What's coming up?
Our regular open mic continues
Tuesday 8th July '25​​​
Guest poet:
Pratibha Castle
Come early and bag a slot for the open mic or join our audience and lap up the atmosphere in good company, listening to marvellous poetry from local poets and wordsmiths. All this and more in the wonderful surroundings of The Frontier Bar, Grove Road
Don't miss it!
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It's going to be faaaaab!​
We're open for entries
Play around with a few lines, play the game but don't play for time! We want to read your poems on all things playful!
COMPETITION RULES
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Poems must be written on the theme of ‘PLAY’
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Send entries via email to poetrycafeeb@gmail.com
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Maximum of two entries per person
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Poems should not exceed 30 lines or 300 words
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Each poem should be on a separate page
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No page should identify the author
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Email subject heading should be NPD Competition Entry
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In the body of the email, please state your name, age category, contact details and permission (or decline) to have poems published on our website
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Judges’ decisions are final
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Closing date for entries is 31st August 2025
Sussex Modernism at the Towner
6:30 to 8pm
July 4th 2025
The Poetry Cafe will be performing spoken word poetry at the Towner art gallery, in response to a summer exhibition on Sussex Modernism.
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We have selected 6 poets from our community to perform their work to the public at the gallery during their Towner Late programme.
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Please do come and see us from 6:30pm. There'll be a chance to write a line or two inspired by the exhibition and our poetry which we'll happily display here on the website.
Hope ​​to see you there!​
Open Mic event with Compass Arts
June 15th 2025
Nicki hosted the Compass Arts and Poetry Cafe joint venture in the wonderful surroundings of Towner's Cinema.
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There was a great showing of Poetry Cafe regulars and some fantastic poets from Compass Arts as well as some members of the public come to see what was on offer.
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All in all, it was a really affirming and wonderful morning with some incredible poems and incredible poets. A great morning that I hope will be repeated soon.
Amanda, Nicki, John, Mark and Pam gave the early event goers a treat with our poetry, encouragement to write something 'Playful' for our competition and to join us at the Towner in July as well as our final open mic of the summer with Pratibha Castle on the 8th.
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A busy summer '25 still continues!
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Writers' Workshops
From February 4th, Pam will be leading a Writers' Workshop on the first floor room at Cafe Old Town from 10:30 am to 12:30.
The workshops will be fortnightly from the 4th Feb and broadly speaking will consist of prompts, discussion and time to write.
The space is quite cosy and so places are limited.
Get in touch via the email or DM me through social media and I'll keep a spot for you.
June's Guest Poet
Larry Navon
World Poetry Day
21st March 2025
Join us for our World Poetry Celebration held at the Fisherman's club on Eastbourne's seafront.
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Guest Poets, Antony Mair, Kevin Scully and Oenone Thomas are all successful poets in their own right but also have been present and past poets in residence for Cuckmere's Pilgrim's Path - perfect to headline our theme of Journeying.
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The evening will also feature a number of poets from our own talented community,
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The event is free - donations are always very welcome. The club has easy parking, a well stocked bar and a wonderful room for our celebration.
we hope you can make it and join us for what promises to be a fabulous evening of poetry
Enter our National Poetry Day Competition
August 31st deadline.
DEADLINE EXPIRED
COMPETITION RULES
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Poems written on the theme of ‘Counting’
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Email entries should be sent to poetrycafeugt@aol.com (or text 07848026186 for postal address)
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Maximum of three entries per person
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Poems should not exceed 30 lines or 300 words
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Each poem should be on a separate page
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No page should identify the author
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Email subject heading should be NPD Competition Entry
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In the body of the email, please state your age category, contact details and permission (or decline) to have your work published on our website
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Judges’ decisions are final
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Closing date for entries is 31st August 2024
September's Guest Poet
Zara Luther
