You can sign up now for masterclasses with Victoria Kennefick, Sarah Holland-Batt, André Naffis-Sahely and Tom Sleigh, as well as a manuscript makeover with James Harpur during #corkpoetryfest . Limited availability! corkpoetryfest.net/workshops.html

Katie Donovan Katie Donovan will be reading from her new collection #MaySwim at Cork International Poetry Festival on 15 May, and André Naffis-Sahely will be travelling to Ireland to read from his second collection #HighDesert on 17 May.

Really looking forward to my first ever reading in Ireland on May 17, gratitude to Patrick Cotter & Munster Literature Centre !!!

Congratulations Niall Campbell on his appointment as the new editor of Poetry London - I know he’ll do great things with the magazine & I couldn’t have been happier with the choice. Looking forward to his first issue in June - and his third collection in September! Good luck!!

Well - today is Day 1 of my new role as Poetry Editor of Poetry London.

Thank you to André Naffis-Sahely and the team for the warm welcome at last night's launch.

Excited where the magazine goes from here...

I have a poem in the newest issue of Poetry London that, perhaps, has some resonances for the age. I hope you find something worthwhile in it. My gratitude goes to André Naffis-Sahely for sheltering this work.
poetrylondon.co.uk/its-important-…

“I leave this post grateful for the opportunity to have edited this magazine, and yet distraught over the state of our world and the sanity of our public culture.”… from the latest issue of Poetry London

poetrylondon.co.uk/valedictory-ed…

Launching my final issue of PL (feat. Dr. Mona Kareem!!) this Wednesday at the Southbank Centre w/ Will Burns Sara Elkamel & Jemilea Wisdom-Baako MA,. Need another incentive? You don’t, but here’s one anyway, I’ll be introducing my (brilliant) successor! Tickets: southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/liter…

See you there!

Thank you Deborah Akeredolu & The Letters Page for choosing us as your ‘Journal of the Month’ and for running this wonderful profile of the work we’ve been doing over the past few years under the editorship of André Naffis-Sahely - you can read the piece here: theletters.page/2024/03/06/poe…

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!

Pictured: the final cover of the Shakespeare B Trust edition of #Shakespeare #FirstFolio , & an early draft, both by the superb artist Emily Sutton.

So, #Shakespeare BirthplaceTrust, was it your decision to erase the editor from her work? If not, whose was it?

Wonderful find in Poetry London - a translation of Imru Al-Qays’s pre-Islamic Arabic “Hanging Poem” (because a version in embroidery reportedly used to hang inside the Kaaba) by Kareem James Abu-Zeid. One of many memorable pieces in this issue, edited by André Naffis-Sahely

New poem with a border through it - alliterative verse - 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 to André Naffis-Sahely and Poetry London for giving it a homeland

Thank you Nels Abbey for this tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah, who led by example when he rejected an OBE in 2003. Sadly it was ignored by most UK writers, many of whom make a living out of anti-imperialist posturing while fighting over themselves for royal rewards & appointments.

My essay in Poetry London about the transgressive and redemptive power of confessional writing; it’s also about (and for) my brother, who passed away this year. Many thanks to editors André Naffis-Sahely & Isabelle Baafi poetrylondon.co.uk

Editing Poetry London has been one of the great privileges of my life, but after 3 years I’m stepping down. The Spring 2024 issue will be my last & I’m truly excited to see who will be chosen to lead the magazine starting with the Summer 2024 issue. Good luck to all applicants!

Mosab Abu Toha in Poetry London, Autumn 2023.

We call on UK Prime Minister to demand an immediate end to the slaughter in Gaza. We are utterly ashamed to receive funding from a govt that condones the massacre of innocent civilians & we also call on fellow lit orgs to stand with the Palestinian people & against genocide.

Reposting this interview I did with Mohammed El-Kurd for Poetry London last year. These atrocities did not start on Oct 7. Free Palestine

poetrylondon.co.uk/collective-awa…