Poetry Parnassus and raining poems!

Those of you in and around London shouldn't miss this week's MASSIVE festivities at Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre.

Poets from nearly every Olympic country, huge names, workshops, debates, readings galore and a rain of thousands of bilingual poems are just some of the amazing events set up to celebrate a year of international coming together in London.

Already I've met poets from the Netherlands, Italy, Chile, Hong Kong, South Africa, you name it!

I'll be reading at Maintenant's celebration of the experimental and avant-garde, organised by the ever-energetic mass-interviewer S.J. Fowler, on Saturday at 7pm, which should be awesome.

There are events going on throughout the week until 1 July. Come on down and experience something new - it promises to be something very special indeed. There really will be something for everybody, and I know there are many readers I may never get the chance to see again.

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Follow @wetblackbough and @Anna_Selby on Twitter, or search #poetryparnassus.

Big news!

For those who don't yet know, last week Jon received an Eric Gregory award for his work on School of Forgery! He got to go to a lovely awards bash thrown by the Society of Authors and read the following night with the other winners, Joey Connolly, Holly Corfield Carr, Caleb Klaces, Rachael Nicholas and Phoebe Power.

In other news, this weekend, Sidekick Books have an hour's slot at Roddy Lumsden and Emily Hasler's New Poets Festival! It's being held, like everything in the world ever right now, in central London, so if you're about, please do come on down to discover a treasure trove of fresh writers.

Friday 22nd June - Join BroadCast at The Betsey Trotwood (map) for the launch of the festival, followed by part 4 of the 28 Project - Opposites Attract, which sees 14 pairs of poets reading new complementary poems based on opposing ideas.

With: Colette Sensier / Edward Mackay, Holly Hopkins / Sophia Blackwell, Hannah Lowe / Wayne Holloway-Smith, James Goodman / Nick Makoha, Mark Burnhope / Andrew McMillan, Martha Sprackland / Eloise Stonborough, Aime Williams / John Canfield, Nia Davies / Charlotte Geater, Vidyan Ravinthiran / Ben Rogers, Sophie Collins / Dai George, Dan Barrow / Tom Gilliver, Kayo Chingonyi / Amy Evans, Penny Boxall / Alice Lees and hosts Roddy Lumsden / Emily Hasler.

Launch drinks from 6.30. Readings from 7.45.

Saturday 23rd June - Today's events are at The Blue Lion pub (map) and feature largely poets from outside of London. Plenty of breaks between sections.

Times as follows (all approximate):

3.15-4 Showcase from Cake Magazine with Andrew McMillan, Martha Sprackland and others

4.15 Vidyan Ravinthiran / Mark Burnhope

5.00 – Kim Moore / Caleb Klaces

6 - 6.30 - TBC

6.45 – 7.45 Showcase from Stop Sharpening Your Knives poets with Emily Berry, Sam Riviere, Jack Underwood and others.

8.00 Kiki Petrosino / Andrew Jamison

9 Liz Berry / Kate Kilalea

Sunday 24th June - Back at The Betsey Trotwood. Plenty of breaks between sections. Times as follows (all approximate):

3.15 Showcase from Sidekick Books with Kirsten Irving, Jon Stone, Samuel Prince, Ian McLachlan and Abigail Parry

4.20 Chrissy Williams presents Poets of the Unexpected, with Holly Pester, Lorraine Mariner and Tom Chivers

5.20 Niall Campbell / Colette Sensier

6.10 Showcase from Penned in the Margins featuring James Wilkes, Sarah Hesketh and Michael Egan

7.15 Free for all – various readers present their favourite poems by new UK poets.

8.15 Kayo Chingonyi / Dai George

9 Helen Mort / Sarah Howe

Prices: Friday: £5; Sat / Sun: each £8 (£18 for three day ticket, £14 for Sat & Sun ticket). Bargain!