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7 Write Lion Poetry Performances at Rough Trade

We miss Nottingham Poetry Festival. Very much. We whacked on a night made up of some of the poets featured on our printed pages over the past year or so, and our mate David Belbin made a few videos of the boggers. Enjoy!

Quiet Riot Collected Anthology Launch at Nottingham Poetry Festival in Photos

Write Your Own Videogame with Hello Words at the NVA

Writing for computer games is more than just up, down, left, right, jump. There are multiple worlds and narratives to consider, as well as which media platform to use. Fortunately, Nottingham’s very own videogame writer, Lynda Clark, has helped form a writing group – Hello Words – at The NVA, to offer a bit of support for those who don’t know their Twine from their Inkle…

Mental Health Issues Can Affect Anyone

Simon is 37, and works as a Healthcare Professional and a Musician. He also has lived experience of an eating disorder, self harm, depression and anxiety. We caught up with him in honour of Mental Health Awareness Week to talk about his own experience with mental health, in the hopes that it will encourage others to open up themselves.  

Poets Phlexx Their Muscles at Suede

Phlexx Records put on a hell of a show down at Suede Bar last week: 24 Poets, four heats, one final. With some seriously sick prizes up for grabs.

An Ode to the Nottingham Poetry Festival

Bringing poetry to the masses, one week at a time...

Music, Madness and Poetry Party-Animals at Mudfest

Notts-based publishers Mud Press launched their latest poetry anthology Woman last week. We rolled up our sleeves and dived into Cobden Chambers for the launch party. 

High Stakes and Sportswear at Poetercize! the Poetry Game Show

Scores were settled and mischief was made at Rough Trade this Saint George's Day, but which of our contestants won the championship title in this zany gameshow? We sent LP Mills to the hottest sporting event in Nottingham to find out. 

Miner David Amos and Linguist Natalie Braber on Poetry in Pit Talk

If you don’t know your ‘elephant’s tab’ from your ‘Monday hammer’, fear not. Seventh generation miner David Amos and linguist Natalie Braber have all the gobbings you need to understand Pit Talk...

Big White Shed's Poetry Publisher Anne Holloway Answers Questions in Photos

Founder of the Big White Shed, a meeting place for creatives to seek advice and trade expertise, Anne Holloway has shown us the inner workings of her mind through the art of photography. This month, she’s rounding up some of her favourite poetic pals to perform as part of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. The likes of Chris McLoughlin, Trevor Wright and Hayley Green will be spraying similes and internal rhymes like nobody’s business over at Debbie Bryan for your viewing pleasure. Word.

Poetercize: The Poetry Game Show at Nottingham Poetry Festival

Stephen Thomas is a locally-based poet and rapper whose show Poetercize: The Poetry Game Show will be performed as part of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. We had a chat with him about his latest projects in preparation for this year’s festival...

10 Events to get to for Nottingham Poetry Festival

After wiggling their toes in the water back in 2015, Nottingham Poetry Festival is back. Mixing it up with over fifty events, there are local poets of all genres, backgrounds and disciplines, as well as workshops to get wordy in, and plenty of chances for you to get on the mic and give it a go yersen. Plus they’ve got some national treasures popping down – in the form of Britain’s Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, the inimitable John Cooper Clarke, and the lyrical John Hegley. If you don’t think poetry is your thing, think again. If you’re already a fan... well, as you were.

Nottingham Poetry Festival: Wendy Cope

Known for her dry wit and keen eye for parody, Wendy Cope has been a staple of British poetry since her debut in the eighties. We caught up with Wendy ready for her appearance at this year’s poetry festival.

Art Works: Anthony Freeman's Grungy Lion Illustration

A local artist lets us in on his artistic process..

Sound of the Lion #57

With Slumb Party, George Gadd, Clay Shaped Boy, Dark Mother, Whatsmahmood, Vega Bay, One Giant Causeway, Damn Craters and Scorzayzee...

Henry Normal Talks Nottingham Poetry Festival and His Castle Rock Brewery Beer

After the success of the first Nottingham Poetry Festival in Autumn 2015, there are over fifty events going on from Friday 21 - Sunday 30 April. We had a natter with curator and Baby Cow Productions funnyman Henry Normal to talk all things poetry, being a Nottingham lad and his new beer, obviously...

Comedy Writer Lee Stuart Evans Talks Debut Novel Words Best Sung

You may not instantly recognise his name, but Lee Stuart Evans has left his mark all over our telly boxes. Having written for shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, A League of Their Own, Live at the Apollo and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, he’s now turned his hand to novel writing. We spoke to him about his Nottingham-based debut, Words Best Sung…

Poetry and Chat with Nottingham Trent University's Rory Waterman

Not only is Rory Waterman Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University, his debut poetry collection, Tonight the Summer’s Over, was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Prize in 2014. We had a chat with him about what politics and poetry mean to him…

Sound of the Lion #56

With Underdark, Tom John Hall, Rosie Abbott, Mowbeck, Matt Blick, The Last Pedestrians, The Amber Herd, Kirk Spencer, and Sleaford Mods...

Sound of the Lion #55

With RunRain, DYStopia, Bloody Head, The Death Notes, Fonzse, The Further, Grey Hairs, Harleighblu, and Amber Run...

Film Review: Lion

This new Dev Patel film about a man in search for his past is one worth seeing

Sound of the Lion #54

With Scorzayzee, D.I.D, Trekkah, Society, Cherry Hex & The Dream Church, Nick Aslam, Fat Digester, Onkaur, Albosel, Crosa Rosa, Billie, Mountain Schmountain, Megan Kelsey, Ronika and Red Rack'em...

Sound of the Lion #53

With Babe Punch, Deadbeat At Dawn, Gallery 47, The Age of Stella, Nekeyo, J Littles x Nick Stez, The Damn Heavy, Church of the Cosmic Skull, and Seaford Mods…

The Roy Stone Foundation Supports Young Musicians with Mental Health Issues

When Roy Foster, aka Roy Stone, died in October last year, it was not only a devastating loss to those close to him, but also to the city he had entertained for over twenty years as a singer and frontman of the band Performance. The Roy Stone Foundation has been set up to honour his memory. We spoke to one of the organisers, Sally Jackson, to find out more…

Line of Light Poetry Projections on Station Street

We were drawn to the illuminated poetry at Station Street, celebrating our UNESCO City of Literature status...