Poetry International Web

Poetry International Web is a virtual magazine bringing contemporary poets from 21 different countries under one site, with the common element of parallel translations into the English language.

The Poetry Society is the editor of the PIW - UK domain; we work with guest editors to produce quarterly issues, in February, May, August and November.

Current Issue

New Talent: Chris McCabe, Helen Mort, John McCullough

Guest Editor: Catherine Smith

November 1, 2008

Choosing just three young, interesting poets for this issue of PIW United Kingdom was more difficult than it sounds. There are many people in their teens, twenties and early thirties writing so well – with such vigour and confidence – and they deserve recognition and critical appraisal. Good writing’s not easy. It involves risk, trial and error, courage. It involves a serious degree of engagement with one’s chosen art form, and younger poets risk being dismissed or denigrated for their lack of ‘life experience’ – an unfair charge, as we’re all alive, we all have something to say, and age doesn’t necessarily confer wisdom, compassion, clarity, artistic merit or anything else. And some people, let’s face it, live, make mistakes, get angry, love and observe more intensely than others.

Read on...

For an archive of the Poetry Society's introduction to each quarterly issue, written by Andrew Bailey, George Ttoouli and some of our guest editors, click the links to the right. Or, to explore PIW for yourself, to "stroll, loiter, skip and meander freely and intuitively from one page to the next, from one country to another – with a healthy disregard of borders and frames", as the site puts it – follow these links:

Poetry International Web – Poetry International UK pages

Poets on UK Domain of PIW

A. B. Jackson (1965)
Alan Halsey (1949)
Andrew Greig (1951, Scotland)
Andy Brown (1966)
Anthony Joseph (1966, Trinidad)
Brian Moses (1950)
Cecil Helman (1944, South Africa)
Chris McCabe (1977) * NEW *
Clare Pollard (1978)
David Kinloch (1959)
David Harsent (1942)
Denise Riley (1948)
Elisabeth Bletsoe (1960)
Frances Presley (1952)
Gwyneth Lewis (1959, Wales)
Helen Mort (1985) * NEW *
James Fenton (1949)
Jean Bleakney (1956)
Jen Hadfield (1978)
John Burnside (1955)
John McCullough (1978) * NEW *
John Stammers (1954)
John Siddique (1964)
Kathryn Daszkiewicz (1961)
Lee Harwood (1939)
Leontia Flynn (1974)
Maria Jastrzębska (1953, Poland)
Martin Mooney (1964)
Medbh McGuckian (1950)
Menna Elfyn (1951)
Michael Laskey (1944)
Michelle Green (1976)
Mir Mahfuz Ali (1958, Bangladesh)
Nazand Begikhani (1964, Iraqi Kurdistan)
Paul Henry (1959)
Pauline Stainer (1941)
Penelope Shuttle (1947)
Peter Porter (1929, Australia)
Peter Riley (1940)
Richard Price (1966)
Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch (1966, Wales)
Shamshad Khan (1964)
Tiffany Atkinson (1972, Germany)
Tim Liardet (1959)
Tony Mitton (1951, Tripolitania)
Tracey Herd (1968)
Vahni Capildeo (1973, Trinidad)

Partners

Poetry International Web is a collaboration between organizations and individuals in countries all around the world:

  • Australia: Michael Brennan
  • China: Yu Jian, Simon Patton
  • Colombia: Prometeo (Gloria Chvatal, Fernando Rendón)
  • Croatia: Milos Ðurdevic
  • Germany: literatur WERKstatt berlin (Heiko Strunk, Thomas Wohlfart)
  • Greece: National Book Centre of Greece (Cathrine Velissaris), Piisi (Haris Vlavianós)
  • India: Arundhathi Subramaniam
  • Israel: Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Gabi Hadar, Elisabet Mizrachi, Rami Saari, Lisa Katz)
  • Italy: Department of Linguistics and Comparative Literature, University of Cassino (Roberto Baronti Marchió, Franco Buffoni, Valerio Magrelli)
  • Morocco: House of Poetry Casablanca (Mohammed Bennis, Norddine Zouitni)
  • The Netherlands: Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (Thomas Möhlmann, Henk Pröpper)
  • Portugal: Instituto Português do livro e das Bibliotecas (Ana Castro, Assunção Mendonça, Rui Pereira, Richard Zenith)
  • Slovenia: Vilenica International Literary Meeting, Slovenian writer's association (Iztok Osojnik)
  • Ukraine: Kateryna Botanova
  • United Kingdom: The Poetry Society
  • Zimbabwe: Weaver Press (Irene Staunton, Chirikure Chirikure)
  • Rotterdam: Poetry International Web Foundation

Editors gather once a year for an editorial meeting during a seminar in the week of the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam.