Six reasons to join The Poetry Society

If you’re still not a member of The Poetry Society, here are a few good reasons why you (and your bank account!) might decide to join in the party. It costs as little as £20 a year.

In no particular order – the infamous Stanza Bonanza! 

All over Britain, groups of poets get together at Poetry Society Stanza groups to share work, inspire each other, produce anthologies or perform together in friendly internecine shoot-outs.  Here is last month’s Stanza Bonanza between Clapham – aka Original Poets – (front from left: Tom Vaughan, Nicole Carrell, Tessa Lang, Mark Fiddes, Claire Booker; back far left: Hilaire) and Reading (back from 2nd left: Susan Utting, Louise Ordish, Shelley Connor, Gill Learner, Alan Hester, Ted Millichap).

Our Bonanza frolics took place in The Poetry Place – another great reason to support the Poetry Society. This bijou building (ok it’s cramped and steamy in summer but a refurb is on the way) is bang smack in the cultural heartland of London’s Covent Garden. Virtually every night there’s an event to enjoy or an exhibition to ponder. The Café provides tasty vegetarian food and a place to write or hang out in. Upstairs there’s a venue for workshops, parties and hard-working Poetry Society staff (also boxes and boxes of poetry books – the nicest possible kind of tripping hazard).

Every member receives a copy of Poetry News, packed with news and views. As a member, you can enter the Member’s Poems competition four times a year. Winners are published in Poetry News and receive a juicy parcel of poetry books. My poem ‘Deadline’ is twinkling away happily in this summer issue. If you’d like to read it, along with the five other winning poems on the theme of Smell, please click: www.poetrysociety.org.uk/membership/members-poems-2/

More than £16,000 is give out each year in prize money by the Poetry Society, which runs The National Poetry Competition, The Ted Hughes Award, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year, Slambassadors and numerous others.

Members also have the option of receiving Poetry Review – one the most respected poetry magazines in the English speaking world.  If you hope to be published in its august pages, perhaps take advantage of the Poetry Prescription service available to Poetry Society members at a very reasonable fee. Poets with great track records are available in the four corners of Britain (or by Skype) to read and report back on examples of your poetry. I can highly recommend it from personal experience (thank you Katy Evans Bush!).

Joining the Poetry Society gives a nice warm feeling too, as you’re directly supporting its original, eclectic projects. From canal-sides, supermarkets, football pitches and former battlefields, to schools and arts venues, projects range from ongoing programmes to one-off commissions of new work. The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree, The Canal Laureateship, Poems on the Underground, National Poetry Day – all wonderful examples of how the Poetry Society is raising poetry’s profile with people of all ages.

Convinced? Still not sure?  For the full deal, click on: www.poetrysociety.org.uk/ and give some serious thought to joining, supporting, engaging with and using the opportunities that the Poetry Society has been providing to poets and poetry lovers since 1909.  You know it makes sense!

Alleluiah’s marital secrets gets mini-tour

After two fantastic nights at the Lost Theatre in February, I just couldn’t bring myself to put the lid on my 5 minute play ‘Alleluiah’. Stephanie James was stunning as Bridget, a woman on the cusp of adultery, walking the fine line between humour and pain brilliantly. So a mini-tour was born. (yes, let’s push the envelope – more than one performance qualifies as a tour!!)

Stephanie performed first at ‘Beyond  Words’ in Gipsy Hill, followed by another gig at Loose Muse at the Poetry Cafe. Audiences were warm and appreciative. Watch this space for news of further performances in the coming year.

If you missed the show, here’s a film of ‘Alleluiah’ courtesy of The Lost Theatre:

“ALLELUIAH” by Claire Booker – LOST Theatre 5-Minute Festival

Clapham and Brixton poetry riots!

Six red-hot poets from Clapham faced six notorious wordsmiths from Brixton in a Stanza Bonanza that is destined to go down in history.

For two intense, often hilarious and sometime shocking hours, poetry pinged off the walls of Covent Garden’s Poetry Cafe like buckshot. The event was so popular, many audience members were forced to stand at the back or along the stairs and even celebrity, Alistair McGowan, found himself shoe-horned in at the back.

Punching for the Clapham Stanza group were Claire Booker, Nicole Carrel, Mickey Feather, Andy Hickmott, Tessa Lang and Chris Parker whilst Jill Abram, Steve Boorman,Wendy Dyer, Margaret Haig, Sophie Herxheimer and Paul Minor  squared up in the Brixton corner.  Each poet had precisely eight minutes to prove their worth in a head-to-head battle with their opposite number.

To avoid bloodshed, Paul McGrane from The Poetry Society, declared the evening a draw and both sides removed to the bar to celebrate, if any proof is needed, that poetry can make a sizzling evening’s entertainment.

The entire event was filmed for Poetical TV. Click on the following link if you’d like to see me reading my poem ‘New Arrival’. I’m the fourth poet (in the pink shirt!) about half way through the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io7vZh_5DDE&feature=player_detailpage

For more information on Clapham Original Poets please visit:  Facebook page

To find out more about The Poetry Society, click on:  http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk 

Double whammy in The Delinquent and Prole

What an August it’s been!

Team GB pulled on the lycra, got on their marks and broke world records whilst tucked away in Wales and Surrey, two perfectly formed magazines were hard at work honing their literary muscle.

The result? Issue 18 of The Delinquent and issue 8 of Prole are both out this month and both contain works by Claire Booker.

The Deliquent has published Claire’s short play ‘Lost Property’ which was performed at the Lost Theatre, Stockwell last year and again at The Poetry Cafe, Covent Garden and showcased by 17Percent at Whitstable this year.  And for a second time Prole, Poetry and Prose have published two Claire Booker poems, this time alongside work by Sue Pace, David Whelan and Ben C Clark among others. To find out more, or to purchase copies of either magazine, click on:

http://www.thedelinquent.co.uk or http://www.prolebooks.co.uk