Founded in 1988, Poetry London is the city’s premier poetry magazine and one of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organizations (2023–2026). We publish three times a year – our Spring issue in March, our Summer issue in June and our Autumn issue in October. Our launches are held at the Southbank Centre in collaboration with the National Poetry Library. Our renowned annual poetry prize has helped launch the careers of some of the leading lights of contemporary UK poetry, including Liz Berry, Niall Campbell, Richard Scott, and Romalyn Ante, among others.
Poetry London’s editorial team is headed by the Italian-Iranian writer André Naffis-Sahely and Isabelle Baafi, a British poet and editor of Jamaican and South African descent. Previous editors have included Pascale Petit, Moniza Alvi, Maurice Riordan, Martha Kapos, Colette Bryce, Martha Sprackland, and Ahren Warner.
Poetry London Presents is an exciting new opportunity to get your work seen!
If you are a current subscriber (or purchase a copy of the latest issue of Poetry London) then submit a poem for consideration by poetry editor Niall Campbell. The winning poem will feature on our socials as part of our new Poetry London Presents series.
With over 12,000 followers on Instagram and 41,000 on Twitter/X, we're keen to use our social media to discover and promote new voices. Since its inception, Poetry London has pushed poetic boundaries and served as a platform for vital contemporary voices. Poetry London Presents is our way of shifting this ideology to fit with the digital age. Through this new competition series, we aim to challenge current notions of publication and create a new stage for work at the forefront of contemporary poetry.
Rules for Entry
To qualify for entry, be a current subscriber or purchase a copy of the latest edition of Poetry London (Please include your order number in the Submittable form).
Submit one poem via Submittable (no more than ten lines).
The Poetry London Prize is a major, internationally renowned award for a single outstanding poem. Previous winners include Liz Berry, Niall Campbell, Romalyn Ante, Richard Scott and Nick Makoha.
First Prize is £5,000, Second Prize is £2,000 and Third Prize is £1,000.
The judge of the 2024 Prize is Hannah Sullivan.
Hannah Sullivan is the author of Three Poems, which won the T. S. Eliot prize for 2018, as well as The Work of Revision (Harvard, 2013) and Was It for This (Faber, 2023). A lifelong Londoner, she now lives in Oxford with her husband and sons and is a fellow at New College.
Entry costs £10 per poem, or £5 per poem for subscribers.
There are a limited number of free entries for students / unwaged. Please select the correct fee option when you enter. To get the subscriber price, you do not need to be an existing subscriber. You can subscribe using this form, select the 'subscriber' poem fees, and check out at the same time as you pay for your entry.
All files must be either a .doc, .docx or .pdf. All entries will be judged anonymously and the poet’s name must not appear on any page of the portfolio. Entries must be written in English, can be on any subject and can be written in any style or form. Each poem should be uploaded in a separate document. Entries are welcome from poets based anywhere in the world and there are no restrictions on themes, subjects or styles.
You may submit up to six poems. Please include them all in the same document and include a cover letter. We are particularly keen to read poems in translation, especially translations from endangered languages.