Our monthly readings by well-known poets normally take place at a venue in Tunbridge Wells, but because of COVID-19 they are on-line for the time being. They are free for members, but non-members who would like to attend can pay £3 using the PayPal button on the right, and email us at kentandsussexpoetry@gmail.com to request a Zoom link for the event in question. There is also often an opportunity to read a short poem (up to 40 lines) at Open Mic. Readings are normally on the third Tuesday of each month (except August) – details of each meeting are uploaded on the front page of this website in advance. The poets booked for 2021-22 are listed below.
Visitors welcome. Admission to non-members: £3
enquiries, e-mail: kentandsussexpoetry@gmail.com (but please note, this email is not checked daily).
We also hold informal writers’ ‘Workshop’ meetings (for Society members only) on the first Tuesday of each month (except August) – also on Zoom for now. Further details from Eileen at lobbed@btinternet.com
Monthly readings confirmed for the remainder of 2021 and 2022
November 16th: Wayne Holloway-Smith, winner of the National Poetry Competition, editor at Out-Spoken Press.
December 21st: Luke Wright, who performed at the Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival to great acclaim in August, makes a return visit to perform for the Society. His most recent collection is The Feelgood Movie of the Year (Penned in the Margins).
January 18th: January is the month when we ask three members to read. This year, we will hear from Charlie Bell, Peppy Scott and David Smith, the prime movers behind the 2021 Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival, and brilliant poets too.
February 15th: Anthony Anaxogorou, poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His most recent collection is Poetry Book Society recommendation After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins.)
March 15th: Aaron Kent, editor of Broken Sleep Books and poet, whose latest pamphlet is Perfectly Reasonable Justifications for Nuclear Apocalypse (Fathomsun Press).
April 19th: Richard Skinner, our 2022 Open Competition judge, will announce the winners and read from his own work. Richard is a novelist and poet whose most recent collection is Invisible Sun (Smokestack Books).
May 17th: Emma Dai’an Wright, founder and editor of Emma Press. She is judging our members’ only competition this year, and will announce the results.
June 21st: Maria Taylor, whose most recent collection, Dressing for the Afterlife, was published by Nine Arches Press.
July 19th: Matt Haigh, poet, novelist, memoirist and journalist. His 2020 poetry collection is Death Magazine (Salt).
September 20th: Yusef Qasmiyeh, whose collection Writing the Camp (Broken Sleep Books) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation.
October 18th: Dai George, poet and novelist whose collection The Claims Office was published by Seren Books.
November 15th: Sean O’Brien, multi-prize winning poet, whose ninth, and most recent collection is Europa (Picador).
December 20th: Amy Key, poet and essayist, whose second collection Isn’t Forever was published by Bloodaxe.
