LINE-UP 15th-19th Feb
In-person Tickets & Passes
Online-Only Tickets & Pass
FESTIVAL PASS
The best value way to get the most out of Verve Poetry Festival
access to all events except workshops
access to all livestreamed events
access to recordings of non-streamed events
DAY PASSES
Passes for Saturday & Sunday
access to all events on that day
access to all livestreamed events on that day
access to recordings of all non-streamed events
ONLINE PASS
Access to our whole Digital Festival
access to all livestreamed events
access to recordings of all non-streamed events
Download the VERVE 2023 Programme PDF
15
February
2023
VERVE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOLS SLAM FINAL: Hosted by Spoz Poet7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
Opening #VERVE2023 is our second Birmingam Schools Slam Final! We’ve invited fifteen local Primary Schools to bring a team of their best poets to this exciting competition hosted and facilitated […]
£5.00
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16
February
2023
2023 Rathbones Folio Prize Poetry Shortlist Event: Hosted by Jackie Kay6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
Meet the poets shortlisted for the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize in this unique panel event hosted by Jackie Kay, acclaimed poet and author and one of this year’s judging panel. […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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16
February
2023
VERVE Poetry Night Special – Spoken Word and Music Night hosted by Sam J Grudgings7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
Introducing the festival special of our quarterly VERVE Poetry Night, with all its usual fun, energy and bombast, its plentiful featured poets and its numerous open mic slots.Joining regular host […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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17
February
2023
Helen Calcutt Workshop – Owning it1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Workshop Room 1,
‘Why not say what happened?’ – Robert Lowell Drawing on themes from her next collection, Helen’s workshop will encourage you to write honestly from life’s experiences, and see them as […]
£12.50 – £16.50
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17
February
2023
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan Workshop: Writing as Resistance1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Workshop Room 2,
Join Suhaiymah in a workshop where we will consider the power of writing as resistance. In this time of worldwide violence and oppression as the consequences of capitalism, racism, misogyny, […]
£12.50 – £16.50
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17
February
2023
Helen Mort Workshop: Metaphors We Live By: finding themes and images that inspire you3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Workshop Room 1,
Helen Mort’s latest collection The Illustrated Woman (2022) uses the metaphor of tattooing to explore the agency we have over our bodies and the difference between how we want to […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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17
February
2023
Will Harris Workshop: Sounds of Words / Words of Sounds4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Workshop Room 2,
A communal workshop playing with – and stretching – the links between objects, words and sounds, in which we’ll share stories, listen closely to things, and stay as close as […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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17
February
2023
Friday Night Headline Event: Jay Gao, Will Harris, Denise Saul7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
Our regular Friday evening poetry headline event features three incredible contempory poets. Edinburgh born US based Jay Gao’s debut full collection Imperium (Carcanet, 2022) follows his New Poetry Prize-winning pamphlet […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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17
February
2023
VERVE Poetry Film Night hosted by Paul Stringer9:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
This year we are having our first poetry film night at VERVE! What’s better than sitting in the dark with your feet up being drawn into the visual masterpieces that […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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18
February
2023
Helen Mort Young Person’s Workshop: Having Fun With Poetry (13-19)9:30 am – 11:00 am
Workshop Room 1,
It’s easy to get bogged down in metaphors and punctuation, poetic form and technique. So in this workshop with Helen Mort, we’ll simply be having fun with poetry. Helen will […]
Free
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18
February
2023
Jennifer Wong Workshop: Writing Mothers10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Workshop Room 2,
What do we talk about when we talk about mothers? How does one begin to articulate one’s closeness or distance with the mother, and the changing identities and understanding? In […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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18
February
2023
Poetry Society Young Poets Takeover: incl young person’s open mic!11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Takeovers are a space for up-and-coming young poets and performers to meet one another and share their work on stage. This Takeover will be hosted […]
Free
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18
February
2023
All Day Open Mic11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Podium Event Space,
A dedicated space where anyone can share their poetry – whether you’ve just written it in a workshop or been sitting on it for years, we want to hear it! […]
Free
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18
February
2023
Scarlett Ward Workshop – A monster in the shape of a woman: poetic retellings of mythological female figures12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Workshop Room 1,
A poetry writing workshop that examines the presentation of women figures in retellings of mythology. From witches to goddesses, female archetypes have served to perpetuate patriarchal stereotypes and dictate the […]
£12.50 – £16.50
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18
February
2023
Kathy Pimlott Workshop – Making the Everyday Sing12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Workshop Room 2,
In this generative workshop we’ll look at how very familiar everyday material – kitchen utensils, shops, routine tasks – can become the launchpad into meditations on love, life, death and […]
£12.50 – £16.50
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18
February
2023
Fourth Verve Poetry Performance Lecture – Nick Makoha12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
What do you know about Basquiat? What do you know about Icarus? What do you know about the Entebbe hijacking in 1976? In this year’s Performance-Lecture, Nick Makoha fuses these […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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18
February
2023
Harana Poetry LIVE hosted by Kostya Tsolakis2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
What would a poetry magazine look like if it was put on a stage? Well, this year we have invited the wonderful Harana Poetry (the online magazine for poets writing […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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18
February
2023
Kim Moore Workshop – The Personal is Political2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Workshop Room 1,
If a poem is described as ‘political’, this often conjures up the idea of a rant in the shape of a poem, with the control of language slipping away from […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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18
February
2023
Nick Makoha Workshop – The Prose Poetry Lab3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Workshop Room 2,
We will be testing language in the poetic realm. Focus will be placed on getting the work to a high standard that is of publishable quality. If you are working […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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18
February
2023
The VERVE Long Poem with Wayne Holloway-Smith4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
We’re proud to bring you the first of what will be an annual event at VERVE – our new Long Poem Event, which will feature one of our favourite poets […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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18
February
2023
Saturday Night Headline Event: Imtiaz Dharker, Helen Mort, Hannah Sullivan5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
This year’s Saturday evening headline features three incredible poets, all giants in their way on the contemporary UK poetry scene. We’re thrilled to welcome Queen’s gold medalist for poetry Imtiaz […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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18
February
2023
Kevin P. Gilday’s Saturday Night Stramash7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
Join award-winning poet Kevin P. Gilday for a night of riotous entertainment from North of the border. Kevin has curated a Caledonian cabaret of Scottish delights featuring poetry, comedy and […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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19
February
2023
Jay Gao Workshop – Writing Trees & Arboreal Poetics10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Workshop Room 1,
In this workshop we will explore how poets have responded to the verdant variousness of trees. We will think about trees ecologically, but also consider how trees might define limits […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
Liz Berry Workshop – Family Tree10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Workshop Room 2,
How can we use poems to tell the stories of our family? Join Liz Berry for a workshop about lifting your family history to the light with sensitivity and nuance. […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
- BSL Interpreted
- Livestreamed
- VERVE 2023
- VERVE 2023 Poetry
- VERVE 2023 Special Events
- VERVE 2023 Spoken Word
The Verve Poetry Festival Competition Event: Protest hosted by Kim Moore.11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
The Verve Competition on the Theme of Protest opened for entries from Nov 14 2022 to Jan 2 2023, judged by the wonderful Kim Moore. This FREE to attend event […]
Free
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19
February
2023
Burning Eye Books Workshop – How to Become a Published Poet12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Workshop Room 1,
Burning Eye editors Bridget Hart and Clive Birnie demystify the process of becoming a published poet. The workshop will include practical guides and case studies looking at what different editors […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
Jenny Mitchell Workshop – Poetry and Freedom1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Workshop Room 2,
Award-winning writer Jenny Mitchell will facilitate a supportive, creative session that looks at how we write about the elusive concept of Freedom. Why would we want/need to do this? What […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
100 Queer Poems: Hosted by Andrew McMillan and Mary Jean Chan1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
Hear poets from the acclaimed 100 Queer Poems (Vintage, 2022) anthology, including editors Andrew McMillan and Mary Jean Chan read their own and other work from this important work! Featuring […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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19
February
2023
Imogen Stirling Poetry Show: Love The Sinner3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Patrick Studio,
Hailed as a ‘lyrical genius’ by Benjamin Zephaniah, Imogen Stirling’s writing crackles on and off the page. This award-winning performance poet teams up with composer and multi-media artist Sonia Killman, […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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19
February
2023
Gregory Leadbetter Workshop – Writing In Concert with the Wild.3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Workshop Room 1,
In this workshop we’ll explore the poem as a wild place, and the relationship between poetry and the wild life beyond ourselves and our control.How can the will of the […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
Andrew McMillan Workshop – Beyond 100 Queer Poems3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Workshop Room 2,
Using some of the poems from the acclaimed 100 Queer Poems, join co-editor Andrew McMillan to do some writing and breathe new life into your work. Andrew McMillan’s three collections […]
£16.50 – £22.50
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19
February
2023
Burning Eye Books Showcase hosted by Bridget Hart and Clive Birnie.4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
Bristol Based Burning Eye Books are the UK’s top indie publisher of performance poetry. Returning for their third VERVE showcase, we are delighted to welcome Burning Eye editors Bridget Hart […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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19
February
2023
Sunday Night Headline Event: Zaffar Kunial, Gregory Leadbetter, Jenny Mitchell7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Patrick Studio,
Our final headline event of the weekend brings three wonderful poets together to read and talk about their work. Birmingham born Zaffar Kunial’s second collection England’s Green (Faber, 2022) has […]
£4.50 – £6.50
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