster of your poem. Find out more and enter online.

Ted Hughes: Dreams as Deep as England

9-12 September, University of Sheffield

An international conference, featuring a reading by Simon Armitage, keynote lecture by professor Seamus Perry at Oxford University, conversation with Sir Jonathan Bate about his biography of Hughes and a tour of Ted Hughes's South Yorkshire led by Steve Ely. Find out more and register online

Sex in the Afternoon

An eclectic literature tour, presented as part of Wellcome Collection’s national Sexology Season. Featuring four celebrated writers - Malika Booker, Kei Miller, Warsan Shire and Rachel Mars - who will all speak straight from the lip, sharing their own poetry and prose that explores and exposes sex in all its joy, pain and glory. Followed by an open and frank Q&A with the audience and a sexology researcher. How can we express our desires? What stops us? Find out more and book online.

MANCHESTER: Contact Theatre, 23 September
LEEDS: West Yorkshire Playhouse, 12 October

Birmingham Literature Festival 2015

8-17 October, venues across Birmingham

The annual festival returns, with over 40 events in 10 days, including former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove, Revd Richard Coles, broadcaster Stuart Maconie, campaigner and novelist Stella Duffy and Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates. Also speaking are musicians-turned-writers Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl) and events where writing meets music, food or theatrical performances.
Festival Pass available. Tickets from free to £12. 

Magic Oxygen Literary Prize

Closing date 31 December

The second Magic Oxygen Literary Prize is open for entries of short stories and poetry. Prize fund: £3,000. For every entry, a tree is planted! Find out more.

The Poetry Library

Want the latest poetry events, competitions and magazine listings? Look no further than The Poetry Library. A wonderful online resource for all poets. 
 

The Poetry Review podcast


“Many of the best poets in the UK have no American outlet and that’s a problem. I believe that if British poets had a better hearing over here, the audience would be huge.”

Maurice Riordan and Don Share, Editor of the US magazine Poetry, in conversation about the latest exchange of poems between the magazines and the benefits of convergence between the poetries on each side of the Atlantic.
 

Listen now

Behind the poem

Contributors talk about the inspiration behind poems published in The Poetry Review. Read more...

Poems on the Underground

A new set of posters have been launched for summer, continuing the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Yeats' birth. Featuring poems by W.B. Yeats, Agha Shahid Ali, Seamus Heaney, Sam Riviere, and Anna T Szabó.
You can order them from the Poetry Society website for just the cost of postage and packing.

Copyright © 2015 The Poetry Society, All rights reserved.


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