What started as a new year’s resolution has become one of the biggest independent community arts projects within the city, if not the North West of England.

The goal is simple: A regular, printed and commercially-available anthology is produced showcasing the work of poets who live in Greater Manchester, or who consider themselves part of the scene (that is, they might live elsewhere but regularly perform/read in the city, or they might study on one of the creative writing courses offered by Manchester institutions).

We accept submissions from absolutely anybody, and all entries are judged “blind”, which is to say, the author’s name or other distinguishing marks are removed from them. We pride ourselves on the fact each volume of the book contains writers who are being published for the first time alongside established names.

Why produce Best of Manchester Poets? Because we believe Manchester is special. It’s a hugely creative place and we want to celebrate that. Sneeze in the middle of Manchester and you’ll infect a poetic genius, or two. When we published Volume 1 of Best of Manchester Poets, nobody else was providing a platform for Manchester writers regardless of their background. This is still the case.

Upon releasing the book the feedback we got from people was the same: Why had it taken so long for this to happen?

The poems that get included are selected by three writers drawn from the Greater Manchester scene, along with Keir Thomas, the publisher of Puppywolf. It’s the job of these people to critically read through the masses of entries we receive from hundreds of writers.

March 2010: We invite people to submit poems for the inaugural volume.

June 2010: Volume 1 of Best of Manchester Poets is published with a huge celebratory gig at the Green Room theatre in Manchester.

May 2011: We invite people to submit poems for the second volume. Thanks to letters in local newspapers, we receive a third more submissions than the previous year.

December 2011: Volume 2 of Best of Manchester Poets is published. It is almost twice the thickness of the first volume and over twice as many poets are included. The book is launched at yet another spectacular gig at Eighth Day Cafe.

June 2012: The submissions process begins for Best of Manchester Poets Volume 3, as part of a second “launch” gig for Best of Manchester Poets Volume 2, at Three Minute Theatre in Manchester. A second gig was needed because we simply couldn’t include all the poets in the book in the first launch gig.

March 2013: Best of Manchester Poets Volume 3 is launched at yet another fantastic gig at Eighth Day cafe, Oxford Road.

Best of Manchester Poets