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About us
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From its humble beginnings in Birmingham Waterstones, VERVE Poetry Festival has always been about bookselling. Our festival bookshop has long been a mecca for contemporary poetry, stocking both the books of our visiting poets as well as what we consider to be the most important new and older books in contemporary poetry. It is rare to see a poetry section so well curated and so excitedly put together.

From Imtiaz Dharker to Liz Berry, from Kim Addonizio to Frank O'Hara, from 100 Queer Poems to Staying Alive, from local poets like Roy McFarlane to national treasures such as Joelle Taylor, there's something for everyone at our festival bookshop!

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It seemed obvious that we should put our bookshop online so that it is there to be enjoyed all year round - presenting a curated selection of the best in contemporary poetry along with some of the poets of the past who made today’s poetry possible. Add in a dose of How To Write Poetry books, a hefty selection of imported favourites, and the books that we deem to be the classics of the modern poetry era - we hope you will love VERVE Poetry Bookshop. And while we won’t be the cheapest online, we hope you will be temped by our discounted pre-orders, our generous stamp & save scheme and our great value subscriptions. Click through to read more…

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ABOUT VERVE Poetry Festival:

Birmingham’s own VERVE Festival of Poetry and Spoken Word is based at Birmingham Hippodrome and online! Over the years, VERVE has become synonymous with a lively and celebratory approach to programming poetry of every different kind, whether it be raucous performance poetry events, quiet reading events, studious workshops, mind-blowing dramatic poetry, collaborative work and open mic. We encourage our audience to see their favourite poets and try something new, to join in and create or listen and learn. Most importantly, ALL are welcome at our poetry party of national standing. Whether new to poetry or an old hand, there will be something for everyone to enjoy at VERVE!

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