Verve Poetry & Spoken Word Festival

Verve Poetry & Spoken Word Festival Festival of Poetry & Spoken Word 24-28 Feb 2027✨ and online✨ Online Multi-press Poetry-only Bookshop

✨

ANNOUNCING this year's Verve Poetry Festival POEM OF THE FESTIVAL competition opening for entries from Oct 1st to Nov 30...
24/09/2026

ANNOUNCING this year's Verve Poetry Festival POEM OF THE FESTIVAL competition opening for entries from Oct 1st to Nov 30th 2026.

The theme this year is BELONGING, a subject close to the heart of this year's super judge SARAH HOWE (Sarah Howe)!

Cash prizes for three lucky winners * plus twenty one commended poets * All of whom will be invited to read at our festival in Feb at an event hosted by our judge * And read their poem in our competition anthology * alongside ten poets selected from free to enter 11-17s category!

WE CANT WAIT TO SEE YOUR POEMS! 😍

Full details on our website and in bio x

CRATE POETRY LIVE! *comment LIVE POETRY for a ticket link 🎟️ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG Sunday 1...
22/09/2026

CRATE POETRY LIVE! *comment LIVE POETRY for a ticket link 🎟️

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Sunday 11th October 2026

Hosted by Paul Stringer, with open mic. Crate Poetry Live! Is a contemporary live poetry show in a TV studio style format.

Featuring 4 of the regions’ best performance poets & 6 open mic slots alongside conversations about the art of performing poetry.

The show will be live streamed through the Crate Poetry YouTube. Featuring Midlands based performance poets Nafeesa Hamid, Ty’rone Haughton, Bradley Taylor and M L Walsh, this will be an exciting, lively and informative spoken word event.

Sign up on the door for the open mic slots up to 30 minutes before the event starts - the six poets will be drawn from a hat.

SAVE THE DATES! 📢VERVE Poetry Festival is BACK for its 10th anniversary festival next February 2027!From the 24th to the...
22/09/2026

SAVE THE DATES! 📢

VERVE Poetry Festival is BACK for its 10th anniversary festival next February 2027!

From the 24th to the 28th, you'll be able to join us once more in Birmingham, with our usual sublime line-up of debut and established poets, with a jam-packed programme of poetic events for all to enjoy.

Put the dates in your diaries and keep your eyes peeled for the next big reveal...

Also, VERVACEOUS (our ten year anniversary anthology) will be out by the time of the 2027 festival - 3rd December 2026, with 181 poets - so this proves to be the most creative, ambitious, and downright incredible poetry festival we've hosted yet. Let the countdown to the celebrations begin.

Hosted by Paul Stringer, with open mic. Crate Poetry Live! Is a contemporary live poetry show in a TV studio style forma...
20/09/2026

Hosted by Paul Stringer, with open mic. Crate Poetry Live! Is a contemporary live poetry show in a TV studio style format.

Featuring 4 of the regions’ best performance poets & 6 open mic slots alongside conversations about the art of performing poetry.
The show will be live streamed through the Crate Poetry YouTube. Featuring Midlands based performance poets Nafeesa Hamid, Ty’rone Haughton, Bradley Taylor and M L Walsh, this will be an exciting, lively and informative spoken word event.

Sign up on the door for the open mic slots up to 30 minutes before the event starts - the six poets will be drawn from a hat.

ONE DAY TO GO!Submit your VERVE (the band) poems to us this September for a chance to be a winner or on the shortlist - ...
19/09/2026

ONE DAY TO GO!

Submit your VERVE (the band) poems to us this September for a chance to be a winner or on the shortlist - borrow, respond, distort! The competition closes tomorrow night at 11:59pm, so you have plenty of time to send us at least one of your musical-themed poems.

Next month, we're making way for our Poem of the Festival competition, running during a two-month submission window, preparing for our spectacular 10th Anniversary VERVE Poetry Festival next February... Make sure you don't miss out.

ONLY 2 DAYS TO GO!We're looking for poems on the theme of The Verve this month for our monthly recurring Poem of the Mon...
18/09/2026

ONLY 2 DAYS TO GO!

We're looking for poems on the theme of The Verve this month for our monthly recurring Poem of the Month competition, but remember, during October and November, we'll be running the Poem of the Festival competition!

Send us your poems about sound, lyrics, and cultural memory this September for a chance to be a winner or shortlisted poet, and you have until the 20th of the month to send your poems to us. Visit our website to submit.

CRATE POETRY LIVE! *comment LIVE POETRY for the ticket link 🎟️ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG Sunday...
17/09/2026

CRATE POETRY LIVE! *comment LIVE POETRY for the ticket link 🎟️

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Sunday 11th October 2026

Hosted by Paul Stringer, with open mic. Crate Poetry Live! Is a contemporary live poetry show in a TV studio style format.

Featuring 4 of the regions’ best performance poets & 6 open mic slots alongside conversations about the art of performing poetry.

The show will be live streamed through the Crate Poetry YouTube. Featuring Midlands based performance poets Nafeesa Hamid, Ty’rone Haughton, Bradley Taylor and M L Walsh, this will be an exciting, lively and informative spoken word event.

Sign up on the door for the open mic slots up to 30 minutes before the event starts - the six poets will be drawn from a hat.

VERVE HEADLINE EVENT: Mona Arshi, Sarah Howe, Rachel Long with host Jo BellComment - LIVE POETRY for a ticket link 🎟️Roy...
15/09/2026

VERVE HEADLINE EVENT: Mona Arshi, Sarah Howe, Rachel Long with host Jo Bell

Comment - LIVE POETRY for a ticket link 🎟️

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Sunday 11th October 2026

Our regular VERVE tea-time headline features three incredible poets, all giants in their way on the contemporary UK and world poetry scene. We’re thrilled to have Mona Arshi back for the first time since 2017 reading from her PBS Autumn Choice, Mouth (Chatto, 2025). Joining Mona are Sarah Howe and Rachel Long. Sarah also returns for the first time since our very first festival. Her most recent publication, Foretokens (Chatto, 2025) was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliots. Rachel joins us to celebrate publication of her acclaimed second full collection, Sparrow on the Rooftop (Chatto, 2026). Hosting these three amazing poets for readings and discussion is Jo Bell, renowned poet and co-author of How to be a Poet (Nine Arches Press, 2017).

Address

Birmingham
B24

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Verve Poetry & Spoken Word Festival posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category