TASTE Poetry Competition: Prize-giving event

Oxford Poetry Library has been collaborating with The Oxford Hub on our very first poetry competition, and at this special event, we will be hearing from the shortlisted poets and announcing the winners!

This OPL poetry competition in association with the Oxford Hub was a clarion call to all new and experienced poets to make their voices heard. Building on the phenomenal success of OPL’s monthly open mic sessions (This is just to say…) and its many workshops and events, we wanted to extend our poetry welcome within and beyond the city boundaries, beyond artificial town and gown limits, beyond all physical and psychological obstacles no less! We aim to bring together all those passionate about poems in a bid to highlight the many talented but possibly under-celebrated poets we know are out there. And for those who just like to read and listen to poetry, we will provide a feast of entertainment by sharing new work on the sensory theme of TASTE.

Without reading poetry and learning from others who have gone before, it’s difficult to write poems, let alone improve on them. OPL helps to start a poetry conversation by drawing in readers and listeners, who may well go on to be writers themselves. With the support of students from the Oxford Hub and OPL volunteers, we aim to make the first OPL poetry competition a poetic feast for all and bolster the fortunes of the library so that it can continue to reach out to poets and poetry readers or listeners, whatever stage they are at in realising their aims.

At this special event, we will invite our shortlisted poets to read their entries, and will announce the winner of the competition. We will also hear from our three illustrious judges: Vanessa Lampert and Alan Buckley, and Jenny Lewis.

All shortlisted entrants will have free entry, otherwise tickets are £5 and can be purchased in advance here.

You can read all about the judges and the competition itself here.