A workshop series for experimental poetry, open to all.
Innovative Poetry Readings in London
Writers Forum Workshop is pleased to host this listing of readings, exhibitions, performances, discussions, workshops and courses taking place on London’s innovative poetry scenes.
If you write innovative poetry and would like to share it with an interested audience, please consider attending Writers Forum Workshop’s London or virtual meetings.
See the bottom of the page for an FAQ, including how to get your own event listed here.
Key for colour coding:
Blue: In-person event.
Pink: Online event featuring London-based poets or organisations.
Green: In-person event in London, with simultaneous online broadcast.
Erotic Review: The Body: Digital/Revealed/Imagined: Readings, discussion and screening to celebrate the latest issue of Erotic Review magazine, featuring poet Oluwaseun Olayiwola, novelists Bregje Hofstede and Brittany Newell, critical theorist Alex Quicho and artist Richard Malone.
ICA, The Mall, St James’s SW1Y 5AH.
£13/£9.50/£8.50/£5, bookable.
Friday 9 January
7.45pm.
A Collaboration Party: Meeting for poets, artists, musicians and dancers to discuss possible collaborations.
Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town NW5 2RX.
Exiled Lit Cafe: Poet Hastie Salih and authors Brian Chikwava, Mandana Hendessi and Karina Lickorish Quinn read from and discuss their recent novels, in corversation with poets Danielle Maisano, Sana Nassari and Soraya Fernandez, and writer Rouhi Shafii.
49 Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury WC1N 3HZ.
£6, bookable.
Thursday 15 January
7.45pm.
Out-Spoken: Poetry with Joelle Taylor and Anthony Anaxagorou, plus music from music from Karim Kamar and The Halfway Kid.
Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
A Hand for the Poet – Romanian Poetry in Performance: Actors Emilia Popescu and András Demeter, with pianist Cătălin Răducanu, perform works by Romanian poets Mihai Eminescu, Tudor Arghezi, Marin Sorescu and Nichita Stănescu. In Romanian, with videos of English readings by actors Anamaria Marinca, Michael Pennington and the late Ion Caramitru.
Romanian Cultural Institute, 1 Belgrave Square, Belgravia SW1X 8PH.
Free, booking required.
Sunday 18 January
7pm.
TS Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings: Readings by poets shortlisted for this year’s TS Eliot Prize. Nominees are Gillian Allnutt, Isabelle Baafi, Catherine-Esther Cowie, Paul Farley, Vona Groarke, Sarah Howe, Nick Makoha, Tom Paulin, Natalie Shapero, and Karen Solie.
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX. Also livestreamed online (bookable here).
In-person from £15 plus £3.50 booking fee; online from £7; booking required.
5pm.
Re-Enchant: Performance of poet Anna Robinson’s play The Marsh, plus a poetry open mic.
The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, Lisson Grove NW8 8EH.
An Evening with Harland Miller: US textual artist Harland Miller discusses his exhibition of typographic paintings at the venue.
Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington W8 6AG.
£20/£16, bookable.
Wednesday 21 January
6.30pm-8.30pm.
Poetry Workshop: Words as Seeds: Victoria Adukwei Bulley leads a workshop exploring seeds (literal, metaphorical or ancestral) through a poetic and speculative lens.
The Showroom, 63 Penfold Street, Lisson Grove NW8 8PQ.
Writing Kinships & Emotional Landscapes: Jennifer Wong leads a five-session course on writing poetry that explores how kinship shapes emotional landscapes, inspired by poets like Jess Traynor, Warsan Shire and Natalie Linh Bolderston.
Online for the Poetry School.
£135, booking required.
Friday 23 January
Fri 23 January – Fri 3 April.
Microscope, Telescope, Periscope: An Ecopoetics of Technology: Caleb Parkin leads a five-session course on writing poetry that explores the interface between technology and ecology, inspired by poets like JR Carpenter, Olivia McCannon and Khairani Barokka.
Online for the Poetry School.
£135, booking required.
7pm.
The Poetry Review Winter 2025 Launch: Readings to launch the new issue of Poetry Review magazine, featuring Imogen Cassels, Rachel Long, Eric Yip and Jean Sprackland.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX. Also available as a livestream online, bookable here.
Free, bookable.
Saturday 24 January
10am-4pm.
Workshop: Typographic Poster Design: Niv Fridman leads a workshop on creating a typographic collage, inspired by the venue’s exhibition of textual art by Harland Miller.
Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington W8 6AG.
Poetic Mapping: JLM Morton leads a workshop on how poetry can chart the landscapes of memory, emotion and environment, inspired by poets like Bhanu Kapil, Kei Miller and Alice Oswald.
Online, via Zoom for the Poetry Society.
£37, booking required.
Doors 6pm, event 7pm.
Presencia & Resistencia: Readings and discussion with British Latinx writers to launch the new issue of Wasafiri magazine. With poets Juana Adcock, Leo Boix and Monika Radojevic, and authors Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Constantina Higbee and Karina Lickorish Quinn. Plus a video presentation of Peruvian poet Raúl Cisneros reading in Quechua.
British Library, 96 Euston Road, Kings Cross NW1 2DB.
£12/£6/£4, bookable.
Tuesday 27 January
7pm.
Obsidian Showcase: Readings by Black poets from the Obsidian Foundation, with Nick Makoha and more.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
Free, bookable.
Wednesday 28 January
6.30pm-8.30pm.
What’s Missing? Theatre Poetry: Peter Oswald leads a workshop exploring the relationship between poetry and theatre, considering works from David Jones, Howard Barker and the Commedia dell’Arte.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
£32, booking required.
Thursday 29 January
7pm-9pm, then at the same time fortnightly until Thu 26 March.
Poetry as Spellcasting: Lynn Davidson leads a five-session course on the intersection between poetry and spellcasting, inspired by poets like Roseanne Watt, Joy Harjo and Rebecca Tamás.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
£8, booking required.
Thursday 5 February
7pm.
Launch: Homography: Nathan Evans reads to launch the poetry collection Homography. Plus more poetry from Ellen McAteer and Piero Toto, and music from Kate Conway and Zia Moranne.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
Free, bookable.
Saturday 7 February
2.45pm-4.45pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
Double Bubble: An Afternoon of Duos: Duo performances featuring poet Florence Uniacke collaborating with vocal artist Jess Hickie-Kallenbach, plus music from Evan Parker and Seymour Wright, Billy Steiger and Angharad Davies, and Ciaran Mackle and Conal Blake.
Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston E8 3DL.
£10 advance, £12 on the door.
Tuesday 10 February
7pm-9pm, then at the same time fortnightly until Tue 24 March.
The Poetry of Mindfulness, Dreams, & Reflections: Romalyn Ante leads a four-session course on writing poetry that explores the subconscious, inspired by poets like André Breton, Alejandra Pizarnik and Natalie Linh Bolderston.
Online, via Zoom for the Poetry School.
£100, booking required.
7.30pm.
Shearsman Reading: Readings to launch new poetry publications from Shearsman Books.
The Mirror of Masks: Bacchanalia to Contemplation Studio+: Fawzia Kane leads a four-session course on writing poetry that uses cultural masks to explore the self, inspired by poets like Wole Soyinka, Patience Agbabi and Anthony V Capildeo.
Online for the Poetry School.
£125, booking required.
6.30pm-8.30pm, then at the same time weekly until Wed 11 March.
Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, Hampstead NW3 6DG.
£235/£175, booking required.
6.30pm-8.30pm.
What’s Missing? Theatre Poetry: Peter Oswald leads a workshop exploring the relationship between poetry and theatre, considering works from Ted Hughes, Euripides and the Commedia dell’Arte.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
£32, booking required.
Thursday 12 February
Doors 7pm, event 7.30pm.
Cherry Smyth: One Mountain: Sold: Poet Cherry Smyth presents a performance responding to a proposal for an environmentally devastating gold mine in County Tyrone. With vocalist Lauren Kinsella and sound artist Dan Nicholls.
Irish Cultural Centre, 5 Black’s Road, Hammersmith W6 9DT.
£15/£12, bookable.
Saturday 14 February
10am-12pm, then at the same time fortnightly until Sat 28 March.
This Modern Love: Elizabeth Parker leads a four-session course on writing traditional and experimental love poetry, inspired by poets like Pablo Neruda, Ilya Kaminsky and Terrance Hayes.
Excavation Poetics: Language as Ruin Studio: Giulia Ottavia Frattini leads a four-session course on writing poetry that uses fractures, fragments, pauses and silences, inspired by poets like Anne Carson, Etel Adnan and Joyce Mansour.
Online, via Zoom for the Poetry School.
£100, booking required.
Wednesday 25 February
6.30pm-8.30pm.
What’s Missing? Theatre Poetry: Peter Oswald leads a workshop exploring the relationship between poetry and theatre, considering works from Alice Oswald, Joanna Laurens and the Commedia dell’Arte.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
£32, booking required.
7.30pm.
Mihály Víg + Balaton: Hungarian poet-musician Mihály Víg performs with his band Balaton.
Cafe OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston E8 3DL.
£25 advance, £28 on the door.
7.45pm.
Indie Night: Readings by authors from independent publishers, featuring poet Khairani Barokka and novelists Deepa Anappara, Vigdis Hjorth and Tim MacGabhann.
Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
£5, bookable.
March 2026
Monday 2 March
6pm.
Walking in Air: Composers Will Montgomery and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé discuss Walking in Air, their collaborative project combining poetry, music and fine art.
Stewart House Room 1, Senate House, Malet Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 7HU.
Free, bookable.
Saturday 7 March
10am-7.30pm.
Mayfair Mini Book Fair: Book fair with stalls from independent publishers, including poetry presses.
Mayfair Library, 25 South Audley Street, Mayfair W1K 2PB.
Free, bookable.
2.45pm-4.45pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
First & Last Lines Studio: Isabelle Baafi leads a four-session course on beginning and ending poems, inspired by poets like Jericho Brown, Mahmoud Darwish and Nicole Sealey.
Online, via Zoom for the Poetry School.
£100, booking required.
Tuesday 10 March
7.30pm.
Shearsman Reading: Readings to launch new poetry publications from Shearsman Books.
Room 137, Richard Hoggart Building, Goldsmiths University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross SE14 6NW.
Free, no booking required.
7pm.
New Canons: Readings from Innovative Independent Publishers: Readings by poets and other writers from experimental presses, featuring Jen Calleja, Jess Cole, Remi Graves, Will Harris, Juliet Jacques, frank r jagoe, Francesca Reece, Oisín Roberts, Rajasree Variyar and Nadia de Vries.
The listing is primarily maintained and updated by Matt Martin, with assistance from other attendees of Writers Forum Workshop.
Haven’t I seen this page elsewhere?
Innovative Poetry Readings in London was developed by the poet Peter Philpott in 2009 as part of his website, www.modernpoetry.org.uk. He continued to run the listings as a service to London’s poetry communities until August 2018; the rest of his site remains active and is of great interest. In 2018, Peter bequeathed the listings to the website of the Contemporary Poetics Research Centreat Birkbeck, University of London, where Matt Martin took on its maintenance. In 2022, changes to the university’s IT systems made it impractical for the listings page to continue there; it moved to its current home at the beginning of 2023.
Why only London?
Exciting things definitely happen in the rest of the UK; this page’s focus on London reflects that Writers Forum Workshop convenes there. To maintain listings of innovative poetry events nationwide would be a forbiddingly huge task, given that the page is updated by volunteers in their spare time.
How can I get my event listed?
Contact us herewith details of any readings or other events for this page, including a link to a webpage or social media post for the event if possible. Contact us when we’ve made a mistake also, please. Bear in mind:
The listings are not always updated daily. To ensure that your event is posted in time to spread the word, please send information at least a week beforehand: the further in advance, the more useful the listing will be for you.
The listings are for activities within the traditions or communities of innovative poetry – those that Writers Forum Workshop exists to further. We aim to be inclusive, incorporating cross-cultural and internationalist currents, and extending to celebrations of modernist precursors, but there are limits to what will be publicised here.
What do you mean by ‘innovative poetry’?
Broadly speaking, poetry that challenges the traditionally accepted definitions of the art form – work which might also be dubbed ‘experimental’, ‘avant-garde’, ‘modernist’, ‘postmodernist’, ‘neo-modernist’, etc. Such poetry can diverge from the conservative norm in many different directions – a personal view from Peter Philpott is online here. These scenes are constantly developing. In the UK, the last couple of decades have seen an increasing (though still frustratingly sporadic) acceptance of innovative poetry by universities, major publishers, literary prize-givers and other institutions. Simultaneously, the field has been enriched by a growing number of intersections between poetry communities, while women, non-binary, Black British and British Asian poets, as well as UK-based poets born overseas, have all become more prominent.
Can you guarantee that these events will be good?
We hope they will be, but we cannot take responsibility for the quality of events organised by other parties, or for the reliability of information made available to us by others. However, every event here is listed because it promises something of interest to those keen to explore new possibilities for poetry. Descriptions in the listings are based on publicity material.
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