Festivals, Poetry Events & Workshops
27
mar
Cerys Matthews' Desert Island Poems
In Conversation with Kim Moore
Hosted by Amanda Dalton
Wainsgate Chapel, Old Town, Hebden Bridge, Hebden Bridge
£16
In conversation with poet Kim Moore and hosted by Amanda Dalton, Cerys will be castaway with her personal selection of Desert Island Poems - sharing the poems she would take to a faraway shore, along with stories , memories and reflections from a life immersed in music, literature and creative discovery. Expect a rich evening of poems, conversation and the joy of language shared together in the unique atmostphere of Wainsgate.
Join us for a rare opportunity to spend an evening with one of the most distinctive voices in British music and broadcasting.
3
may
Launch of The House of Broken Things with Kim Moore and special guests
Sunday 3rd May, 3pm
Join us for this very special WORD at Wainsgate event - an afternoon of poetry, including live music and Wainsgate's trademark tea and homemade cake plus bookstall, as the sensational Kim Moore launches The House of Broken Things, her new collection of poems published by Corsair.
Kim will also be welcoming on stage some of her poetry friends - briliant, acclaimed poets in their own right, each giving us a taste of their new work - and her twin sister Jody who will be playing Franz Strauss's beautiful Fantasie opus 2 for French Horn with piano accompaniment from Dave Nelson.
7
may
The House of Broken Things: Dr Kim Moore in conversation with Dr Malika Booker
Join Dr Kim Moore for the launch of her third poetry collection The House of Broken Things (Corsair, 2026). In The House of Broken Things, motherhood is a spell, a terrible power, an intelligence, and transformative in all its complexity and ambivalence.
An atmosphere of haunted domesticity moves through these poems as they ask what we inherit and what we pass on to our children. Dr Kim Moore will be in conversation with Dr Malika Booker. There will be time for mingling and book sales afterwards.
Kim Moore is the author of three poetry collections, including All the Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021), which won the Forward Prize for Poetry in 2022. She has also published two works of non-fiction, What the Trumpet Taught Me (Smith/Doorstop, 2022) and Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism (Seren, 2023). The House of Broken Things is published by Corsair in 2026.
She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Deputy Programme Leader of the MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
Malika Booker is a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage. Her collection Pepper Seed (Peepal Tree Press, 2013) was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize and features on the A Level English Literature syllabus.
Malika Booker is the first woman to win the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem twice – in 2020 for The Little Miracles and in 2023 for Libation. She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
This event will be a hybrid event. To join us online, please see the Manchester Poetry Library YouTube Channel ‘live’ section. If you are attending online, there’s no need to book a ticket.
11
May
The House of Poetry - Poetry Workshop with Kim Moore
Join poet Kim Moore for a poetry workshop on 'The House of Poetry'.
During this workshop we will be exploring the different ways that we can write about the house – both as a literal and a psychological space. We will explore poems that examine the house as mythical place, as childhood memory, as the theatre of family drama or domestic routine and as a place of both wildness and safety. This will be a practical workshop suitable for beginners and advanced writers.
11
may
The House of Broken Things: Kim Moore in conversation with Gill Connors
Join Dr Kim Moore for a reading from her third poetry collection The House of Broken Things (Corsair, 2026). In The House of Broken Things, motherhood is a spell, a terrible power, an intelligence, and transformative in all its complexity and ambivalence.
An atmosphere of haunted domesticity moves through these poems as they ask what we inherit and what we pass on to our children. Dr Kim Moore will be in conversation with Dr Malika Booker. There will be time for mingling and book sales afterwards.
Kim Moore is the author of three poetry collections, including All the Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021), which won the Forward Prize for Poetry in 2022. She has also published two works of non-fiction, What the Trumpet Taught Me (Smith/Doorstop, 2022) and Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism (Seren, 2023). The House of Broken Things is published by Corsair in 2026.
She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Deputy Programme Leader of the MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
Gill Connors is from North Yorkshire where she lives and works. She is working on a third collection which will be the result of her PhD, on the subject of the links and parallels between sixteenth century and twenty-first century women. She is a managing editor of Yaffle and Yaffle’s Nest.
16
may
Cork International Poetry Festival: Kim Moore and Annemarie Ní Churreáin
Kim Moore’s forthcoming collection The House of Broken Things will be published by Corsair in May 2026. Her second collection All the Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021) won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her first collection The Art of Falling (Seren, 2015) won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. She also writes non-fiction, publishing What the Trumpet Taught Me (Smith|Doorstop, 2022) and Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism (Seren, 2023). She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Deputy Programme Leader of the MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
Annemarie Ní Churreáin comes from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her third poetry collection, Hymn to All the Restless Girls, published by The Gallery Press (2025), appears in The Irish Times Best Poetry of 2025 and among the RTÉ Culture Best Irish Books of the Year. She is a recipient of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award, the Markievicz Award and the Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship. Ní Churreáin is a recent Writer in Residence at The Hawthornden Foundation, New York. She is the poetry editor at The Stinging Fly
6
jun
Writing Obsessions - Poetry Workshop with Kim Moore
Join poet Kim Moore for a poetry workshop on the theme of Obsessions.
In this workshop we’ll explore how our obsessions – the images, stories, questions and memories we return to – can become a source of creative energy. We’ll look at poems that circle a subject, worry at a detail, or build intensity through repetition, and we’ll experiment with forms and techniques that embrace obsession. Suitable for beginners and experienced writers alike.
Kim Moore’s forthcoming collection The House of Broken Things will be published by Corsair in May 2026. Her second collection All the Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021) won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her first collection The Art of Falling (Seren 2015) won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. She also writes non-fiction, publishing What the Trumpet Taught Me (Smith/Doorstop, 2022) and Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism (Seren, 2023). She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Deputy Programme Leader of the MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
6
jun
The House of Broken Things: Kim Moore in conversation with Kristina Diprose at City Library Bradford event tickets from TicketSource
Kim Moore’s forthcoming collection The House of Broken Things will be published by Corsair in May 2026. Her second collection All the Men I Never Married (Seren, 2021) won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her first collection The Art of Falling (Seren, 2015) won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. She also writes non-fiction, publishing What the Trumpet Taught Me (Smith|Doorstop, 2022) and Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism (Seren, 2023). She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and Deputy Programme Leader of the MA and MFA in Creative Writing.
Kristina Diprose co-runs the Rhubarb open mic in Shipley, and co-edited its anthologies Un/Forced and Seconds. She won the inaugural Oxford Canal Festival poetry competition in 2024, has been shortlisted in the Wolverhampton Literature Festival, Ginkgo Prize and Leeds Poetry Festival competitions, and was an Ilkley Literature Festival 2023 New Northern Poet. Thin Spells, her debut pamphlet, is forthcoming in September 2025 from The Black Cat Poetry Press. She is also working on a short story commission for Bradford 2025’s Wandering Imaginations project.
15-19
jun
Manchester Writing School Summer Festival
MANCHESTER WRITING SCHOOL SUMMER FESTIVAL: Step into the vibrant heart of Manchester’s literary scene with the 2026 Manchester Writing School Summer Festival (15–19 June). Hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University, this four-day celebration of creativity brings together writers working across multiple genres for an immersive programme of workshops, masterclasses, and readings. With two days online (15-16 June) and two days in person (18-19 June), the festival offers a unique chance to experience one of the UK’s largest and most successful creative writing communities.
The general public can also attend for a fee of £350 for all four days, or £250 for the two-day online programme, and £250 for the two-day in-person programme. The full programme will be announced in April, so please keep an eye out on the Manchester Writing School social media for more information.
29
jun
Residential Writing Course: Poetry and the Lyric "I": Poetry and Self Making
*SOLD OUT*
With Kim Moore and John McCullough
29th June - 4th July
£640 - £980
Join award-winning poets Kim Moore and John McCullough for a week of playful, energetic and energising workshops exploring the boundaries of the lyric “I”. How can we use the threads of our lives to construct resonant poems? How do we know what to change, what to leave out, and what to make up? In what ways can poetic form be used to reveal emotional truths without giving away more than we feel comfortable with?
During the week you will look closely at approaches to these questions taken by a range of poets. The tutors will discuss experimenting with voice, radical editing and what we mean by confessionalism, with exercises asking you to create voices often untied to single times and places, or which inhabit perspectives beyond the human. They will encourage you to begin your own fresh and surprising poems that take risks in their mapping of encounters between selves and the world.
You will come away equipped with a toolkit of editing techniques to strengthen your work, ideas for further reading and a notebook that fizzes and crackles with drafts of moving poems that head outside the familiar.
29
jun
LOOK! POETRY OF OBSERVATION AND WITNESS
*SOLD OUT*
With Kim Moore and Clare Shaw
Guest Reader Abeer Ameer
Moniack Mhor
20th July - 25th JULY
£740
LOOK! Poetry of Observation and Witness
Join award winning poets Kim Moore and Clare Shaw for an immersive poetry residential. Through workshops, readings and shared reflection, we’ll explore poetry as a powerful act of noticing – of bearing witness to the world around us and within us. Whether it’s the flicker of a streetlamp, a fragment of a memory or the pulse of a protest, we will celebrate the role of a poet as observer, transformer and sense-maker. Come ready to look closely and write boldly.
Please note that our guest reader, Abeer Ameer, will be joining us online for this course.
15
apr
Go to the Poets - watch this space
Hosted by Kim Moore
Wordsworth Grasmere online reading series
Online
£7
Five free places available
EVENT DETAILS
Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our online contemporary poetry reading series ‘Go to the poets, they will speak to thee’ continues throughout 2026. We will be listening to what poets have to say about our turbulent times, and how poetry can cross borders to challenge, delight and inspire us. Each event in the series is part reading, part open mic – and the theme of the open mic changes every month!
Open mic
Our open mic theme this month is to be decided - watch this space!
Open mic slots are limited and must be booked in advance. Each open mic poem should be no longer than two minutes. Email Kim Moore at wordsworthreadingseries@outlook.com for a slot. Slots do book up quickly, so don’t leave it to the last minute!
How to book and attend
When attendees book a ticket they will receive a confirmation email which includes the Zoom registration link for this event: please use this link to sign up.
This event is a Zoom webinar and the audience will not appear on screen. If you have bought a ticket and signed up to the open mic your audio and video will be enabled during the open mic.
Five free places are available for those experiencing financial hardship that would otherwise not be able to attend. You can select this option during online checkout. If you have booked a free place and find that you can’t attend, please let us know so that we can make this available to someone else.
Automatic live captions will be provided.
3
DEC
Go to the Poets
Hosted by Kim Moore
Wordsworth Grasmere reading series
Online
£7
Five free places available
EVENT DETAILS
Curated and hosted by poet Kim Moore, our online contemporary poetry reading series ‘Go to the poets, they will speak to thee’ continues throughout 2023. We will be listening to what poets have to say about our turbulent times, and how poetry can cross borders to challenge, delight and inspire us. Each event in the series is part reading, part open mic – and the theme of the open mic changes every month!
1-31
jan
January Writing Hours 2027
1st -31st January
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE DETAILS
Imagine January...
It's a New Year but the mornings are dark, the evenings are cold and the best Christmas chocolate has been eaten. It's all feeling a bit grim.
January 2027 is going to be different...
because Kim Moore and Clare Shaw will be running an online Writing Hour every morning throughout January! From 10am-11am on Zoom, come prepared to read poems. Come prepared to think about poems. Come prepared to write poems.
Come in your pyjamas. Come with your breakfast. Come every day - or come when you can - and commit an hour to yourself and your writing.
We will provide the inspiration, the poetry fuel. All you need to do is turn up.
Our Writing Hours use simple prompts, readings and reflections to inspire and encourage you to write throughout January. In an interactive Zoom workshop, you'll work interactively with Kim Moore, Clare Shaw and writers from across the UK - and beyond! The emphasis is on generating new work, and writing in company: expect connection, creativity and motivation rather than detailed feedback or instruction.
Accessibility
Bursary Tickets available - a limited number of free tickets are available. You don't need to ask - just head over to the ticket page and book one if you couldn't otherwise afford to come.
Pay-as-you-feel tickets also available - if you can pay a little bit but not the full price, please book a Pay-as-you-feel ticket!
If you are feeling flush, and would like to donate a Bursary Ticket, please pay for either a week ticket or a full month, and drop us a line to let us know that you've paid for another space. We will announce extra free tickets as they are paid for on social media.
We will be using Otter to provide a transcript for all sessions and any poems used during the workshops will be screenshared.
Zoom links
*Zoom links come out direct from Eventbrite at 9.45am each morning. If you buy a ticket before 9.45am, you will receive a link for that day. If you buy after 9.45am, you will not receive a link until the following morning.
29
jun
Poetry and the Lyric 'I'
Residential Writing Course
Mon June 29th - Saturday July 4th 2026
Arvon, Totleigh Barton
Tutors: Kim Moore & Rishi Dastidar
Guest Reader: To Be Announced
Join award-winning poets Kim Moore and John McCullough for a week of playful, energetic and energising workshops exploring the boundaries of the lyric “I”. How can we use the threads of our lives to construct resonant poems? How do we know what to change, what to leave out, and what to make up? In what ways can poetic form be used to reveal emotional truths without giving away more than we feel comfortable with?
During the week you will look closely at approaches to these questions taken by a range of poets. The tutors will discuss experimenting with voice, radical editing and what we mean by confessionalism, with exercises asking you to create voices often untied to single times and places, or which inhabit perspectives beyond the human. They will encourage you to begin your own fresh and surprising poems that take risks in their mapping of encounters between selves and the world.
You will come away equipped with a toolkit of editing techniques to strengthen your work, ideas for further reading and a notebook that fizzes and crackles with drafts of moving poems that head outside the familiar.