Oxford Poetry Library

19/06/2026

🌈 HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, POETRY FANS 🏳️‍🌈

We have exciting news: our regular spoken word open mic event This Is Just To Say is popping up at Oxford DIY Pride this year! We’ll be hosting a spoken word and poetry open mic on 4 July at 1.15pm at East Oxford Community Centre.

We welcome anything spoken word, poetry, or storytelling - particularly those that celebrate q***r joy (or perhaps you’re bringing your joyfully q***r self and have something to share).

All welcome! Sign-ups from 12.45pm for a 1.15pm kick-off. Slots are 3-5 minutes long and are first come, first served.

Full info about the day:

19/06/2026

TOMORROW: OPL's first and only monthly reading group (The Reading Circle) hits the stacks for another afternoon of using our minds as spades to dig into contemporary poetry.

If this is, like, your bag, join us from 2-4pm at the Community Works. Register in advance to nab a place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-reading-circle-tickets-784392989547?aff=erelexpmlt

16/06/2026

Next weekend - it's the LAST EVER HIP CROWD!! Ohh, I hear you say. Aww. Don't be worried - you can come and join us for a party!

Join us for a birthday to remember, and let's celebrate together the wonderful times we've had - with fabulous host, Lorna, as ever holding up the mic.

We've seen such wonderful things: caught cosy choruses, been visited by wonderful poets and heard heartfelt songs.

See some of our favourite memories below, including stage-babies and Erica Hesketh's visit!

Join us next week for Oxford's last and best daytime poetry party & open mic - see you next Friday 26th June, at 11:30am-1pm.

And please share your Hip Crowd memories in the comments - we'd love to hear your stories too!

15/06/2026

It can be exciting to read new poetry, whether or not we understand every part of a poem.

But we can often walk away from a poem feeling we missed something important.

Reading as a group opens up levels of meaning we can't access by ourself - the same poem through someone else's eyes can look completely different.

Want more of this in your life? Come along to The Reading Circle, OPL's best loved monthly reading group! Join fantastic facilitators Vanessa Lampert, Alan Buckley, and Carl Tomlinson for an engaging in-person afternoon sharing and discussing contemporary poetry.

Questions we'll be asking include:

Can we love a poem we don’t fully understand?
Why do we like a poem? Why don’t we?
Where is a poem's heart?

If this sounds even mildly interesting, join us at the next session, on June 20th from 2-4pm, at the Community Works. Register in advance here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-reading-circle-tickets-784392989547?aff=erelexpmlt

12/06/2026

TOMORROW: The Shape of Poetry's June workshop is shaping up to be a great one!

Whether you're getting started writing poetry or you've never written before, join us at 2pm online for another exciting workshop exploring form and formal poetry.

Grab your tickets here:

Unlock new ways of writing by joining us for this workshop series all about writing poetry in form!

09/06/2026

We return to form-land on Saturday - where a poem can be any shape it wants to be, even an octagon!

Whether you're new to poetry or have written for years, you've probably got a relationship to form - perhaps you feel it is restrictive, or maybe it helps provide a container for your work.

Every month, a group of writers get together online to explore a new form, read an example poem, and write their own work in that shape. It's a great way to carve out some time for writing - and a supportive environment to try something new.

Join us at The Shape Of Poetry, 2pm Saturday 13th, online. Use this link to book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-of-poetry-workshop-series-tickets-886344429047.

Unlock new ways of writing by joining us for this workshop series all about writing poetry in form!

07/06/2026

Final reminder for Getting Started With Poetry, which returns TOMORROW at 7pm in The Community Works (21 Park End St, OX1 1HH). This is a guided workshop for those just beginning to ... well... get started. Come along and join a fantastic community of writers.

The workshop is entirely free, but we ask that you register to keep track of numbers here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/getting-started-with-poetry-tickets-879008186147?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&_gl=1*1ks37db*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzI2NjkwNDA2LjE3ODA2NTIxMTA.*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*czE3ODA2NTIxMDkkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODA2NTIxMDkkajYwJGwwJGgw

06/06/2026

Why is a sonnet like an optical illusion?

William Wootten says that unlike other poetic forms, sonnets are "like those pictures that can be seen as either a duck or rabbit" - their form is at once incedental and essential. That sonnets carry a "sonnetish" set of tropes and expectations, but can be presented or disguised in many different ways. Fascinating...

In The Shape Of Poetry, OPL's premier online workshop series, you too can learn to write a duck-rabbits, manticores, and other poetical chimerae! Each month, we pick a new form and explore it through an example poem, then write our own versions, with no pressure to share.

Whether you're an expert sonnetteer or you've never even seen a ghazal, join us next Saturday at 2pm for our latest workshop! Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-of-poetry-workshop-series-tickets-886344429047

05/06/2026

Reminder that Getting Started With Poetry returns on MONDAY at 7pm in The Community Works! All beginners are welcome to this FREE workshop series introducing some tools of the trade for writing verse. Make sure you register at the link below to come!

A workshop for anyone new to writing poems.

01/06/2026

TOMORROW! TIJTS returns with brilliant TS Eliot prize-nominated poet Daniel Sluman on the theme of 'intimacy' — unwrap your hearts! Details, as ever, here: https://oxfordpoetrylibrary.com/event/this-just-to-say-spoken-word-open-mic/

But, as ever, performers go free, otherwise attendance is £5/£2 concessions. And a note that if you attended last month's open mic, you're very welcome to attend, but we ask that you sit this one out from performing (and you'll be welcome back to read in July!). See you there!!

Oxford Poetry Library presents a spoken word open mic night! Join us in the library on the first Tuesday of every month to enjoy all manner of word-weaving, story-sharing, and spell-casting. We wel…