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<span style="font-size: 16px;">The Poetry Society invites all to its awards celebration for The National Poetry Competition 2023,  judged by </span><strong style="font-size: 16px;">Will Harris</strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">,</span><strong style="font-size: 16px;"> Jane Draycott </strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">and </span><strong style="font-size: 16px;">Clare Pollard</strong><span style="font-size: 16px;">, featuring performances from the winning poets. The winners were announced on 25 March and can be read </span><a style="font-size: 16px;" href="https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/national-poetry-competition/">here</a><span style="font-size: 16px;">.</span><img class="wp-image-230855 " src="https://poetrysociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NPC-2023-online-readings-comp.jpg" alt="" width="482" height="241" />

The event will include guest readings from previous National Poetry Competition winners <strong>Liz Berry</strong>, who was a top 10 winner in 2011 for her poem 'Birmingham Roller' and <strong>Marvin Thompson</strong>, who was the overall winner of the 2020 competition.

The National Poetry Competition, run by The Poetry Society since 1978, is one of the most prestigious poetry competitions worldwide for new poetry. The 2023 competition attracted over 19,000 entries from 113 different countries.

This year’s awards event will celebrate this year’s winners, with readings by this year’s National Poetry Competition winning poets.
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            [post_date] => 2024-01-19 12:32:11
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            [post_content] => Join us for <em>The Poetry Review</em> reading group in the Poetry Café, where we'll gather around the Spring 2024 issue and discuss a lively selection of work from the contributors. Which poems delighted, startled, puzzled or remade you? 

And don't worry - you don't have to be a professional critic to get involved! The group will be facilitated by Poetry Society staff, who will guide you through the discussion.

If you aren't a member and do not have a copy of the Spring 2024 issue of <em>The Poetry Review</em>, we're offering a deal to receive a ticket and a copy of the <em>Review</em> together for just £10 - a saving of £5.95. Select this ticket option and we'll post your <em>Review</em> out to you as soon as we can. You're equally welcome to come along without having read the magazine in advance and just join the discussion on the day.

Please note we will also have an online reading group for this issue available.

We’re keen to find out what times of day would be most popular for future in person<em> The Poetry Review</em> reading groups, so if you’d like to attend a future discussion event in the Poetry Café but would need a different start time, please email <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> and let us know.
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            [post_content] => Join us for <em>The Poetry Review</em> reading group online, where we'll gather around the Spring 2024 issue and discuss a lively selection of work from the contributors. Which poems delighted, startled, puzzled or remade you? 

And don't worry - you don't have to be a professional critic to get involved! The group will be facilitated by Poetry Society staff, who will guide you through the discussion.

If you do not yet have a copy of this issue of <em>The Poetry Review</em>, we're offering a deal to receive a ticket and a copy of the Review together for just £10 - a saving of £5.95. Select this ticket option and we'll post your <em>Review</em> out to you as soon as we can. You're equally welcome to come along without having read the magazine in advance and just join the discussion on the day.

Please note we also have an in-person reading group for this issue available.

We’re keen to find out what times of day would be most popular for future in person <em>The Poetry Review</em> reading groups, so if you’d like to attend a future discussion event in the Poetry Café but would need a different start time (e.g. afternoon), please email <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> and let us know.
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View more...

'Sertraline fever' was commended in the 2023 National Poetry Competition, judged by Will Harris, Clare Pollard and Jane Draycott. From the judges: 'This brilliantly intense poem is a fever-dream, the speaker trying to find meaning by obsessively noticing orange - kimchi, chimney pots, tomcats, cantaloupe. The sense of building mania is visceral and truly disorientating; the ending devastating. I was all in.'

Sertraline fever

by Katie O’Pray

                       I dreamt thick
marmalade – elastic bagels – dad’s
chevy – everything good bleeds
orange – I’ve been noticing –
the pause before the traffic slows
or starts – the cars do move but
gingerly – I’ve woken to the steamed
peaches of my windows – jangled
bags of groceries and the change
tray on the bus – copper-full – both
my childish earrings tugging
at my lobes – I like to eat orange
zest and hot sauce and butter
-nut squash – everything good blushing
warm and dusky – kimchi – inari –
the streetlights twitching on
in my feeble little body – I am finding
the orange in every scene – panning
to a chimney pot – a salt lamp – to ripped
and rolled train tickets – herb glow –
my neighbour’s brickwork but not mine –
a skulking tomcat – I tip my hat
to him – I am a starlet playing
my role so perfectly – I feel like
a breaking fever – a clockwork
cantaloupe – putting the plastic
in the recycling bin and moving
my beech lipstick around my lines
with poise – drawing attention –
my own mouth giving it all
meaning – I am humming along to channel
orange in the kitchen – sweet life – being
happy enough to bear it – smiling wide
as a tiger – I’m collecting orange hearts
on instagram – can’t hear anyone
else talking much – just the hiss
of my candles getting smaller – them –
becoming more orange flame than wax

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 5,000 members worldwide and publishes 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.

More about the Poetry Society…