We are delighted to be welcoming TS Eliot Award winner Hugo Williams to Norwich in October. A recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, Hugo is truly a giant of English literature and we’re thrilled to have him. Reading alongside Hugo will be [...]]]> The Norwich Poetry Club returns with a new season for the autumn.

We are delighted to be welcoming TS Eliot Award winner Hugo Williams to Norwich in October. A recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, Hugo is truly a giant of English literature and we’re thrilled to have him. Reading alongside Hugo will be Norwich’s own poetry giant George Szirtes, also a TS Eliot Award winner and key figure in our city’s literary scene.

In November we turn the dials up to 11 to welcome two of the country’s finest performing poets. Ross Sutherland is a founder of Aisle16, with whom he won Time Out Critics’ Choice of the Year. Alongside Ross is Nathan Filer, who blurs the boundaries of comedy and spoken word and comes up with something very special indeed.

We begin our season in September with a visit from Forward Prize nominee Luke Kennard. Luke’s sharp, surreal prose works equally well in performance as it does on the page, somewhere between poetry reading and python sketch. Luke is joined by Norwich’s own Helen Ivory, celebrated author of three collections for Bloodaxe

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Why not listen to it and have a little think for us? We’re making decisions about who to book for the next few Norwich Poetry Clubs. Who would you like to see in Norwich? Leave us a comment.

http://norwichpoetryclub.jellycast.com/

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In years to come, people will say “I was there. I was at the inaugural launch of Norwich Poetry Club”. (Even if they weren’t).

Sorry if you couldn’t get in. We thought about bigger venues, but downstairs at The Bicycle Shop in St.Benedict’s is more suited to our plans, and 50 [...]]]> Yanny Mac reviews our opening night:

In years to come, people will say “I was there. I was at the inaugural launch of Norwich Poetry Club”. (Even if they weren’t).

Sorry if you couldn’t get in. We thought about bigger venues, but downstairs at The Bicycle Shop in St.Benedict’s is more suited to our plans, and 50 people max. is a perfect sized audience for a spoken-word gig.

Compered admirably by the ever-loveable John Osborne, NPC gave us Luke Wright’s ‘ballad set’ as the local poet’s offering.

Bouncing between belly-laughs, satire & pathos, Wright set the tone for the evening, opening with “Fat Josh” and then holding our hands tightly, as we embarked on an emotional rollercoaster ride of rhyme & reasoned verse.

The second half belonged to Martin Newell. Standing-in at the last minute for Caroline Bird, the UK’s “most published poet” seemed relaxed and loquacious, as he furnished us with anecdotes, jokes & what seemed like a poetic travelogue around the Eastern Counties.

The audience responded marvellously to our two poets. People of all ages, and from all backgrounds hung on every word spoken, whilst delighting in the excellent ale selection, and helping themselves to jaffa cakes & jammie dodgers.

Norwich Poetry club will return to The Bicycle Shop on March 16th, with Elvis McGonagall and the ubiquitous (and ever-loveable) John Osborne.

It’s an intimately small venue.

Will you be there?