Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

We were very saddened to hear of the death of Adrian Mitchell at the end of last year. Adrian was a rare and generous being – a popular poet who wrote with passion, heart, warmth and humour about the things he cared about. “Most people ignore most poetry,” he famously said, “because most poetry ignores most people.”

Known as the ‘shadow poet laureate’ he continually spoke out against war and racism – it’s well worth visiting You Tube to see his electrifying delivery of ‘To Whom It May Concern’ at the Albert Hall in 1965 (from Peter Whitehead’s ‘Wholly Communion’). One of the pioneers of live poetry readings in Britain in the late 1950s and 60s, he helped make the art form accessible to a whole generation.

Just before his death he’d finished work on a new collection, Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-2008, which is now available from Bloodaxe.

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Fiona Benson, Heather Phillipson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas and Jack Underwood are the first beneficiaries of the Faber New Poets programme, a new Arts Council of England funded project. The scheme will see the four poets get financial support, mentoring and pamphlet publication by Faber.

Candidates for the scheme were identified by scouts appointed by ACE, and whittled down to a shortlist by a panel consisting of Charles Beckett (Literature Officer, ACE), Lavinia Greenlaw (poet and Professor of Creative Writing, UEA), Matthew Hollis (poet and Commissioning Editor, Poetry, at Faber), Ariane Koek (Clore Fellow and former Director of the Arvon Foundation), Gary McKeone (former Literature Director, ACE), Daljit Nagra (poet and tutor), and Clare Pollard (poet and poetry editor).

It was also announced that Joe Dunthorne, Annie Katchinska, Sam Riviere and Tom Warner will be the Faber New Poets in 2010.

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In January, Shetland-based poet Jen Hadfield was the surprise winner of the TS Eliot Prize For Poetry for her second collection Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe). The poet laureate Andrew Motion, who chaired this year’s judges, said he was delighted that the prize went to Hadfield. “Nigh- No-Place shows that she is a remarkably original poet near the beginning of what is obviously going to be a distinguished career.” The other judges were poets Lavinia Greenlaw and Tobias Hill. The Costa Poetry Award went to Adam Foulds for his debut work of poetry about the Mau Mau uprisings in Kenya, The Broken Word, while the £10,000 first prize for the Manchester Poetry Prize was shared between Mandy Coe and Lesley Saunders. Helen Mort, 23, won the £2,000 Manchester Young Poet Prize.

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The winner of this year’s Café Writers Poetry Competition, judged by Penelope Shuttle, is Victoria Rose Poolman, a freelance writer from Hampshire. Victoria was awarded the £750 prize for her poem ‘The Chicken That Saved My Children’ which she wrote while travelling in Bosnia. The competition’s local strand, The Jarrold Norfolk Prize, was won by Caroline Gilfillan – she gets £150 in book tokens to spend in Jarrolds.

The Café Writers competition was established by the Norwich-based writers network to encourage poetry writing both locally and internationally. Café Writers supports writers of all genres, at all stages of their development - from beginners right through to well established names. See www.cafewriters.org.uk

Following the success of the competition, Café Writers will offer more prizes in 2009, with a first prize of £1000, and a sonnet competition (prize £150). The Judge will be George Szirtes, and the competition will open on 1st July, deadline 30th November.

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Poetry Wivenhoe is a reading series that began in 2007, bringing renowned poets to the Essex coast and building attentive and appreciate audiences for these events. The team behind this venture have now produced a fine anthology of poems gathered from the first Wivenhoe Poetry Prize Competition. With a stunning cover featuring a painting from artist James Dodds, the book is available, priced £7.99 plus £1.50 p&p from Wivenbooks, The Wivenhoe Bookshop, 23 High Street, Wivenhoe, CO7 9BE. This excellent independent bookshop also stocks The Rialto.

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The Times Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation, 2009 is open for entries. Entrants must submit a translation of a poem (maximum 60 lines) from any language, modern or Classical, into English, with a commentary of not more than 300 words, covering their approach to the translation and any difficulties encountered. There will be three prizes in the Open and 18- and-under categories and one in the 14-and-under category, the prizes range from £100 to £750. All winning entries will be published in a booklet. A charge of £3 will be made for each entry (entrants aged 18 or under on May 22, 2009 are exempt). The closing date is May 22, 2009,and results will be published by October 31. Details and entry forms can be found at www.stephen-spender.org or can be obtained from 3 Old Wish Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JX.

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The line up for this year’s Poetry-next-the-Sea Festival, at Wells next-the-Sea, North Norfolk ( May 8th., to May 10th.,) will include, among others, Fleur Adcock, Annie Freud, Michael Symmons Roberts and Hugo Williams. All events usually take place in The Maltings, Staithe Street – if you’re looking for the ideal poetry weekend this spring, it’ll certainly be worth the trip to Wells. For more details (or a programme) contact Susan Marshall on [email protected] or 01328 711813.

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Carol Ann Duffy appears to be clear favourite to be the next www.guardian.co.uk/books/poetlaureate Poet Laureate this summer when current incumbent Andrew Motion steps down. Wendy Cope, who started as the 3/1 second favourite, dramatically ruled herself out of the race in January, by calling for the post to be abolished completely. As a result, her odds have now dropped to 8/1. Norfolk’s very own contender Fred Ketch, originally a 1000-1 outside bet, has also dropped out of the running, due to a ‘bit of a bad back’.

The current betting is: Evens Favourite, Carol Ann Duffy, 5/2 Simon Armitage, 3/1 Roger McGough, 6/1 James Fenton, 8/1 Wendy Cope, 10/1 Jackie Kay, 10/1 Benjamin Zephaniah, 16/1 Lavinia Greenlaw, 20/1 UA Fanthorpe, 20/1 Jo Shapcott, 25/1 Alice Oswald, 33/1 William Radice.

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Congratulations to Christopher James who has just been announced as the winner of The Poetry Society’s 2008 National Poetry Competition.

Christopher, who lives in Suffolk with his wife, young family, a banjo and a mortgage, said, “If there is an unspoken Grand Slam circuit for poetry prizes, then the National Poetry Competition is definitely Wimbledon, the one everyone dreams of winning. When I got the call at work one morning in February, it was like hitting an ace at match point. I’ve entered most years since 2002 or 2003 and usually at the last minute when you think, well, you have to be in it to win it. This year I was in it and I won it!”

Christopher will receive the first prize £5,000 cheque for his poem, ‘Farewell to the Earth:’ he will also have the opportunity to read with the judges, Frieda Hughes, Jack Mapanje and Brian Patten, at the 2009 Ledbury Poetry Festival.