Coffee-House Poetry : Readings, Classes, Prizes

Poetry Readings, Classes and Prizes at the Troubadour: 263-267 Old Brompton Road, London SW5

“… life, literature, and the pursuit of happiness in the famous Troubadour cellar-club, London’s liveliest and best–loved poetry landmark since the 1950s …”

Former US Poet-Laureate Billy Collins on the Troubadour’s 60th birthday as a writer’s café…

Thanks to the zeal of its many managers and promoters, the Troubadour has evolved over its 60 year history from a hidden-away beatnik coffee house to a world famous center for the performance of music and poetry. Its walls have become storied, and if only the place had halls, they would be hallowed. The Troubadour was the scene of the first reading I gave in the UK, and I count myself among the long line of poets who are eager to return and darken its doorway again.

welcome

from Coffee-House Poetry organiser, Anne-Marie Fyfe

What an end to a poetry-packed (& superbly supported!) season with so many dazzling new technicolour poems from Troubadour poets in our end-of-season Over The Rainbow poetry-party & outstanding poems from our Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2019 winners & commendeds with top prize going to Michaela Coplen (receiving her £2,000 cheque in pic above).

Great to have a chance to meet some of the poets behind the poems over which Pat Boran & Kathryn Maris have deliberated since the deadline. Given the winners’ geographical spread from Limerick to Lewes to Orkney to Edmonton & Virginia, not all winners could attend but you can read the full winners-&-commendeds list, and their poems, & Kathryn’s & Pat’s illuminating thoughts on the judging process on our poems page.

Look out for next year’s prize news, & events, workshops (some already listed) & our summer course (on classes page) & if you haven’t already, do sign up for our Coffee-House Poetry newsletter.

All best wishes for a great Christmas & New Year!

classes & courses

sundays 12-4 pm: £35 at the troubadour

advance booking only via PayPal or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP
sun 24 nov & sun 8 dec, 12—4pm: memory cloud#2: house — the home movie, poetry workshop with anne-marie fyfe
* sun 19 jan & sun 2 feb, 12—4pm: memory cloud#2: house — the home movie, poetry workshop with anne-marie fyfe
mon 10—sat 15 aug 2020 summer poetry in the glens of antrim with anne-marie fyfe & cahal dallat

See full details of classes and workshops

next event

mondays 8-10 pm, £7 at the troubadour

for advance booking: pay via PayPal or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry, PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP

mon 2 dec: over the rainbow, a multi-coloured end-of-season poetry-party celebration

Red wheelbarrows, white chickens, blue Mondays, scarlet letters, red, red roses, pink panthers, purple rain, indigo moods, yellow wallpaper, scarlet ribbons, silver spurs, lapis lazuli, white cliffs, red October, green gables, blue murder, rose-red cities, green eggs and ham, whiter shades of pale, crimson petals, green tomatoes… novelists, film-makers, songsters & poets play with a seemingly infinite & dazzling colour-spectrum!

Come along and hear the primary colours or subtle shades that our invited guest poets have come up with: specially written or selected from their shelves, to celebrate the end of a colourful season with a hint of this, a dash of that, all with a splash of colour to enliven our poetry carnival – with a know-your-colourchart quiz to test your wits & take-home prizes in red & white!

#poetrymondays - oct-dec 2019

mondays 8-10 pm, £7 at the troubadour

for advance booking: pay via PayPal (on readings page) or cheque to Coffee-House Poetry at PO Box 16210, LONDON W4 1ZP

mon 21 oct: october revelations with richard scott, rebecca perry, hannah sullivan & lisa kelly plus 20 troubadours with new odes to autumn
mon 4 nov: behind the blue door with blue door press poets pamela johnson, jennifer grigg & jane kirwan, plus 20 troubadours with new poems on the subject of doors
mon 18 nov: what we should have said: an entertaining, enlightening, innovative & unpredictable spoken-word shindig with stephen sexton, greta stoddart, richard douglas pennant, stuart silver & peter foggitt plus, before the break, 20 troubadours with new poems on the theme of words, spoken or unspoken
mon 2 dec: over the rainbow, a multi-coloured end-of-season poetry-party celebration

See full details of poetry readings