“I think shame is very unhelpful, that taboos can be very unhelpful – maybe we should try and be as brave as our poems.” Fiona Benson, author of the prize-winning collection Bright Travellers, talks to Review Editor Emily Berry, about her new collection Vertigo & Ghost, forthcoming from Cape in 2019. They consider questions of shame, permission and catharsis, the challenges of working with difficult material and ‘breaking through’ – the ways in which writing works to bring the inside outside, and the influence of writers such as Sylvia Plath, Sharon Olds and Lucille Clifton. Benson also reflects on the sublime and its possibilities in contemporary poetry, with reference to Whitman, Rilke and Ginsberg. She reads her astonishing poems ‘Fly’ and ‘[Zeus] Anatomical Dolls’, both first published in The Poetry Review. To connect with more poetry, visit poetrysociety.org.uk

Fiona Benson talks to Emily Berry

The Poetry Society was founded in 1909 to promote "a more general recognition and appreciation of poetry". Since then, it has grown into one of Britain's most dynamic arts organisations, representing British poetry both nationally and internationally. Today it has more than 4000 members worldwide and publishes the leading poetry magazine, The Poetry Review.

With innovative education and commissioning programmes and a packed calendar of performances, readings and competitions, the Poetry Society champions poetry for all ages. 

"The Poetry Society is the heart and hands of poetry in the UK – a centre which pours out energy to all parts of the poetry-body, and a dexterous set of operations which arrange and organise poetry's various manifestations. It has a long distinguished history, and has never been so vital, or so vitalizing as it is now." Sir Andrew Motion

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‘We’ve always been here. As long as there has been soldiers, there have been poets. And it’s a long sad, venerable tradition.’ (Peter Gizzi)

A Poetry Review podcast between Richard Scott and Peter Gizzi to accompany the Poetry Review Summer 2022 issue. Richard co-edited the issue with Andre Bagoo.

You can read more about their issue here: poetrysociety.org.uk/publications/v…2-summer-2022/

You can buy the issue here: bit.ly/ThePoetryReview


Richard Scott’s first book is Soho (2018), he guested edited The Poetry Review with Andre Bagoo in Summer 2022.     Peter Gizzi’s recent books include, Now It’s Dark (Wesleyan, 2020), Sky Burial: New and Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2020), Archeophonics (Finalist for the National Book Award, Wesleyan, 2016) and In Defense of Nothing (Finalist for the LA Times Book Award, Wesleyan, 2014). His honours include fellowships from the Rex Foundation, the Howard Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has twice been the recipient of the Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Cambridge. In 2018 Wesleyan published In the Air: Essays on the Poetry of Peter Gizzi. His most recent collection, Fierce Elegy, is available in the Wesleyan Poetry Series in the US, and will be published in the UK by Penguin in July 2024.
Music credit: 'A very minimalist improvisation' by Circus Marcus

Peter Gizzi & Richard Scott

Each year, The Poetry Society commissions a new children’s poem celebrating the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, which is a gift from the city of Oslo to London, as a thank you for helping the King of Norway in World War 2. This year, Isabel Galleymore wrote a magical new poem is called ‘T is for tree’. It is on display around the base of the tree in Trafalgar Square until the 6th of January 2024. The poem was premiered at the lighting up ceremony of the tree in front of the mayors of Oslo, London and Westminster, plus thousands of spectators, by three children from a local primary school, St Mary of the Angels. Their names are Alex, Tilly and Beatriz and in this podcast, you’ll get to hear them read the poem, as well as talk about their experience discovering, writing and performing poetry. You can also find a plethora of free festive KS2 teaching resources and poems on The Poetry Society website at bit.ly/lnmo. Happy holidays from everyone at The Poetry Society!

'T is for Tree' by Isabel Galleymore

Guest editor of The Poetry Review Summer 2022, Andre Bagoo talks to his contributor Jameson Fitzpatrick.

Andre co-edited the summer issue with Richard Scott. 

You can read more about their issue here: poetrysociety.org.uk/publications/vol-112-no-2-summer-2022/

You can buy the issue here: bit.ly/ThePoetryReview

Jameson Fitzpatrick talks to Andre Bagoo

This poem was written by Fred D'Aguiar and Sarah Howe in 2021 as part of the TIDE research project, as a collaboration between the University of Oxford, The Poetry Society and the National Portrait Gallery. It is written as a response to the painting in the National Portrait Gallery Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth with an unknown girl by Pierre Mignard, 1682. The TIDE project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no 681884). The poem is performed by Jess Murrain and Phoebe Campbell.

Reading of 'Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, with an unknown girl [...]'

Ilya Kaminsky reads at the launch of The Poetry Review 109:2, Summer 2019, held at The Poetry Café, London.

Ilya Kaminsky will be giving this year's Poetry Society Annual Lecture / Liverpool University Allott Lecture on Poetry in a Time of Crisis on Monday 15 May 7:30pm.

You can book to attend the lecture online here: bit.ly/AnnualLectureOnline

You can book to attend the lecture in person here: bit.ly/AnnualLectureKaminsky

Fiona Benson talks to Emily Berry

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