Foyle Young Poets are running Birmingham! From 2018-2020, 16-year-old Aliyah Begum is Birmingham’s Young Poet Laureate, and Richard O’Brien is the adult laureate. How do you become a poet laureate? What does a young poet laureate do, and how does it compare to the adult laureate role? We’ve been finding out… Thanks so much for […]
On 29 March 2019, the date on which the UK was expected to leave the EU, fourteen centres from across Europe organised simultaneous gigs showcasing the responses of young poets to the theme of borders. Spoken word legend Joelle Taylor and Bristol-based arts organisation boomsatsuma are behind the Borderlines project, bringing young people across Europe […]
“If you want to be a poet, go for it.” On 20th March 2019, ten former prize-winners of the National Poetry Competition will be reading at King’s Place, London, celebrating 40 years of the competition. We’ve been speaking to some of the readers – so scroll on for words of advice, encouragement and nostalgia from […]
How can poetry affect life outside poems? What’s it like to be shortlisted for an award? What one book or podcast should you be reading/listening to right now? We speak to the shortlisted poets in the 2018 Ted Hughes Award… The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry is a poetry prize in the […]
The National Poetry Competition is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a big poetry event at Kings Place, London on 20th March 2019, bringing together ten former winners of the prize. We’ve been speaking to some of the award-winning readers at that event – this week Liz Berry and Mark Pajak offer words of encouragement, and […]
“Read books about embroidery or euchre or how telephones work, or about art history or about the art of art history,” offers Stephen Sexton. “Don’t become complicit in your own failure by not trying,” says Fran Lock. We’ve been speaking to a few of the ten poets who’ll be reading at the National Poetry Competition’s […]
Young Poets Network invited young poet Asmaa Jama to review The Emma Press’s latest anthology of poems about kings and queens, written for young people (age 8+). Read her review of this “clever and witty” historical book and discover how the poems within touch on mental health and the changing identity of the monarchy. The […]
Ahead of the National Poetry Competition’s 40th anniversary readings at Kings Place, London on 20th March 2019, we’ve been speaking to some of the ten poets featuring at the event, who have all been winners of the National Poetry Competition in the past. Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing their insights into writing […]
How do you set up a magazine? Joe Hedinger tells us the history of Dog-Ear, a uniquely shaped print and online magazine run voluntarily from Norfolk. Pete (the designer) and I used to work together in the world of ad agencies (for our sins). One lunch time, I happened to wander past Pete’s desk and […]
Throughout 2018 we’ve been celebrating 20 years of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award and on 23 October we held a celebratory reading at Southbank Centre, London with ten former winners of the prize. We’re delighted to share Foyle Young Poet Em Power’s review of this special night. A murmuring crowd hovered by […]