This year, Nottingham Poetry Festival celebrates local, national and internationally acclaimed artists that align with our community values.

We are passionate about strengthening our partnerships as we invite you to organise performances, workshops, debates, and any other poetry-related activity as part of our 2024 programme.

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We are a Nottingham, UK based poetry collective. We're nice and we don't always rhyme.

Our aim is to give budding poets the opportunity to perform their work in public and get their work published and we're proud to have members of all ages, shapes, sizes, experiences and styles, from brand new poets and occasional hobbyists to slam winners and published writers.

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Our City, Our Stories is a creative project, about gathering local stories. Join us for relaxed workshops where we’ll talk, listen and write together, building stories based on your experiences and ideas.

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The Creative Future Writers' Award is the only free to enter national writing competition for all underrepresented writers. Prize winners are selected by a panel prestigious authors and industry experts and are given the opportunity to develop their work through training, mentoring, assessment and coaching.

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The Sir John Borlase Warren

We are very pleased to invite you to our next Dandelions Poetry evening, where we will have Sonia Burns reading from her pamphlet Umbra:philia, and some new work too. Of course we will also have a warm and encouraging open mic, so please come and share your poems.

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The Cockahoop, Nottingham

Join us at the Cock and Hoop every month for the Full Circle Poetry Open Mic event. This is an invitation to anyone who loves the power of spoken word, to come and share their thoughts and feelings in a safe and welcoming space. Our event features a diverse range of spoken word artists and poets, who will inspire you with their words. Listen to the voices of talented poets from all over, or express yourself through spoken word. Our community is like-minded, and our space is welcoming. Come and experience the magic of spoken word at the Full Circle Poetry Open Mic event.

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Robin Hood 540 Mansfield Road, Nottingham

Championing working class, marginalised & activist creatives. Doors open 7pm for a 7.45pm start. Headline poets & musicians. Open mic all artistes welcome, sign up from 7pm on the night. Pay what you can/feel. Suggested donation £3-£5 CASH ONLY! All donations pay our headline & feature acts.

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Dubrek Studios, Derby, DE1 3LB

Word Wise is a spoken word and poetry night uniting the best talent from around the UK and beyond, with Derby's finest performers. Word Wise won the 2019 Saboteur award for Best Regular Spoken Word Event in the UK.£3 Early bird tickets (plus booking fee) £5 on the door.This month we've got the legendary Twisted Tongues.

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Nottingham Central Library

An epic line-up of bands and artists take over the space as the bar and atrium-cum-dance floor open for our cabaret night.

This month’s event includes astounding local singer-songwriter, Franklin Anselm, published poet and esteemed performer Sophie Sparham, Rap-hip-hop-jazz fusion Local Healers, and visionary soulful artist and producer Phe B.

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Online

Realms of Fantasy returns to complete the trilogy, serving up a loaded day of fantasy writing workshops with a series of guest authors! Join us to gain the insight, inspiration and information to take your fantasy fiction to the next level.

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Five Leaves Bookshop 14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG12DH

Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism does both of those things. In less than a hundred pages he makes the case that it has become easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. Fisher argues that a lack of alternatives to this system creates a sense of cynicism and political apathy. For him, this way of organising our society affects not only our economy but our culture, private lives and mental health. He makes his case not through classical literature or impenetrable political theory but rather by analysing popular culture.

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Nottingham Central Library

Powerful, insightful narratives of the world we live in. Exploring different cultures, different generations and highlighting inequality, injustice and pain. Steering the reader in direction of hope, purpose and life.

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Five Leaves Bookshop 14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG12DH

Britain has become a nation of renters and landlords. Building more housing is not the solution. Housing crisis lawyer Nick Bano proposes that it is rent not house prices that is at the core of the problem. Despite economic boom and bust, why has the cost of housing continued to skyrocket since the 1970s? Bano argues that rents have also continued to rise – supported by housing benefit payments and weakening housing laws on evictions. The state has colluded with the market as social housing provision has been replaced by payments, spiralling ever higher.

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Nottingham Central Library

Discover the transformative power of expression: Notts Poetry, in collaboration with Nottingham Refugee Forum and the University of Nottingham, warmly welcomes refugees, families, and those affected by migration to share their stories through words and visual art. Together, we'll explore the depths of loss, while honoring the resilience and beauty of finding love and meaning amidst displacement. Join us in shaping a narrative of strength, compassion, and solidarity.

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City Arts, Nottingham

Discover the transformative power of expression: Notts Poetry, in collaboration with Nottingham Refugee Forum and the University of Nottingham, warmly welcomes refugees, families, and those affected by migration to share their stories through words and visual art. Together, we'll explore the depths of loss, while honoring the resilience and beauty of finding love and meaning amidst displacement. Join us in shaping a narrative of strength, compassion, and solidarity.

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Nottingham Playhouse

Come and join the SpeakEasy Spoken Word bi-monthly open mic nights at Nottingham Playhouse. Led and curated by The Mighty Creatives and Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature youth board member Connor Brown, alongside Nottingham Playhouse and fellow City of Literature youth board member Abigail Hutchinson.

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City Arts, 11-13 Hockley, Nottingham, NG1 1FH and online

An Evening of poetry, of all kinds from a diverse view point. It will make you think, it may make you cry, but it will certainty make you laugh.
Featured Poet Keith Ford
Plus DIY Poets
Open mic slots are also available on the night.

It’s taken Keith 10 long years to finally release his debut collection ‘Matters of Life and Death’ through Big White Shed. The book is reversible but the experiences that informed it are sadly not. The Life section happily charts the early years of teenage fumbles, middle aged mumbles and the growth in groans and grumbles. The Death section was sadly informed by the lives and losses of cousins and parents, friends and the famous. Keith looks forward to sharing poems from it with the lovely DIY audience.

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