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Neil Fulwood talks about the making of his debut poetry collection, No Avoiding It

“The poems are entirely personal expressions. There’s nothing owed, no debt to anybody else’s artistic legacy”

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

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.

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...

Happy 1st Birthday to Board Game Cafe Ludorati

While café culture has never really taken off in the UK, mainly due to our notoriously inconsistent weather, board game café culture is making big strides. While pubs such as the Malt Cross and BrewDog have always had board games in them, and some places even have board game nights, the last couple of years have seen the opening of two dedicated board game cafes in Nottingham. With Ludorati recently celebrating being open for a year, I headed off on a grey, drab Sunday afternoon with a few friends to see if board games have really shed their boring image…

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…

6 Places to Get Your Game on in Nottingham

After hosting the annual GameCity festival for all these years, Nottingham has exploded with places to get your game on. Here, we offer up the list of places you can twiddle your thumbs...

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...

German Board Game Designer Reiner Knizia Visited Ludorati Cafe

He’s had over 600 games published, won several 'Game of the Year' awards, and has made some of the best-selling games of the last twenty years. Modern board games are all a bit different from playing Monopoly with your nan at Christmas, so when Reiner Knizia visited Ludorati, the board game café on Maid Marian Way, Gav Squires sat down with him to talk about all things board game...

Hockley Hustle in Pictures - Wired, Homemade, Edins, The Lofthouse, Game City and Lee Rosy's

With Alex Milne, Motormouf, Ling Peng, Stacey McMullen, The Age of Stella, 3 Body Trio, Lowrie, and loads more

National Poetry Day: Henry Normal and Matthew Welton Poems

Two previously unpublished poems from the Godfathers of poetry, especially for National Poetry Day

National Poetry Day: Henry Normal and Matthew Welton

We spoke to the two Nottingham poets about their upcoming collaboration

7 Wordy Endeavours for National Poetry Day in Nottingham

There's loads of stuff to be getting up to, reading, and listening in on for National Poetry Day in Nottingham

Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey

Whenever I became Lyanna, it didn’t feel weird telling these grown men what to do.

The Spoken Word Poetry Explosion in Nottingham

"I have listened to poetry in a chintzy tea house and in a cave deep beneath the streets of Nottingham, from a dear old lady sharing her favourite Pam Ayres poem, to a punk screaming hatred and vitriol"

Mud Press: Fiery Poetry Publishing from a Proper Notts Lass

Georgina Wilding has started up a business celebrating the written word in all its contemporary glory. With anthologies born from the unboring, market stalls dripping with colour, and a passion that rivals Zach de la Rocha’s, the founder of Mud Press is on a mission…