Seamus Heaney - The Poetry Prom - audience Vox Pop

Over 800 people enjoyed an evening in the extraordinarily good company of Seamus Heaney at the 2010 Poetry Prom in August. For those who weren't able to attend in person and for those who want to relive the night a new podcast will soon be available on The Poetry Channel featuring highlights of the evening. Enjoy this taster/teaser(!) of an audience Vox Pop following the reading.

Poem Show summer special

We're having our own Fringe Festival on The Poetry Channel this August with a new Poem Show celebrating three of the UK's most entertaining poets. Enjoy the late, great Adrian Mitchell with ‘A Puppy Called Puberty' - which was premiered at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2005 on R4's Kaleidoscope (back in those pre-Front Row days) and ended up on BBC Pick-of-the-Year. Matt Harvey celebrates the joys of office pilfering in his hilarious poem ‘Works Perks' and Helena Nelson - finds more words to rhyme with banana than you would think possible in a poem originally recorded at her triumphant Poetry Prom in 2007.

All the latest from the Bard of Wimbledon

Join the Bard of Wimbledon - Matt Harvey - as he reflects on the great British sport of queuing and takes a look at the tennis as well. Amidst the sound of popping champagne corks and the thwok of balls he "inflicts his poetry - in a well meaning sort of way" on the fans at SW19.

Join Wimbledon Poet Matt Harvey on Henman Hill

Is it Henman Hill or Murray Mound? As Matt Harvey, the first Wimbledon Championships Poet, says 'hills are fickle features'. Join Matt as he reads 'thowk' - fast becoming the fans favourite Wimbledon poem.

The inside story of Afrikaans with pioneering poet Antjie Krog

South African poet Antjie Krog condenses 100 years of South African history and the poetic tradition of Afrikaans into an extraordinary 15-minute snapshot. An edited version of a talk given by Antjie Krog at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. For non-football fans it will offer 15 minutes (we're sorry it's not 90!) of welcome relief over the next month. And for those keenly focused on South Africa it provides the perfect historical and linguistic context and illustrates just why this World Cup is so special.

Wimbledon Championships Poet 2010

Wimbledon, in collaboration with The Poetry Trust, has for the first time appointed a ‘Championships Poet' to capture the flavour and fervour of the world's leading tennis tournament. Join Matt Harvey as he explores Wimbledon, shares his excitement and reads his ‘Grandest of Slams' poem for the first time.

The Poem Show American Special

This episode of the Poem Show celebrates The Poetry Trust's love of American poets. The Poetry Trust has a long tradition of showcasing American poets at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. This show features live-recordings from Aldeburgh. Enjoy the droll black comedy of Mark Halliday's ‘Soul on a Bench', the exceptional quality of stillness in Jane Hirshfield's ‘Three Foxes by the Edge of the Field at Twilight' and the moving exploration of the human condition in Thomas Lux's ‘The People of the Other Village'.

Aldeburgh Conversation: Philip Levine (American National Poetry Month Series)

Born in 1928 in industrial Detroit, Philip Levine's familial, social and economic portrait of working class America has left a monumental testimony on mid-20th century American life. His poetry of the assembly line finds a ‘voice for the voiceless'. In this reflective interview, recorded following his captivating reading at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Levine discusses finding his true subject through years of industrial labour and regrets the absence of politics in the writing of today's young poets.

Aldeburgh Conversation: Albert Goldbarth (American National Poetry Month Series)

Enjoy the phenomenal Albert Goldbarth discussing the role of the poet as a ‘conservator of ideas' against the ‘depredations of time'. In a reflective interview recorded during the 2009 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Goldbarth considers live readings versus page poems, enthuses about poets who inspire him, and explains why he's never touched a computer keyboard in his life.

Aldeburgh Conversation: Sharon Olds (American National Poetry Month)

Enjoy the inspirational Sharon Olds in conversation with British poet Michael Laskey - founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. In this reflective interview, Olds talks about choosing poetry over prose so as not to have to ‘make things up', how the 1960s women's movement influenced her writing and how poetry is the place where you can say the unsayable.

The Female Poem – does it exist?

To mark International Women's Day 2010 - Monday 8 March - we've produced a new podcast on The Female Poem. This is an edited version of the lively and wide-ranging discussion chaired by Jo Shapcott during the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival 2009. Enjoy Maureen Duffy, Pascale Petit and Annie Freud discuss, amongst other things, the horror of being labelled a ‘female poet', whether the male poem is the default position, the importance of ‘outsider art', why ‘miserable guys stalk the poetic world' and whether Donne, Keats and Wyatt wrote ‘female' poems.

The Female Poem discussion at The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival was supported by The Poetry Society

Aldeburgh Conversation: Jamie McKendrick - the art of poetry translation

Jamie McKendrick is the translator of the pre-eminent Italian poet Valerio Magrelli. In this meditative conversation with Robert Seatter he suggests that translation involves revealing the language within the language and immersing yourself in the unique and distinct tongue of the individual writer.

Aldeburgh Conversation: Sasha Dugdale - the art of poetry translation

Sasha Dugdale has won huge acclaim for her translations of Elena Shvarts, one of Russia's greatest contemporary poets. With Robert Seatter she discusses how Shvarts's extraordinarily eccentric view of the world has influenced her own poetry.

Aldeburgh Backchat 9: Roger Robinson

Revealing insights from Trinidadian writer Roger Robinson who reflects on his inspirational father, his outstanding teachers and the thorny issue of cultural diversity in contemporary poetry. He also talks about finding the right place to write and the importance of ‘just writing, not judging' in the first instance.

Aldeburgh Conversation: Maureen Duffy

One of the UK's most versatile writers with over half a century of work, Maureen Duffy is a respected poet, novelist, playwright and biographer. Here she talks to Robert Seatter about the ‘constant beacon of Sappho', her ‘immense identification with Keats', and finding ‘the female muse' through love poetry.

Aldeburgh Backchat 8: Ciaran Berry

Last year's winner of the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize discusses the experience of devising a first collection and how he plans to spend his ‘protected' writing time - a unique feature of this national poetry prize. He also considers the cultural traditions and interplay of poetry between Ireland, the USA and the UK.

Interview with Sharon Olds

In Suffolk to read at the Poetry Prom in August 2009, Sharon Olds discussed her journey as a writer with fellow poet and founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Michael Laskey.

Aldeburgh Craft Talk: Mimi Khalvati

The Line Break
Mimi Khalvati takes a whistle-stop tour of the line break - its power and how to employ and enjoy this most visible distinction between poetry and prose.

The Poetry Prom Poets

The Poetry Trust's Naomi Jaffa and Dean Parkin discuss this year's Poetry Prom and introduce poems by the three poets taking part - Alan Brownjohn, Finuala Dowling and Sharon Olds.

Aldeburgh Backchat 6: Barbara Hamby

Behind the scenes interview with Barbara Hamby at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Aldeburgh Backchat 7: Dennis O’Driscoll

Behind the scenes interview with Dennis O'Driscoll at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Aldeburgh Backchat 5: Clive James

Clive James on the Festival, The Poetry Channel and the importance of the poem. Interviewed by Poetry Trust director Naomi Jaffa.

The Write Stuff - The Jerwood Aldeburgh Seminar

In March 2009, eight poets retreat to a house in the heart of Suffolk for a week of workshops and one-to-ones, helping them to develop their next collection. Nick Patrick investigates...

Aldeburgh Backchat 4: Ellen Phethean

Behind the scenes interview with Ellen Phethean at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Poem Show 3: Family Inheritance

I COME FROM by Robert Seatter

GENETICS by Sinéad Morrissey

SOME NIGHT BY CHANCE by Peter Sansom

Poem Show 2: Our Dangerous Age

IT'S ALSO FINE by Mourid Barghouti

FLINN ON THE BUS by Naomi Shihab Nye

REVENGE by Taha Muhammad Ali with Peter Cole

Aldeburgh Backchat 3: George Szirtes

Behind the scenes interview with George Szirtes at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Aldeburgh Backchat 2: Mimi Khalvati

Behind the scenes interview with Mimi Khalvati at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Aldeburgh Backchat 1: Tiffany Atkinson

Behind the scenes interview with Tiffany Atkinson at the 2008 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

Poem Show 1: Aldeburgh Highlights 2008

BAD KARAOKE by Tiffany Atkinson

LUDBROOKE HIS CHIVALRY by Alan Brownjohn

GHAZAL: IT'S HEARTACHE by Mimi Khalvati