The Poetry Society

Review contributor Sandeep Parmar talks to Mary Jean Chan, guest co-editor with Will Harris of the spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review. Sandeep reads her poem, ‘The Nineties’, and reflects on its origins – growing up in California at the time of the L.A. riots, which followed the arrest and beating of Rodney King, the trial of O.J. Simpson and the 1994 Northridge earthquake – and their relevance now, following the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement as a catalyst for change. In an exhilarating conversation Sandeep and Mary Jean discuss race and contemporary literature, the lyric 'I' and, post-Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, the fluidities and opportunities of the second-person ‘you’, and changing the critical context of BAME writing with the Ledbury Emerging Critics scheme, which Sandeep co-founded with Sarah Howe.

Will Harris and Nick Makoha, prizewinning poets both, talk about Nick’s poems in the spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review and how these poems exemplify his interest in song, story and myth, the parameters of self, reconfiguring the problem of the white lens, and how the act of writing poems produces unlooked-for discoveries. Nick gives electrifying readings of his poems ‘Codex 1’ and Codex 2, both published in the Review, and ‘Bird In Flames’ from his Forward-shortlisted debut Kingdom of Gravity.

In Spring 2020, winning poets of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award recorded themselves reading their entries from lockdown in the UK, the USA and Canada. Listen to them in this podcast recorded from homes across the world as we approach the deadline for this year's Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award - and remember that if you're between 11 and 17 years old, you can enter your own work for free at foyleyoungpoets.org. This year's judges, Keith Jarrett and Maura Dooley, can't wait to read your poems.

Don Paterson talks to Colette Bryce, poet and guest editor of the winter 2019 issue of the Review, about the “dark comedy” of his forthcoming collection Zonal – the inspiration he took from watching old episodes of The Twilight Zone, the freedom of a long line and a looser, narrative form, and the possibilities of confessionalism. “I like the confessional tone,” Don says, “I don’t like that within the confessional tone you’re obliged to confess.” He and Colette also discuss writing routines and the drafting process – “It’s not about getting it right – it’s all about giving yourself to something changing because you’re discovering what you want to say,” he says. Don also gives exclusive readings of ‘The Way We Were’, first published in the winter issue of the Review, and two other poems from Zonal: ‘You Guys’ and ‘Death’.

Each year, the Mayor of Oslo, Norway gifts a Christmas tree to the United Kingdom, in commemoration of the two countries' co-operation in the Second World War. The tree then makes the journey to Trafalgar Square in London, where it's on display throughout the holiday season. And each year, The Poetry Society commissions a leading poet to write a poem to then decorate the tree - with a little help from primary school children all over London! This year's poem is called 'The Gift', and was written by Clare Pollard. You'll hear it read by three children, Pashya, Sophia and Stella from St Peter's C of E Primary School, who were amongst the many to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the poem. If you're in London at all over Christmas, do go and visit the tree, and see the poem with beautiful artwork by Marcus Walters. It'll be in Trafalgar Square until 6 January. We hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas from all of us at The Poetry Society!

In a conversation that will lighten spirits and fire up brain cells, Emily Berry talks to Mark Waldron in the latest Poetry Review podcast. They discuss children’s books, the theatre and performance, Beckett, Ashbery and “meant silliness”. “I like mixing up childhood and adulthood,” says Waldron, “things from childhood I want to resolve – or look at anyway.” His interest is in the separation between inside and outside – “letting the inside out and seeing if people will accept that.” He also offers two wonderful readings of his poems ‘Contingency’ and ‘To Dig’, first published in The Poetry Review, 109:3, Autumn 2019.

Stephen Sexton's debut collection If All the World and Love Were Young (Penguin, 2019), navigates childhood, memory, grief and loss through the prism of classic 16-bit video game Super Mario World. Kirsten Irving is a poet and co-editor of Sidekick Books, which has published video game themed anthologies such as Coin Opera and Coin Opera 2. Sexton and Irving joined Oliver Fox in September 2019 to talk about the strange and surprising relationship between their poetry and the world of video games, and read work from their video game themed publications. Both Stephen Sexton and Kirsten Irving have been prize winners in the National Poetry Competition: as of this podcast's publication you can still enter the 2019 National Poetry Competition ahead of the 31 October deadline over at bit.ly/natpocomp.

Mona Arshi, Imtiaz Dharker, Maura Dooley and John Hegley read poems of theirs all of which were published onto the walls of London's Tube carriages as part of the popular Poems on the Underground scheme. The four poets also read work by W.B. Yeats, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Robert Burns. You can order any of the Poems on the Underground posters for free (plus P+P) on The Poetry Society's website: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/product-category/poems-on-the-underground/ "London Underground, Arriving, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license

Mona Arshi, one of three judges in the 2019 National Poetry Competition, joins Wayne Holloway-Smith, the winner of the 2018 National Poetry Competition, to talk to Oliver Fox about what makes a successful poem. They discuss two prize winning poems from the competition's history: 'Oiled Legs Have Their Own Subtext' by Momtaza Mehri (3rd Prize, 2017), and 'The Body in the Library' by Jane Yeh (commended, 2009). If you'd like to enter the National Poetry Competition for yourself, the deadline for entries is 31 October each year. To find out how to enter, visit poetrysociety.org.uk/npc. Links to featured poems: 'Oiled Legs Have Their Own Subtext' by Momtaza Mehri: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/oiled-legs-have-their-own-subtext 'The Body in the Library' by Jane Yeh: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-body-in-the-library/

In the latest Poetry Review podcast, Emily Berry talks to Ilya Kaminsky, author of the astonishing and internationally acclaimed collection Deaf Republic. Their conversation ranges across political poetry (only in English do people try to divide poetry that is political and not political, everywhere else poetry is political, says Kaminsky), of matching your method to show what it is you see as a writer, about the need to witness the good as well as the bad, and the poet as a private person. Kaminsky, born in the former Soviet Union but now an American citizen, describes his unrequited love for English: “sometimes a stranger can make love to the language a little better than the native person... of course it can also be very awkward too”.

On Saturday 18 May 2019, The Poetry Society hosted an all day poetry fundraising extravaganza, including a 10 hour sponsored poetry reading from a line-up of 60 poets. This is part 5 of 5 - you can listen to the first 8 (!) hours of the reading in parts 1-4 on our SoundCloud or via your podcasting app of choice. See below for the timings of featured poets' sets, and remember that you can still donate to the fundraising campaign via bit.ly/poemdonate. PART 5: FEATURED POETS 0:00 - Isabel White 12:00 - Mark Waldron 20:15 - Chris Hardy 29:10 - Lantern Carrier 39:15 - Fran Lock 46:00 - Isy Mead 55:00 - Rick Dove 1:06:20 - Sue Johns 1:15:00 - Kat Francois 1:28:30 - Siddharta Bose

A live recording of the National Poetry Competition 40th Anniversary Readings at Kings Place, held on 20th March 2019 featuring, featuring Caleb Parkin, Geraldine Clarkson, Mary Jean Chan, Fran Lock, Liz Berry, Mark Pajak, Stephen Sexton, Sinéad Morrissey, Ian Duhig and Jo Shapcott. Supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation. You can enter the 2019 National Poetry Competition for yourself at poetrysociety.org.uk/npc. The deadline for entries is 31 October 2019. This is part 2 of 2!

A live recording of the National Poetry Competition 40th Anniversary Readings at Kings Place, held on 20th March 2019 featuring, featuring Caleb Parkin, Geraldine Clarkson, Mary Jean Chan, Fran Lock, Liz Berry, Mark Pajak, Stephen Sexton, Sinéad Morrissey, Ian Duhig and Jo Shapcott. Supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation. You can enter the 2019 National Poetry Competition for yourself at poetrysociety.org.uk/npc. The deadline for entries is 31 October 2019. This is part 1 of 2!

Rachel Long speaks to recent Foyle winners Em Power and Fiy Oladipo, and Chicago Youth Poet Laureates Kara Jackson, Natalie Rose Richardson and Patricia Frazier, about what it means to be a young poet, what UK and American poets can learn from one another, and much more. If you're a young person aged 11-17, remember that you can still enter the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award up to the 31 July deadline at www.foyleyoungpoets.org.

On Saturday 18 May 2019, The Poetry Society hosted an all day poetry fundraising extravaganza, including a 10 hour sponsored poetry reading from a line-up of 60 poets. This is part 4, comprising hours 7-8 of the event. See below for the timings of featured poets' sets, and remember that you can still donate to the fundraising campaign via bit.ly/poemdonate. FEATURED POETS 00:30 : Leo Boix 11:00 : Matthew Caley 19:30 : Julia Bird 30:20 : Maggie Sawkins 39:50 : Stella Meadows 48:00 : Katrina Naomi 1:01:00 : Fawzia Kane 1:10:00 : Shanta Acharya 1:17:30 : Judy Brown 1:26:00 : Rachel Sambrooks 1:38:00 : Chrys Salt 1:41:00: Emma Gordon 1:57:00 Alice Hiller (CONTENT WARNING: the final reading in this podcast contains subject matter that some listeners may find distressing, including poems dealing with childhood trauma and sexual abuse. We've also added a content warning just before the reading, so listeners can decide whether to continue.)

In a brilliant, wide-ranging discussion with Emily Berry, Editor of The Poetry Review, the celebrated poet Denise Riley talks about the art of composition – of indifferent mechanicals and of jigsaws pieced into sense from the edge pieces, confessional literature, lyric shame and strategies for repair. She also reads two poems just published in The Poetry Review: ‘How does anyone get over these things’ and ‘Another Agony in the Garden’.

On Saturday 18 May 2019, The Poetry Society hosted an all day poetry fundraising extravaganza, including a 10 hour sponsored poetry reading from a line-up of 60 poets. This is part 3, comprising hours 4-6 of the event. You can listen to parts 1 and 2 on Soundcloud or your podcasting app of choice. See below for the timings of featured poets' sets, and remember that you can still donate to the fundraising campaign via bit.ly/poemdonate. PART 3: FEATURED POETS 2:00 : Tamar Yoseloff 12:30 : Claire Collison 23:30 : Martyn Crucefix 33:30 : Sophia Blackwell 44:30 : Claudine Toutoungi 54:00 : Natalie Whittaker 1:03:00 : Noah Jacob 1:09:30 : Graham Clifford 1:24:00 : Sarala Estruch 1:32:30 : Geraldine Clarkson 1:45:00 : Ben Rogers 1:55:00 : Jade Cuttle The final two parts will be made available as soon as we're done editing. Nearly there!

On Saturday 18 May 2019, The Poetry Society hosted an all day poetry fundraising extravaganza, including a 10 hour sponsored poetry reading from a line-up of 60 poets. This is part 2, comprising hours 2-4 of the event. You can listen to part 1 on Soundcloud or your podcasting app of choice. See below for the timings of featured poets' sets, and remember that you can still donate to the fundraising campaign via bit.ly/poemdonate. PART 2: FEATURED POETS 0:00 : Julie Irigaray 10:30 : Eithne Cullen 22:00 : Bridget Minamore 33:00 : Denise Saul 43:45 : Sam Grudgings 52:30 : Lisa Kelly 01:00:00 : Kirsten Irving 01:13:00 : Oliver Fox 01:23:30: Helen Bowell 01:32:30 : Ramona Herdman 01:42:00 : Astra Papachristodoulou The final 3 parts will be made available as soon as we're done editing: stay tuned!

*Soundcloud listeners: please tag poets/readings/poems using the comments feature during playback - this will help us create an index people can use to navigate this podcast in all its enormity. Thanks!!!* On Saturday 18 May 2019, The Poetry Society hosted an all day poetry fundraising extravaganza, including a 10 hour sponsored poetry reading from a line-up of 60 poets. This is part 1, comprising the first 2 hours of the event! See below for the timings of featured poets' sets, and remember that you can still donate to the fundraising campaign via bit.ly/poemdonate. PART 1: FEATURED POETS 1:00 : Hilaire 8:45 : Suzanna Fitzpatrick 19:00 :Joshua Idehen 27:00 : Kate Wakeling 40:00 : Felix Stokes 50:00 : Dino Mahoney 1:03:30 : Holly Singlehurst 1:14:00 : Aisling Fahey 01:23:30 : Greg Freeman 01:33:30 : Michael Shann 01 :44:30 : Heather Moulson 01:53:00 : Jake Wild Hall Stay tuned for parts 2-5, which will be published over the coming days!

To celebrate the poem's shortlisting for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, Mary Jean Chan reads 'The Window', which was first published as the 2nd prize winner in the 2017 National Poetry Competition. You can find the poem, and enter the National Poetry Competition for yourself, at http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/npc