Giants in battle, a woman conjured from flowers, and a baby snatched by a hideous claw… Matthew Francis’ poetic retelling of the Mabinogi, the Welsh national epic, has wowed readers and recently been shortlisted for the 2017 Ted Hughes Award. Casia Wiliam, Welsh Children’s Laureate and judge of Young Poets Network’s End Hunger UK challenge, […]
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is open for entries! We are so excited to launch the competition for its 20th year. You can enter the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award online or by post now – more details on the website. The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is the […]
We have very exciting news: the brilliant Caroline Bird will be one of two judges of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2018, in the competition’s twentieth anniversary year. We reveal this year’s artwork, and chat with Caroline about her experience winning the award herself, discuss the ‘page’ vs. ‘stage’ divide, and get […]
On the weekend of 9-11 March 2018, The Poetry Society took part in BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead – a weekend of events examining the fast-changing relationship between the individual and the crowd. We asked individual subscribers to the Young Poets Network ebulletin to contribute to a crowd-sourced poem specially written for the […]
Young Poets Network talks to prize-winning poet and judge of the National Poetry Competition 2017 Andrew McMillan about his upcoming collection playtime, the poets who inspire him, and the importance of diversity in poetry. What was the first poem that you ever published about? There used to be a magazine called Young Writer which was […]
The New Year is nearly upon us and we’re hoping to start the next twelve months with some good poetry habits. So we’ve put together a list of ideas, helped by those who answered our callout on Twitter, and overflowing with links to Young Poets Network resources you might not know about. Delve in! A […]
We invited Neha Singh, a winner of SLAMbassadors 2016, to cover last weekend’s SLAMbassadors 2017 National Final. She talks to the winners and reflects on what it was like to meet the next generation of SLAMbassadors a year on from her own celebration. Watch their winning entries by clicking the links in the sidebar on […]
Poet Mary Jean Chan interviews Travis Alabanza, a queer Black British interdisciplinary artist and author of Before I Step Outside [You Love Me]. Travis talks about their book, their aesthetic, and their experience of harassment and tokenisation, while also recommending some top artists and offering advice to young queer poets. Thank you for taking the time […]
A huge thank you to everyone who entered SLAMbassadors this year! The judges, poet, playwright and editor Sabrina Mahfouz; SLAMbassadors Artistic Director Joelle Taylor; and The Poetry Society’s Education Manager Nazmia Jamal were impressed by the number of entries from across the country and had a difficult job selecting winners as the quality of this […]
Former Foyle Young Poet Ruby Mason interviews poet, grime MC, rapper, and academic Melz, whose work aims to decolonise the British curriculum. They talk about up-and-coming British poets, the role of art in politics, and her experiences as a student and Leeds’ Education Officer. You have been described as a rapper, a grime artist, and […]