poetry
In this collection
Highlights
(Tree inspired) Hidden Garden haiku walkshop – SE1
Celebrating trees as part of the Urban Tree Festival, a 90 minute walkshop (workshop on foot) in which you discover all of Britain’s native trees, all within one park, and visit London’s most iconic peace garden. Together we will compose and recite haiku – 3 lined short poem usually associated with Japanese culture. Novice or expert,
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Poetry Pilgrims
We are delighted to announce the winner and runner-up in the first chapter of our year-long On Pilgrimage poetry competition. Each quarter beginning in February this year, we have a new theme and new volunteer judges, and our first quarter theme of Solvitur Ambulando was chosen by judge Electra Rhodes. She was joined in the
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Hidden Garden Haiku creative writing walkshop – City of London – East
Celebrating trees as part of the Urban Tree Festival, a 90 minute walkshop in which you discover hidden gardens minutes from the Monument, in the City of London. Together we will compose and recite haiku – 3 lined short poem usually associated with Japanese culture. Novice or expert, join in this fun walking activity in
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Counter-Narratives You Have to Walk To
Recently, we integrated the OVERHEAR API into our Museum of Walking, making it easy for creators using OVERHEAR to include their work into our archives. Here’s Kibriya Mehrban talking about her experience as part of the app’s core team. OVERHEAR a free app that hosts a large variety of audio, from poetry to oral histories
Books
Walking pieces
Dove Cottage
Mike Collier’s works at Dove Cottage transform Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals into abstract visuals, highlighting her walks through the Lake District. Using pastels and text, he maps her movements, rhythms, and observations, linking walking with poetic and artistic expression.
Wolverhampton Literature Festival
Wolverhampton Literature Festival was a vibrant annual event celebrating literature, poetry, music, and the arts. In 2020, the festival partnered with OVERHEAR to commission ten local poets to write about ten beloved independent city venues in Wolverhampton. These poems were recorded and virtually “pinned” to their respective locations, allowing festival-goers to discover and collect them
Birmingham Literature Festival
In Autumn 2018, we worked in collaboration with Birmingham Literature Festival to add a little something extra to their programme. We commissioned 12 writers to create bespoke poems (and one short story!) inspired by venues around the city centre, where BLF were hosting events.
Statues Workshop
When protestors in Bristol brought down a monument to slave trader Edward Colston in their city, it sparked a national conversation about the value and purpose of public art in our lives. Given that Overhear is all about giving people the power to write their own narratives onto their spaces, we thought it was the
Articles on WLC
Poetry on Pilgrimage
We have been on the ‘look-out’ for a poetry competition or prize that is exclusively focused on walking and to date we haven’t found one (apart from our own). The poetry universe is huge, there are prizes awarded for hundreds of themes, and many of the more general ones have chosen walking as a theme
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Poet Open Call with Kinetika’s T100
Applications are open for a poet commission as part of the 2026 T100 Festival, Seeing Thurrock Differently: A Journey Home. The festival celebrates Thurrock’s landscapes, stories and communities, inviting people to reflect on belonging and what it means to call a place home. We are looking for a poet with experience of community-engaged practice and a
Walking Writers who Shine In the Dark
Penny Walker for her story Seeing the Moon and Elizabeth Fevyer for her poem Nightstepper are the winners of our annual Write About Walking competition, collecting the prize of becoming our writers-in-residence for 2025/26. Poetry judge and out-going poet-in-residence, Damaris West commented on the poetry entries: “Judging the ‘In the dark’ competition was not an
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Draped in Darkness
We are delighted to announce the short listed entries in our annual Write About Walking writing competition that this year, had a theme of “Walking In The Dark” in support of the global action “Women walking, the City, at Night“. Fourteen poems and stories from eleven writers were chosen by the judges, and will be
• Articles elsewhere
A Charity Readathon
Hello. At 17:00 today I am reading some of my walking poetry (for 15 minutes) as part of a 24hr charity Readathon at Jesmond Library. Donations are split 50:50 between the library and the National Literacy Trust (https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/readathon?utm_medium=CA&utm_source=CL). The whole … Continue reading →
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2026 First First Sunday on January 4th
Dear friends and loiterers The LRM will gather for a wander on the First First Sunday of 2026 – Sunday January 4th. Join us 2pm outside Manchester Central Library where we will go for a walk together that maybe, just maybe, will help make the year be...
Events
Hidden Garden Haiku walkshop – Holland Park
Celebrating trees as part of the Urban Tree Festival, a 90 minute walkshop (workshop on foot) in which you discover not one but two Japanese Gardens. Together we will compose and recite haiku – 3 lined short poem usually associated with Japanese culture. Novice or expert, join in this fun walking activity in which you get
• Hidden Garden Haiku creative writing walkshop – City of London
Celebrating Trees as part of the Urban Tree Festival and sponsored by the City of London, a 75 minute walkshop (workshop on foot) in which you discover hidden gardens minutes from St Paul’s, in the City of London. Together we will compose and recite haiku – 3 lined short poem usually associated with Japanese culture.
• Write About Walking In The Dark Showcase
Write About Walking In The Dark Showcase event introduces new writing from 11 shortlisted authors of the walk · listen · create annual writing competition and includes readings of their poetry and prose. Erin Bondo, Krista Carson, Paul Connolly, Elizabeth Fevyer, Eleanor Holmes, Sarah Leavesley/James, Rosaleen Lynch, Isabella Mead Husain, Laura Theis, Penny Walker, and Emily Wilkinson. We are delighted that author and poet Electra
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+10 Women Walking in the Woods from Twilight to Moonlight
2025 is the 20th anniversary of events in The Boreal Poetry Garden in Portugal Cove. To celebrate, Marlene Creates and Paula Courage will guide 4 night walks in the boreal forest just for girls and women. Wednesday July 9 and Thursday July 10 at 8:30 pm (NDT) in conjunction with the Night of the Birds Shed Feathers
Videos
Links
V Press
Sarah James
Poetry blog
