Carol Rumens's poem of the week

A wintry vision of the separation of two lovers gains fresh energy from the verse’s roots in folk song

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Remembering World War 1 Some of Britain's finest actors read poetry from World War I

Sean Bean reads Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth.

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Alex Jennings reads the Wilfred Owen poem at the emotional heart of Benjamin Britten's anti-war masterpiece, the War Requiem.

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Remembering World War 1 Some of Britain's finest actors read poetry from World War I

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This episode features an interview with Northern Ireland poet, Matthew Rice, where he talks about his jurney in poetry and gives a short reading of his work. Most of the poems come from his forthcoming collection which deals with the experience of shift work in a factory. Matthew's presentation of blue collar industrial work from the inside is fairly unusual in poetry, and this insider's view accords well with the theme of inside / outside which was the prompt for this episode. It was chosen to give poets plenty of latitude and this is reflected in the variety and wealth of poems received. Poets in this episode include Alison Jones, John White, Helen Overell, Clare Starling, Pat Winslow, Jane Thomas, Susan Thomas, Guy Jones, Polly Walshe, Maureen Jivani, Julia Webb, John Daniel, Diana Bell, Lizzie Ballagher, Stephen Claughton and Lucy Ingrams.

Audio version

Written version

Here are two poems by Hongwei Bao, Chinese Gooseberry and Self Portrait as a Banana, published in Litter Magazine.

Hongwei Bao is based in Nottingham and a regular contributor to the local poetry scene.

He has just publish a boom of poems Dream of the Orchid Pavilion, which you can find in our bookshop.

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This is the Behind the Storms chat with Paul Stephenson, which first aired in its entirety as episode 5, season 8. This is hosted and produced by Damien B. Donnelly

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The Our City Our Stories Project brought several writers into Nottingham libraries to collaborate with local people and communities to share their writing and tell their stories. To read, listen or watch more about the project, including reading the anthology.

These recordings are a series of letters commissioned to each writer working in a library. They have been inspired by the community stories the writers heard during the workshops in each library.

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Leanne Moden is a poet, performer and educator based in Nottingham, UK. She's performed at WOMAD, Sofar Sounds, Bestival on the Isle of Wight, the Fourth Wave Feminist Festival, Trinity College Cambridge, and the TEDx WOMEN event at University College London. Leanne was a semi-finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam 2018, and a national finalist at both the Hammer and Tongue Poetry Slam in 2016 and the Camden Roundhouse Slam in 2014. She took her first solo show, Skip, Skip, Skip, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019, and in 2020 published her second poetry pamphlet, Get Over Yourself.

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Welcome to "We, the Poets".

We're a bunch of writers on a mission to share new poetry.

To us, when poetry appears on the radio it sometimes feels like it's been hidden behind a glass case, or polished to perfection, hiding all the delightful chaos that went into its creation.

Well, we're here to rip off that glass case and embrace the mess just as much as the masterpiece it creates!

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This episode features an interview with Ruba Abughaida who is part Palestinian, part Lebanese. Her poems reflect the struggles of the Palestinians and of the peoples of the Middle East more generally. In addition to her own poetry, in English and Arabic, and her fiction, she is a notable translator of Arabic poetry, and, in particular, with Jenny Lewis, of the Iraqi poet, Adnan al Sayegh.

Struggle seemed an appropriate theme for this episode and the poems included here deal with public and private struggles of many different kinds. Poems included come from Lizzie Ballagher, Fiona Perry, Guy Jones, Alison Jones, Elizabeth Barton, Sarah J Bryson, Helen Overell and Kate Young.

The episode closes with a short reading by Michael Bartholomew-Biggs from his new collection, Identified Flying Objects.

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This bumper episode was all about young voices starting out, new voices to the podcast and spoken word artists. Below are details and links to the guest stars…

Podcast available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, OverCast, Player FM, Radio Public, PocketCast, CastBox, iTunes, Podbean, Podcast Addicts and many more platforms.

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A special episode of the poetry podcast featuring contributors from the new Broken Spine Arts anthology, The Whiskey Tree and co-founder Alan Parry reads from his new poetry collection 27 and takes part in the Behind the Storms chat. Hosted and produced by Damien D. Donnelly

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Leanne Moden is a poet and educator from Nottingham. Leanne was a semi-finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam 2018, and performed her first solo show in 2019. In 2020 published her second poetry pamphlet, Get Over Yourself, with burning Eye Books.

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This February four* intrepid poets set off on adventure into poetry territory. Twenty-eight* days, twenty-eight* sonnets. Let's go! (*sometimes more)

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John Humphreys has been with DIY Poets since 2006, performing with them at the Edinburgh, Buxton and Ludlow Fringes. He has also performed in a library with Henry Normal, run a workshop on a canal boat with Clare Stewart and supported The Specials as part of Nottingham's Splendour Festival at Wollaston Park.

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Many mythological creatures and traditions we know, love, and more importantly fear, owe their origins to Celtic folklore. Borrowed to create epic franchises such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, the countless adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, this programme casts new light on the subject.

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Hot Poets is an ambitious, award-winning, internationally focused project turned CIC, working to powerfully communicate climate change science and action through spoken word poetry. The real stories of ecological innovation and hope we don’t often hear.

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Podcast available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, OverCast, Player FM, Radio Public, PocketCast, CastBox, iTunes, Podbean, Podcast Addicts and many more platforms. The poetry podcast is produced and hosted by Damien B. Donnelly.

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Poet Daljit Nagra chooses Tongue and Talk - The Dialect Poets: East Midlands with poems from Nottinghamshire.

Writer James Walker unearths the dialect poetry of the Nottinghamshire miners who penned their verse underground in the county where he was born and bred.

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Welcome to Fictive Dream, the online magazine dedicated to the short story. We chose our name with more than just a backward glance to American writer and teacher John Gardner whose concept of the fictive dream remains a cornerstone of good writing. Powerful writing ensures that readers never slip out of the fictional world that a writer creates. This is the sort of writing we’re looking to promote here at Fictive Dream.

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Since its rise to international acclaim, the multi-award-winning "Have You Heard George’s Podcast?" has remained famously undefinable. In its explosive new season, however, this finally changes, as George the Poet pieces together fragments of the African and Caribbean independence struggles.

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The fascinating quest of the poet Mark Gwynne Jones. An array of audio odysseys… and some marvellous Derbyshire reflections… The Times

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It was amazing to be asked by the newly appointed High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire to perform at her recent Reception.

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In this episode of Write Club Open Mic we're sharing new work from writers around the world about the joys (& frustrations!) of getting older. We loved listening to these submissions & hope you will too.

Just to warn there may be one or two moments of spicy language (the word 'sh*t' thanks to our theme suggestion). Otherwise you're all good.

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Laura Grevel is an immigrant, a performance poet, a fiction writer, and a blogger. She has performed her poetry in Texas and Europe and is a proud member of DIY Poets and Poets Against Racism in Nottingham, United Kingdom. She also participated in Poets Against Racism: In This Together 2021 and 2022. Laura’s poetry is eclectic and includes works tackling the immigrant experience, narratives, and character sketches. Her written work has been published in podcasts, online zines, and anthologies.

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38:45 Sir Ben Okri reflects on 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush.

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Litro Lab is our regular podcast, covering author interviews, documentaries, short story readings and real-world reportage. We welcome submissions of standalone short story readings and ideas for factual episodes.

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