Poetry news

I don't often write about poetry but then I don't write poetry either. I like the war poems of Sassoon and Owen, I enjoy Eliot, Stevie Smith and Robert Frost but I'm not a connoisseur of the great and the good. I spent a few of my teenage years writing suicide poetry in the bedroom but then didn't we all? 'The tumbrils of my mind roll on...' and all that! I soon grew out of it when the Beatles kicked in. But kind people have passed on these snippets of poetic news, so I'm including them.

National Poetry Competition 2011

The winner of the 2010 National Poetry Competition will be made public in March and after that, the 2011 competition will be launched. The competition for the best single poem submitted was set up in 1978 and since then has given career boosts to such poets as the current Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy and T S Eliot prizewinner, Philip Gross. Helen Dunmore won with her poem, The Malarky in 2009. http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/ will give you more details and the prize is big.

National Poetry Day 2011

This year's theme for National Poetry Day 2011 is 'Games'. It will be held on Thursday 6 October. Live events and web-based activities have been a feature since 1994 and this year promises to be no exception. You can find out more about it from http://www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk/

Book A Poet

This brings me to an exciting venture recently launched by a team of writers and editors with a passion for poetry. www.bookapoet.co.uk/ They've opened an agency to take bookings for poetry readings and these range from festivals to workshops and residencies to readings. In fact, anyone who wishes to book a poet can find one here. Examples of poets' work are featured on the site together with a gallery, so you can see who they are.

And if you send me your poetry news, I might do a regular poetry blog.