Poetry Has Plenty To Say: Liverpool Poetry Space Looks Ahead To An Autumn Of Words, Voices And Collaboration

Steve Kinrade17/08/2026

0 3 minutes read

Poetry can sometimes be made to sound like a rather serious business. Books arrive with solemn covers, readings take place in hushed rooms and the word poetry itself can still carry the slightly intimidating suggestion that somebody, somewhere, is about to make you feel inadequately educated. But as you know, Liverpool has never been particularly good at that sort of thing. And this autumn, Liverpool Poetry Space is offering another reminder that poetry can be intimate, political, funny, experimental, international, communal and, most importantly, alive.

Its 2026 programme brings together a series of events which, taken individually, offer plenty to interest the poetry regular, but collectively reveal something more compelling about the city’s literary culture. From the annual celebration of a much-loved Merseyside poet to international collaborations, new collections, community readings and a former Dutch Poet Laureate, the programme crosses borders without losing its sense of place.

It begins on 1 September at The Bluecoat with the Matt Simpson Annual Reading, when widely published poet Ian Seed comes to Liverpool to share his work and celebrate the legacy of Simpson. Seed’s most recent publication is Forgetfulness, published by Shearsman this year, while his substantial body of work also includes poetry, translation and the TLS Book of the Year New York Hotel. He was also a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Liverpool between 2023 and 2025.

The event carries particular resonance because Matt Simpson was himself born in Bootle and spent three decades as a Senior Lecturer in English at Liverpool Hope University. The annual reading has become a way of keeping that connection alive, with previous participants including George Szirtes, Liz Berry, Helen Mort, Kayo Chingonyi, Seán Hewitt, Janette Ayachi and Deryn Rees-Jones.

Then, on 12 September, Liverpool Poetry Space moves into the beautiful surroundings of the Hornby Library for an event celebrating Seán Street’s eightieth year and the launch of his fifteenth collection, Candlelight. Street’s career has stretched across poetry, radio and sound, and his latest collection follows a journey from loss and darkness towards reflection, understanding and acceptance. He has lived in Liverpool for many years, making this another event where the international and the local happily overlap.

But it is October is where things become particularly busy. National Poetry Day on 1 October will see Liverpool readers and poets gathering in the Hornby Library from morning until late afternoon to share their work. Following Liverpool Poetry Space’s successful community event for World Poetry Day in March, The Wonder of Liverpool is an opportunity for voices from across the city to occupy the same room. Poetry, after all, doesn’t belong exclusively to those with books on shelves.

That evening, the Hornby Library hosts the launch of new collections by Melissa Grindon and Jack Bennett. Grindon’s second collection, Dear You, (Never Delivered), is due in September. She also was a participant of Liverpool Noise’s very own poetry project, 52 for 26. Manchester-based Bennett brings The Psamathe Centre Journal, his first full poetry collection, to Liverpool.

And then, on 4 October, poetry becomes something rather more experimental at Open Eye Gallery as Liverpool hosts the European Poetry Festival’s Liverpool Camarade. Poets from Norway, Austria, Czechia and beyond will work in pairs to create brand new pieces of live literature specifically for the event, alongside poets from the Liverpool scene. The idea is less about standing behind a lectern and reading something you’ve already written and more about collaboration, risk and seeing what happens when different literary voices collide. However, this event has already sold out.

The 2026 autumn programme concludes at The Bluecoat on 19 November with former Dutch Poet Laureate Anne Vegter, alongside translator Astrid Alben, presenting Pig Data. Winner of the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize, Vegter’s work is described as playful, erotic, enigmatic and disturbing — which sounds considerably more interesting than poetry being merely “nice”. Alben’s translation work also brings another dimension to the evening, demonstrating how poems can cross languages without losing their ability to surprise.

Taken together, these events suggest that Liverpool Poetry Space understands something important: poetry isn’t one thing. It is inheritance and experimentation. It is the established poet and the first collection. It is Liverpool voices alongside writers arriving from elsewhere. It is something to be read privately, but also something to be performed, translated, shared and made collectively. And perhaps that is why this autumn programme feels so encouraging. Poetry in Liverpool isn’t sitting quietly in the corner waiting to be discovered.