Poetry, Style and Verse

Speakers have been confirmed for the WGGB Poetry Style and Verse event on Tuesday, 4th September 2007.

The evening will be chaired by Guild member and poet Alan Brownjohn. A regular broadcaster, reviewer and contributor to journals including the Times Literary Supplement, Encounter and the Sunday Times, Alan was poetry critic for the New Statesman and was Chairman of the Poetry Society between 1982 and 1988. He has also served on the Arts Council literature panel, was a Labour councillor and a candidate for Parliament. His first collection of poetry, The Railings, was published in 1961. Alan’s most recent collection of poetry is The Men Around Her Bed (2004). A Collected Poems was published in 2006.

The other panellists will include, in alphabetical order:

Guild member, Leo Aylen has had three solo shows devoted to him as poet-performer on American nationwide TV (CBS), eight collections of poetry published, the latest Dancing the Impossible: New & Selected Poems; also published in about 100 anthologies. For more information about Leo, please go to: www.leoaylen.com

Poet, Jonzi D has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and Channel 4's Faking It. He has worked with numerous artists including The Roots, Steve Williamson, Mannafest, MC Mell 'O' and toured with Gangstar. He also runs Jonzi D productions, an associate company of Sadlers Wells. For more information please go to: www.jonzi-d.co.uk

Guild member, David Morgan has travelled all over the northern hemisphere as a street musician and performance poet. He has won numerous slam poetry competitions, including the London Slam Championship, the UK Champions Slam and was voted the UK's best slam performer of 2004 by the 4,000 members of the Farrago Slam Poetry list.

Poet, OneNess was nominated for Best Black female poet of 2005 by Black Women in the Arts and was hailed in the New Nation Newspaper as being one of the top 5 poets of 2005. OneNess has appeared on BBC Radio 4 series Bespoken Word. As a member of London’s finest poetry collective the ‘Best Kept Secret’, OneNess became the first person out side of the USA to win a prize at The Toronto International Poetry Slam, whilst the collective were on tour in Canada. She was awarded third place.

Dr Peter Sansom, will join the panel on behalf of Bloodaxe books. Peter is author of Bloodaxe's handbook Writing Poems. He is a Carcanet poet, director of the Poetry Business and editor of The North and Smith/Doorstop Books in Huddersfield. Bloodaxe books is an independent literary publishing house, founded in Newcastle in 1978 by Neil Astley joined in 1982 by Chairman Simon Thirsk. For more information about Bloodaxe Publishers go to: www.bloodaxebooks.com/about.asp or for further info on the Poetry Business go to: www.poetrybusiness.co.uk

The event will be held at the Writers’ Guild Centre on Tuesday, 4th September 2007 from 7pm – 9:30pm. If you want to find out more about the different styles of poetry and are interested in becoming part of the poetry scene then come along. Poetry, Style and Verse will help demystify the new, emerging as well as traditional poetry forms. The evening will involve a panel discussion which will be followed by individual performances from the panel members.

Tickets will cost £5 for Guild members and £7.50 for non-members. Please join us afterwards for a complimentary glass of wine and a chance to mingle with fellow guests.

Places are limited so please book in advance If you would like to attend this exciting poetry event please send a cheque payable to the Writers' Guild, to ‘Poetry Event ’, Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 15-17 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JN