What's on at this year's festival
Launch Party
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
Join us on Sunday 30 June at 3.30pm
- Rope Walks Square, Bold Street
Poetry Zine Launch • Poetry Bike Tour • Food and drinks!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
Tuesday 2 July
7pm at Shakespeare North Playhouse
We're back at Shakespeare North Playhouse for the second year as they host Semi Final 1. Come along and watch the semifinalists battle it out for the spaces in the final.
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
Thursday 4 July
7pm at Everyman Theatre
Join us to watch the second semifinal and the FINAL of this exciting Poetry Slam competition.
Come along and watch the semifinalists battle it out for the final. The final will be judged by our panel of experts including last year’s Slam winner Claire Beerjeraz. Expect fun, excitement and laughter (maybe tears) but most of all a night of great poetry!
Queer Bodies Takeover
Queer Bodies Takeover
A Lovely Poetry Slam!
On Saturday 6th July, join Queer Bodies Poetry Collective, for an exciting evening of rap, spoken word, poetry, music and dancing at Quarry!
Featuring notable LGBTQ+ locals & Queer Bodies Graduates, this exciting lineup includes; Alina Burwitz, Felix Mufti, Jay Farley, Peter Scalpello & Jared Vallejo.
Poetry Bike Ride
Queer Bodies Takeover
Poetry Bike Ride
Sunday 30 June
Meeting at The Everyman at 12.45pm
FREE Event - booking required
Join us and Peleton Liverpool, on a Poetry themed bike ride across our lovely city and beyond. With poetry stops on the way, the ride will finish at Ropewalks Square where everyone will be refuelled with Tea and Cake!
Spaces are limited – advance booking required!
Poetry Bike Tour
Queer Bodies Takeover
Poetry Bike Ride
We're sharing our love of poetry! Join our Poetry Bike Tour and hear some amazing poets as they take to the streets of Liverpool.
A Junior Lovely Word
A Junior Lovely Word
A Junior Lovely Word
Join us for the first ever ' A Junior Lovely Word' with the amazing headline poet Dommy B (with Bath Bomb making workshops too!)
Saturday 6 July, 3.30pm at Lush Liverpool
Ages 7 - 12 (accompanied by adult)
Poetry Factory
A Junior Lovely Word
A Junior Lovely Word
Sunday 7 July, 12 – 6pm
The Royal Standard
Join us for a pay what you can Poetry Factory, with pop up performances, editing workshops & panel discussion.
Poetry Zine
A Junior Lovely Word
Poetry Slam Workshop
A Lovely Poetry Zine
This year as part of A Lovely Poetry Festival, we will be creating a zine made up by 20 local Poets to print and publish ahead of our Festival in July.
More info coming soon
Poetry Slam Workshop
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
Poetry Slam Workshop
Slam Poetry Performance Workshop with Claire Beerjeraz
Friday 17th May at Central Library, 5.30 – 7.30pm
Build your performance skills and confidence with previous Slam winner. Open to all (not just Slam applicants!)
To book your place email:
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
Schools are invited to join us at The Florrie for a day of poetry and fun! Michael Rosen will be entertaining us with his hilarious show, performing poetry and handing out writing tips followed by a book signing & Q&A.
Artists in Residence
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
Micheal Rosen – Schools Day
We're excited to announce Queer Bodies as our Artists in Residence. They gave us a brilliant Poetry Zine workshop (March 23rd) and they'll be giving us many other delights!
A Lovely Festival Launch
Join us on Sunday 30 June for the launch of A Lovely Poetry Festival
Where: Rope Walks Square, Bold Street
When: 3.30pm
On Sunday 30 June there will be a poetry themed bike ride leaving from The Everyman (time tbc) travelling around our lovely city. There will be stops on the way where some of our cycling poets will share a poem or two. The ride will finish at Ropewalks Square, off Bold Street where there will be a pop up stage with tons of fabulous poets lined up to entertain you with their words. During the party we will be launching our 'A Lovely Poetry Festival' zine in conjunction with News from Nowhere bookshop. The Zine includes poems written by over 20 local poets. To celebrate the start of our Lovely Poetry Festival we will be giving out free drinks and cakes to all who come to take part.
So come on over and join in the fun!
(More details about how to take part in the Bike Ride to follow)
Queer Bodies Takeover
Saturday 6th July
Cost: £9
Time: 7:30PM DOORS - LATE
Location: Quarry, Liverpool
Join this year’s Artists in Residence, Queer Bodies Poetry Collective, for an exciting evening of rap, spoken word, poetry, music and dancing at Quarry!
Featuring notable LGBTQ+ locals & Queer Bodies Graduates, this exciting lineup includes; Alina Burwitz, Felix Mufti, Jay Farley, Peter Scalpello & Jared Vallejo.
As well as this interstellar lineup, we are also very proud to feature our HEADLINERS in what will be the first ever performance of a brand new commissioned sound piece by local Trans royalty collaborators - Live Artist and Writer, Mandy Romero, and Beat Machine/ Sound Artist extraordinaire, Maeve Devine.
Hosted by Auntie Climax & Day Mattar with de-lightful sets from superstar dj’s Dan Chan & MYOHMY to finish off the night - what more could you want?
About Our Artists in Residence:
Queer Bodies are a poetry collective, run by Day Mattar and Brendan Curtis, who offer writing residencies to members of the LGBTQI+ community based in the North West. We are based in Liverpool, running for 3 years. In this time, we have run two digital writing residencies; Queer Bodies (2020) and Queer Icons (2021), supported by ACE, Homotopia, Metal, WoWFEST and DaDaFest.
Access: We are working on making this event as accessible as possible. The entrance to this venue is wheelchair accessible and Quarry has a disabled toilet. There is a smoking/garden area out back which has step access only. If you have any specific access concerns, please do get in touch with alovelywordbecky@gmail.com
A Lovely Poetry Bike – Tour of the City
Pop up Poetry Performances
Liverpool has a long and proud history of poetry. A Lovely Poetry Festival wants to celebrate this so we have searched high and low and found a wealth of talented poets from across Merseyside. These poets will be taking part in Pop Up performances around the city.
So join our Tour of Liverpool and hear some amazing poets as they take to the streets to share their poetry with the people of Liverpool. Poets will be joining our Poetry bike to take to the stage as it stops for a break!
You can catch the performances on…
Sunday 30th June
1.30pm: The Everyman Theatre
2 – 3pm: Liverpool One (Chevase Park steps on the corner of John Lewis)
3.30 – 4.30 pm: Ropewalks Square, off Bold Street
Saturday 6th July
12 – 1pm: Pier Head, Liverpool
1.30 – 2.30pm: Outside Lush, Church Street
So if you fancy listening to some great poetry whilst traveling around the city make sure you stop by to listen and say Hello!
A Junior Lovely Word
Want to be a part of A Junior Lovely Word?
Saturday 6th July from 3.30pm
at LUSH, Liverpool One
We are looking for young poets between the ages of 7 – 12
· Are you a young poet aged 7 – 12?
· Have you written a poem you would like to share with other like minded people?
· Do you want to be part of the first ever A Junior Lovley Word?
We have the amazing poet Dommy B with us to share his hilarious and brilliant poetry written especially for children. Young poets will also take to the mic to share their own poems with the audience. Everyone who signs up to perform a poem will receive a free goodie bag.
Lush have also organised Bath Bomb making workshops during the afternoon that you can sign up for (timings and details of this to follow).
Be part of the audience. You don’t have to read a poem – just come along to hear some great poetry!
In order to take part please ask a parent, carer or guardian to email
Emma: unusualartsourcingcompany@gmail.com
Please let us know your name and age and give us an idea of how long your poem/poems might be (max 4 minute slot)
All children need to attend with an adult
Poetry Factory
Sunday 7 July, 12 – 6pm at The Royal Standard
Relaxed Poetry Factory, Pop up performance & panel day. Join us for a pay what you can factory event and get creative, meet with experienced poet practitioners and get feedback on your work, be playful, create something new or come along for the social element to hear some lovely poetry!
The Wordsmiths
Amina Atiq & Helen Jeffrey & 1-1 editing workshops with Artists in Residence, Queer Bodies
Performances and screenings
George & Sharon Melling, Bhumika Billa: Poetry Film Screenings, First Take Queer Insight Poetry Films Screening, Blue Saint, Amina Atiq, TReasured (Mandy Romero), Claire Beerjeraz
Poetry Panel
Poetry Panel Discussion: Hosted by Queer Bodies with Blue Saint, Amina Atiq and Mandy Romero.
A Lovely Poetry Slam! 2024
A Lovely Word Poetry Festival is proud to announce its 3rd year of… A LOVELY POETRY SLAM!
Fancy trying your hand at Slam Poetry?! Keen to be part of a community of supportive poets?! Want the chance win up to £300 prize money?!
A Lovely Word Slam 2024 event is back for its third year on the trot. In partnership with the Liverpool Everyman & Shakespeare North Playhouse, we are SUPER excited to announce that submissions for this year’s slam are now open!
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT, MONDAY 27th MAY 2024
Please ensure before applying that you meet all of the below entry requirements:
- Poems performed must NOT have previously won any other competitions of any kind of have been professionally produced/published by A Lovely Word or elsewhere.
- Any poems submitted must NOT exceed the length of 3 minutes.
- You must submit your poem via audio or video.
- Performances must NOT contain any additional effects such as accompanying sound or music, lighting, props or pets!
- Your content must NOT contain or promote hate speech of any kind. This includes Xenophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Ableism and any other ugly obias and isms! Failure to adhere to the content rules will result in your disqualification.
- Your work must be entirely your own, and not a collaborative piece. Your performance must also be entirely your own.
- You may enter the same poem for submission as you would perform in the slam.
- You must be available to perform on both Semi Final & Final dates of the slam: 2nd & 4th July, 2024
- You must be 18+ years old on or before the date of the first Slam (2nd July, 2024) in order to enter.
- You must submit your entry via google form by the deadline: MIDNIGHT, Monday 27th May 2024
If you have issues with uploading material/submitting via google form you can email your submission with your answers to ALL of the below questions in a word document, and your video/audio poem attached via wetransfer by Midnight 27/05/24.
If you have questions about these entry requirements, or your submission, please do not hesitate to contact Becky on alovelywordbecky@gmail.com. You will hear from us with the outcome of your submission no later than 10th June 2024.
Apply Now!
Please use the form (link below) to submit your application to this year’s SLAM and read the entry requirements carefully before you submit to make sure you are eligible.
Schools Day
Sorry this event is sold out!
Schools are invited to join us at The Florrie for a day of poetry and fun! Michael Rosen will be entertaining us with his hilarious show, performing poetry and handing out writing tips followed by a book signing & Q&A. Other events on the day include workshops, storytelling, picnic lunches in the gardens, and a visit to the Poetry Factory to create your own poems.