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 in-person and 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.
Until Sat 25 May, Tue, Thu and Fri 12pm-6pm, Wed 12pm-8pm, Sat 12pm-4pm.
Nedim Draws Writing: Exhibition of textual art by Iraqi-Dutch artist Nedim Kufi, exploring Arabic script.
P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, Somers Town NW1 1JD.
Free, no booking required.
Until Sat 29 June, Mon-Fri 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Sat 1.30pm and 6.30pm.
Bluets: Play based on poet Maggie Nelson’s book Bluets, adapted by Margaret Perry.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, Chelsea SW1W 8AS.
£15-£58, bookable.
Until Fri 19 July, Wed-Sat 11am-6pm.
After Mallarmé: Exhibition exploring 19th-century French poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s impact on contemporary art, featuring works by Toby Christian, Peter Downsbrough, Cerith Wyn Evans, Florian Hecker, Marine Hugonnier, Glenn Ligon, Emma McNally, Hendl Helen Mirra, Susan Morris, John Murphy and Joëlle Tuerlinckx.
Large Glass Gallery, 392 Caledonian Road, Islington N1 1DN.
Ravenscourt Park Glasshouses, Ravenscourt Park W6 0UL.
£10, bookable.
7pm.
Joy//Us Poems of Queer Joy Online Book Launch: Readings to launch the anthology Joy//Us: Poems of Queer Joy, featuring Abhi, Aoife Mannix, Cherry Potts, Conway Emmett, Dean Atta, Desree, Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell, Elizabeth Gibson, Garnett ‘Ratte’ Frost, Jeremy Dixon, Joshua Jones, JP Seabright, K Angel, Laurie B, Mwelwa Chilekwa, P Burton-Morgan, Robert Hamberger, Steph Morris, Tanya Erin Sheehan, Tom McLaughlin, Vron McIntyre and Zo Copeland.
Online for Arachne Press.
Free, booking required.
Saturday 18 May
Doors 10.30am, event 11am-6.45pm.
European Writers’ Festival: Day 1: Discussions with writers from around Europe, featuring poets Kristiina Ehin, Jordi Larios, Simone Atangana Bekono and Iryna Shuvalova, plus novelists Milena Michiko Flašar, Jógvan Isaksen, Nora Ikstena, Elisa Victoria, Selçuk Altun, Ioana Pârvulescu, Pajtim Statovci and Andrey Kurkov, writers Emma Dabiri, Joanna Elmy and Igiaba Scego, and philosopher Laurent de Sutter.
British Library, 96 Euston Road, King’s Cross NW1 2DB.
£13/£11/£6.50 (or £20/£17/£10 for both days), bookable.
Meeting point: The Fox Inn, Green Lane, Hanwell W7 2PJ.
Free, booking required.
Doors 11.30am, event 12pm-5.30pm.
European Writers’ Festival: Day 2: Discussions with writers from around Europe, featuring poets Michal Ajvaz, Alycia Pirmohamed and Dean Atta, plus novelists Anna Berest, Christos Chomendis, Tomas Vaiseta, Margo Rejmer, Sebastijan Pregelj, Kristian Bang Foss, Andrea Tompa, Afonso Cruz and Tone Schunnesson, and playwrights Zuska Kepplova, Sasha Salzmann and Larisa Faber.
British Library, 96 Euston Road, King’s Cross NW1 2DB.
£13/£11/£6.50 (or £20/£17/£10 for both days), bookable.
2pm.
Hummingbirds, a Literary Salon: Kashif Sharma-Patel launches their poetry collection furnish, entrap. Plus more poetry and discussion with Sabeen Chaudhry.
The Standard, 10 Argyle Street, Fitzrovia WC1H 8EG.
Free, booking required.
7.30pm.
Venn Diagrams: Poetry with Sue Burge and Rona Luo, plus an open mic.
Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town NW5 2RX.
Jamboree, 6 St Chad’s Place, King’s Cross WC1X 9HH.
£6.60, bookable.
Tuesday 21 May
7pm.
Brendan Cleary – Last Poems? Launch Party: Brendan Cleary reads to launch his poetry pamphlet Last Poems? Plus more poetry with Matthew Caley, Michaela Coplen, and others TBC.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
Free, bookable.
Thursday 23 May
7pm-9pm, then at the same time fortnightly until Thu 18 July.
Poetic Theft: From Inspiration to Transformation: Louis Glazzard leads a five-session course on writing by borrowing from other poets, inspired by poets like TS Eliot, Margaret Atwood and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Online, via Zoom for the Poetry School.
£126, booking required.
7pm.
Pariah Genius: John Christie, Alan Moore, John Rogers, Iain Sinclair: Poet Iain Sinclair, artist John Christie and filmmaker John Rogers discuss Sinclair’s exhibition and book Pariah Genius, about photographer John Deakin. With a recorded contribution by author Alan Moore.
£3 (£15 with a copy of Sinclair’s book), bookable.
8pm.
You Can Call Me Horse: Poet-artist Daniella Valz Gen performs a poetic ritual inspired by the asteroid Chiron.
Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, Whitechapel E1 7QX.
£5, bookable.
Friday 24 May
7pm.
Friday Lates Tour and Poetry Readings: Guided tour of artworks at the venue, with poetry readings. Featuring poets SJ Fowler, Holly Appleby and Eleanor Wilders, plus gallery educator Fiona Alderton.
Room 34, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross WC2N 5DN.
Free; no booking required for the event, but advance booking to access the building is encouraged.
Poems & Houses: Laura Scott leads a Poetry School workshop on writing poems about houses, inspired by poets like Charlotte Mew and Warsan Shire.
Somerset House, The Strand, Temple WC2R 1LA.
£91, booking required.
11am-1pm.
Monstrosity as Diasporic Form: Will Harris leads a workshop on creating poems from the patched-up materials and hand-me-down traces of struggles, lost homes and lives, inspired by poets like Bhanu Kapil and Eunsong Kim.
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
RuptureXIBIT, 55 High Street, Hampton Wick KT1 4DG.
£14/£12, booking required.
6.30pm-8.30pm.
Black Interiors: Victoria Adukwei Bulley leads a workshop on writing poems that speak with the errant strangeness of participants’ innermost beings, inspired by poets like Ama Codjoe, June Jordan, and Harmony Holiday.
Clapham Library, 91 Clapham High Street, Clapham SW4 7DB.
£30.50, booking required.
Doors 9.45am, event 10.30am-3.30pm.
Other Worlds: Contemporary Ekphrastic Poetry: Symposium on ekphrasis in contemporary poetry, featuring presentations by poets Anthony V Capildeo, Alycia Pirmohamed, Kandace Siobhan Walker, Janine Bradbury, Padraig Regan and Emily Berry.
Lewis Carroll and Surrealism: Mark Richards gives a lecture on Lewis Carroll’s influence on the surrealist movement in art and literature.
Online for the Last Tuesday Society.
£10.87/£6.72, booking required.
Thursday 30 May
7pm-9pm, then at the same time fortnightly until Wed 25 July.
Revolutionary Poetics: Writing Against the Grain: Mischa Foster Poole leads a five-session course on writing revlutionary poetry, inspired by poets like Aleksei Kruchyonykh, Hannah Weiner and Anna Mendelssohn.
Clapham Library, 91 Clapham High Street, Clapham SW4 7DB.
£30.50, booking required.
6pm.
John Deakin: Pariah Genius + The Falconer + Q&A: Poet Iain Sinclair presents a screening of a new film about photographer John Deakin, plus Sinclair’s 1998 film The Falconer. Followed by discussion with Sinclair, Emma Matthews, Chris Petit, Susan Stenger and Gareth Evans.
Cinema 1, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, City of London EC2Y 8DS.
£13/£11 plus booking fee, bookable.
Doors 6pm, event 7pm.
Reggae Revolutionaries in the UK: Discussion of the UK’s role in developing reggae music, featuring poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, scholar Paul Gilroy, and musicians Dennis Bovell and John Kpiaye.
British Library, Euston Road, King’s Cross NW1 2DB.
Books on the Rise, 80 Hill Rise, Richmond TW10 6UB.
£4.99, bookable.
Friday 31 May
6pm-10pm.
Tate Modern Lates: An evening of performances, talks, screenings and workshops celebrating the venue’s exhibition of expressionist art. Includes poetry readings by Nina Mingya Powles and Raheela Suleman, an installation by artist and writer Yoko Ono, and a manifesto-writing workshop.
Tate Modern, Bankside, Southwark SE1 9TG.
Free, no booking required (some activities require free tickets, bookable in person on the night).
Barbican Library, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, City of London EC2Y 8DS.
Price (if any) TBC, booking required.
11am.
We’re All Living the Same Life: Yanita Georgieva leads a workshop about using personal specifics to make poetry resonate.
Online, via Zoom for the South Bank Centre.
£5, booking required.
12pm-4.40pm.
Young Poets Showcase: An afternoon of installations, workshops and performances with the Barbican Young Poets cohort, featuring Nomakhwezi Becker, Noah Jacob and more.
Level 4, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, City of London EC2Y 8DS.
Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, 277 Bancroft Road, Bethnal Green E1 4DQ.
Free, booking required.
6.30pm.
Translate Vietnamese Poet Do Trung Quan: Quynh Nguyen leads a workshop on translating poetry by Vietnamese poet Do Trung Quan. No knowledge of Vietnamese required.
How to Make Rice: Performance of How to Make Rice, Souradeep Roy’s new play about the Bengal Famine of 1943-44. Plus a queer reimagining of Jibananda Das’ love poem Bonolata Sen.
Pinter Studio, Arts One, Queen mary University of London, Mile End Road, Mile End E1 4PA.
Free, bookable.
Doors 7.15pm, event 7.30pm.
PoetryEast: Sasha Dugdale reads to launch her new poetry collection The Strongbox, and discusses it with poet Maitreyabandhu.
London Buddhist Centre, 51 Roman Road, Bethnal Green E2 0HU. Also livestreamed online.
£10, bookable.
Sunday 2 June
5pm.
Ethiopian Poetry Night: Poet Tigist Mamo Belachew presents an evening of Ethiopian poetry, cuisine and music.
Orsman Road, Hoxton N1 5QJ.
£35.37, booking required.
Monday 3 June
Mon 3 June – Mon 8 July.
Poetry & the Handwritten: Between Pen & Page Studio+: Vilde Bjerke Torset leads a four-session course on using handwriting to create poetry, inspired by poets and artists like Guillaume Apollinaire, bpNichol and Jenny Holzer.
Online for the Poetry School.
£116, booking required.
7pm.
Crimson Pashmina: An Evening of Contemporary Punjabi Poetry: Pakistani poet Danial Andrew Danish and his translator Rafael Peñas Cruz read to launch Crimson Pashmina, a bilingual English and Spanish edition of Danish’s poems. Plus more poetry from Gabriel Moreno and Linda Moyla, and music by Danish.
Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX.
Free, bookable.
Tuesday 4 June
7pm.
The Road Is Wider than Long: Antony Penrose discusses The Road Is Wider than Long, a long poem about the Balkans by his father, surrealist poet-artist Roland Penrose.
The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, Marylebone W1U 5AS.
Pinter Studio, Arts One, Queen mary University of London, Mile End Road, Mile End E1 4PA.
Free, bookable.
8pm.
Special Edition: Joy//Us – Poems of Queer Joy: Readings to launch Joy//Us, an anthology of poems about queer joy, featuring Cherry Potts, Jeremy Dixon, Abhi, Alex Williams, Dean Atta, Desree, Elizabeth Gibson, JP Seabright, Joshua Jones, Rick Dove, Tom McLaughlin and P Burton-Morgan.
National Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
London LGBTQ+ Community Centre, 60-62 Hopton Street Thames Path, Bankside, Southwark SE1 9JH.
Free, no booking required.
Saturday 15 June
11am.
History’s Missing Documents: April Lee leads a workshop on deconstructing the relationship between recorded history and poetry, inspired by poets like Muriel Rukeyser, M NourbeSe Philip and Don Mee Choi.
Translating Turkish Poet Karin Karakaşlı: Canan Marasligil leads a workshop on translating poetry by Turkish-Armenian poet Karin Karakaşlı. No knowledge of Turkish required.
National Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
Free, bookable.
Thursday 20 June
7pm.
The RAP Party @The London Library: Refugee Week: Readings by poets from refugee and migrant backgrounds, plus DJing. Featuring Ammar Haj Ahmad, Elmi Ali, Natalie Linh Bolderston, Inua Ellams, Yanita Georgieva, Sophie Herxheimer, Adam Kammerling, George Szirtes and more.
The London Library, 14 St James’s Square, St James’s SW1Y 4LG.
£10/£8, bookable.
7.30pm.
European Poetry Festival: Flemish Poetry Celebration: Flemish poets and UK-based poets perform new collaborations, featuring Ruth Lasters and Vanessa Onwuemezi, Peter Verhelst and Eley Williams, and Annemarie Estor and Laura Davis. plus more poetry with Miruna Fulgeanu and Michael O’Mahony, Landa wo, Hannah Kaip and others.
LISP Poetry Festival: A day of poetry workshops and performances featuring Nick Makoha, Sarah Hesketh, Helen Bowell, Manasi Pophale, Alice D’Lumiere, Poetry in Translation, Rishi Dastidar and Lisa Kelly.
European Poetry Festival: Swiss Poetry Celebration: Collaborative performances by Swiss and UK-based poets, featuring Daniele Pantano and Richard Scott, Eva Maria Leuenberger and Han Smith, Agata Maslowska and Ayşe Kongur, Tom Jenks and Corey Wakeling, Katja Brunner, Troy Cabida and Ferdinand Jonsson and more.
Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch E1 6LA.
Free, no booking required.
Sunday 23 June
6pm.
Little Betty Launch: Performances to launch pamphlets by Bad Betty Press poets Kareem Parkins-Brown, Suzannah Evans, Olivia Douglass, Jackson Phoenix Nash and Ciara Maguire.
Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, Chalk Farm NW1 8EH.
£8, bookable.
Monday 24 June
Mon 24 June – Mon 22 July.
From Kansas to Oz Studio: Ben Rhys Palmer leads a four-session course on writing poetry that takes readers somewhere extraordinary, inspired by poets like John Ashbery, Ron Padgett and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.
Online for the Poetry School.
£91, booking required.
5pm.
Contemporary Innovative Poetics Research Seminar: Jeff Hilson, Robert Hampson and Amy Evans Bauer discuss the poetry of Lee Harwood. Link forthcoming.
European Poetry Festival at Kingston University: Readings and collaborations by poets from Europe and the UK, featuring Yanita Georgieva, Marcia Knight Latter, Oscar Rodriguez, Bella Weerasinghe, Caitlin Nugent, Julia Rose Lewis, the Popogrou Collective (Lisa Blackwell, Cameron Wade, Laura Davis, Ailsa Holland, Simon Tyrrell, Patrick Cosgrove and Bob T Bright), and more.
Courtyard Space, Town House, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EQ.
WritersMosaic: Music, When it hits.. You feel OK: Celebration of Black British music, featuring poet Carol Leeming, writer Jeffry Boakye, and musicians Julian Marley and An Alien Called Harmony.
British Library, Euston Road, King’s Cross NW1 2DB.
London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, Bloomsbury WC1A 2JL.
£10, bookable.
7.30pm.
European Poetry Festival: Swedish Poetry Celebration: Swedish and UK-based poets perform new poems and collaborations, featuring Ida Börjel and Serena Braida, Anna Svensson-Stoltz and Francis de Lima, SJ Fowler and Benedict Taylor, Chiara Ambrosio and Victor Rees, Anna Ayanoglou and Thomas Ballhausen, Helene Proißl, Egidija Čiricaitė, Matt Martin and more.
Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson Street, Hoxton E2 8JD.
Free, no booking required.
Thursday 27 June
Doors 5.30pm, event 6pm.
The Storm Watchers: Screening of Gerda Stevenson’s new film based on a work by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown.
European Poetry Festival: Austrian Poetry Celebration: Austrian and UK-based poets perform new poems and collaborations. Featuring Thomas Ballhausen and David Spittle, Stathis Dimitriadis and Panos Ghikas, Ida Börjel and Madara Gruntmane, Anna Ayanoglou and Ana Seferovic, Stanimir Dimitrov and Tomasz Mielcarek, Gudrun Schmidinger, Helene Proißl and more.
Austrian Cultural Forum, 28 Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge SW7 1PQ.
Free, booking required.
Saturday 29 June
10.30am-4.30pm.
Flâneur-ing About: The Poetry of Streets: Suzannah V Evans leads a Poetry School workshop on using urban walking to write poems about houses, inspired by poets like Charles Baudelaire, Emily Hasler and Penelope Shuttle.
Poetry London Editions – Launch Event: Madara Gruntmane, Jemilea Wisdom-Baako and Dan O’Brien read to launch their new pamphlets from Poetry London Editions.
Room 326, Professor Stuart Hall Building, Goldsmiths University of London, 8 Lewisham Way, New Cross SE14 6NW.
Free, bookable.
7.30pm.
European Poetry Festival: Latvian Poetry Celebration: Latvian and UK-based poets perform new collaborations, featuring Madara Gruntmane and André Naffis-Sahely, Ivars Šteinbergs and Jamie Cameron, Krišjānis Zeļģis and Steven J. Fowler, Agnese Graudiņa and Hanna Komar, Vik Shirley and Andrea Mason, Mathura and Rishi Dastidar, and Matt Sokulsky and Richard Marshall.
Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch E1 6LA.
Free, no booking required.
Sunday 30 June
7.30pm.
From the Lips to the Moon: Multimedia performances marking Refugee Week, featuring poet Tara Fatehi, musician Pouya Ehsaei and more.
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
£15/£8/free plus £3.50 booking fee, bookable.
July 2024
Monday 1 July
6.30pm.
Translating Tamil Poet Sugan: Hari Rajaledchumy leads a workshop on translating poetry by Sri Lankan Tamil poet Sugan. No knowledge of Tamil required.
RuptureXIBIT, 55 High Street, Hampton Wick KT1 4DG.
£14/£12, booking required.
Wednesday 3 July
8pm.
European Poetry Festival: Norwegian Poetry Celebration: Norwegian poets perform new collaborations with UK counterparts, featuring Ane Thon Knutsen and Angie Butler, Vilde Bjerke Torset and Lavinia Singer, Endre Ruset and James Knight, Thor Magnus Tangerås and more.
National Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
Free, bookable.
Thursday 4 July
9.45am-4.30pm.
‘ich lebe ich schreibe’. Friederike Mayröcker (1924–2021): Day 1: Two-day conference on the work of Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker. This day features papers by Astrid Elander, Leander Gussmann, Karoline Johanna Baumann, Andreas Karl, Teresa Ludden, Johanna Witzenrath, Alexandra Strohmaier, Beate Sommerfeld and Kay Wolfinger.
‘ich lebe ich schreibe’. Friederike Mayröcker (1924–2021): Day 2: Two-day conference on the work of Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker. This day features papers by Laura Tezarek, Andreas Kramer, Katharina Manojlovic, Angela Conzo, Aurélie Le Née, Karen Leeder and poet Donna Stonecipher.
To Break and Build: Tim Tim Cheng leads a workshop on writing poetry that uses feelings as a basis of resistance, inspired by poets like Lola Olufemi, Christopher Soto and Franny Choi.
National Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
£7 plus £3.50 booking fee, bookable.
Thursday 11 July
Times TBC.
Ecopoetics & Environmental Artivism: Day 1: Two-day conference exploring the intersections between creativity, ecology, and environmental activism. The call for papers is open until Fri 10 May.
Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, Richmond TW10 5HX. Also livestreamed online.
£180 in-person, £90 online, booking required. Price covers both days.
Waterstones, 19-21 Tottenham Court Road, Fitzrovia W1T 1BJ.
£7 (or £20 with a copy of Garthwaite’s novel), bookable.
Friday 12 July
Times TBC.
Ecopoetics & Environmental Artivism: Day 2: Two-day conference exploring the intersections between creativity, ecology, and environmental activism. The call for papers is open until Fri 10 May.
Online for the London Arts-Based Research Centre.
£180 in-person, £90 online, booking required. Price covers both days.
Saturday 13 July
10.30am-4.30pm.
A Quest for Innocence in a Troubled World: Carmen Bugan leads a Poetry School workshop on writing poetry about innocence, inspired by poets like Rabindranath Tagore and Czesław Miłosz.
Somerset House, The Strand, Temple WC2R 1LA.
£91, booking required.
3pm-5pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
The College Arms, 18 Store Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 7DH.
Free, no booking required.
Sunday 14 July
7pm.
K-Poetry Melodies: Performances of musical settings of Korean poetry.
St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, St James’s W1J 9LL.
£16.96, bookable.
Monday 15 July
6.30pm.
Translating Brazilian Poet Érica Zíngano: Francisco Vilhena leads a workshop on translating poetry by Brazilian poet Érica Zíngano. No knowledge of Portuguese required.
A Gavin Selerie Celebration: An evening of talks and readings celebrating the late poet Gavin Selerie, featuring Harry Gilonis, Robert Hampson, Elizabeth James, Geraldine Monk, Frances Presley and Glen Storhaugh, plus archival recordings from Colin Still.
National Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
Free, bookable.
Saturday 20 July
12pm-4pm.
Tell My Story: Of Healing, Resilience & Reconciliation: Performances and discussion with poets of South Asian, West Asian and North African origin, featuring Hussam Eddin Baramo, Seyyid-Ali Loughri, Alia Amir, Hana Ormara, Laiba Khan, Muniba Mahmud, Nadir Feroz Khan, Qudsia Akhtar, Rafey Zuberi, Ruhi Amir Alam and Shaheryar Mirza.
Victoria Library, 160 Buckingham Palace Road, Belgravia SW1W 9TR.
Antonin Artaud – New Critical Reflections: Day 1: Two-day conference on French poet and dramaturge Antonin Artaud. This day features presentations by Matt Melia, Stephen Barber, Richard Gough, Hazel Hofman, Paul Koloseus, Joey Ryken, Georg Döcker and Mischa Twitchin, plus a screening of the film Isle of Illusion.
Kingston University, 55-59 Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EE.
Free, bookable.
Wednesday 31 July
9am-6.15pm.
Antonin Artaud – New Critical Reflections: Day 2: Two-day conference on French poet and dramaturge Antonin Artaud. This day features presentations by Joel White, Stuart Kendall, Matt Melia, Melanie Reichart, Eugene Kim, Piotr Bockowoski, Stephen Pritchard and Julia Rose Lewis, film screenings by Richard Hawkins and Ioni Andreadi, and a sound intervention by Richard Crow.
Kingston University, 55-59 Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EE.
Free, bookable.
August 2024
Saturday 10 August
3pm-5pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
The College Arms, 18 Store Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 7DH.
Multicultural Book Fair: Book fair with stalls from multicultural publishers, plus a programme of talks and readings featuring poet Joelle Taylor and more.
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Bloomsbury WC1R 4RL.
Free, bookable.
3pm-5pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
The College Arms, 18 Store Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 7DH.
Tea House Theatre, 139 Vauxhall Walk, Vauxhall SE11 5HL.
Free, bookable.
Tuesday 17 September
7pm.
For the Present – Celebrating Michael Donaghy: Poetry readings to mark the 20th anniversary of poet Michael Donaghy’s death. Featuring Kayo Chingonyi, Ruairi Donaghy, Maura Dooley, Paul Farley, Kathryn Gray, Hannah Lowe, Andrew Neilson and Greta Stoddart, plus performances from Irish traditional musicians.
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Street, Bloomsbury WC1R 4RL.
Science and Sensibility: Method Meets Art: Day 1: Two-day, interdisciplinary conference on works that connect science to poetry and other arts, with a keynote by Patricia Leavy. The call for papers is open until Sat 31 August.
Association of Jungian Analysts Centre, 27 Delancey Street, Camden Town NW1 7RX; also livestreamed online.
£180 in person, £90 online (covers both days), booking required.
3pm-5pm.
Writers Forum Workshop: Workshop for experimental poets to share their writing. All welcome.
The College Arms, 18 Store Street, Bloomsbury WC1E 7DH.
Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Waterloo SE1 8XX.
£20 plus £3.50 booking fee, bookable.
Sunday 13 October
Times TBC.
Science and Sensibility: Method Meets Art: Day 2: Two-day, interdisciplinary conference on works that connect science to poetry and other arts, with a keynote by Patricia Leavy. The call for papers is open until Sat 31 August.
Association of Jungian Analysts Centre, 27 Delancey Street, Camden Town NW1 7RX; also livestreamed online.
£180 in person, £90 online (covers both days), booking required.
CG Jung and Hilda Doolittle (HD): Evans Lancing Smith gives a lecture on the role of alchemy in the work of analytical psychologist CG Jung and modernist poet HD.
Online for the Last Tuesday Society.
£10.87/£6.72, booking required.
FAQ
Who updates this page?
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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