Planet Poetry
Episodes
From the Archive: Kim Addonizio
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us Fan MailWe're going back to September 2021 for this interview with the fabulous Kim Addonizio...Support the showPlanet Poetry is a labour...
From the Archive: Danez Smith
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text Minneapolis is once again facing violence and repression. From afar we watch in horror, and in this episode from our archive featuring ...
Sound | Shadow - with Niall Campbell
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNever mind the baubles... Here's the magic from Niall Campbell, who shares spellbinding poems from his Bloodaxe collection The Isla...
From the Archive: Liz Berry
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSurprise! We're back again and starting Season Six with a distinctive Black Country jewel from our trove of interviews. Liz Berry d...
Season 5 | Finale - with Robin Houghton & Peter Kenny
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoin your podcast pals at a table at the Beachy Head pub. Enjoying a view of sloping fields down to the Belle Tout Lighthouse and the ...
The Way | The Blueprint - with Jo Colley and Charles G Lauder, Jr
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's a tag team episode! With Robin and Peter meeting poet Charles G Lauder, Jr and publisher poet Jo Colley of Blueprint Poetry ...
Points | Divergences - with Erica McAlpine
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat was that? A bat or swallow? Something flitted past, but we can't agree on what we've just seen ... Erica McAlpine reads f...
Still Life | Still Shining - with Richard Scott
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStill life? Not as we know it. Trembling with tension and beauty, and roses that cup darkness and secret trauma... Hear Richard Scott sh...
Chaos | Coded - with Isabelle Baafi
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textChaos? We love it! Time to meet Isabelle Baafi and hear about her-hotly anticipated first full collection Chaotic Good just published b...
Old Men | Cavalrymen - with Peter Daniels
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhy should not old men be mad? Hear Peter Daniels, a pioneer of gay men's writing in the UK, brood on the emptiness of boxes, specu...
Crystal | Clarity - with Ellen Cranitch
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA gleam of love in hard times. Our guest Ellen Cranitch shares poems from her Bloodaxe collection Crystal, a subtle, multifaceted work...
Girls | Snakes - with Ruth Padel
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPsssssssssst! We've invited Ruth Padel to share work from her recent Chatto Poetry collection Girl. She talks about the power of ...
Oppression | Optimism - with Tishani Doshi
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat's that knocking? It's the multi-talented Tishani Doshi, sharing her Bloodaxe collection A God at the Door. You'll he...
From the Archive: Caleb Parkin
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA revisit of Robin's interview with Caleb Parkin back in May 2022. Read a description and listen to the full episode here.Support...
Ponder | Poetry - with Dai George
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAh-hem. Stop thinking like that. Think like a poet! Dwell in negative capability and write in a way that reflects the sheer messiness of...
Seasons | Filsket Seas - with Martin Malone
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStrap on your best boots, and follow Martin Malone as he shoulders through the seasons on the rugged granite of Aberdeenshire's nor...
Cuteness | Weirdness - with Isabel Galleymore
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAw! You’re squishably cute! Yes you, dear listener. In this episode we meet Isabel Galleymore and hear from her highly original coll...
Afropessimism | Affirmation - with Danez Smith
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKerpow! The poetry fireworks are back. We spark our fifth season into life with Danez Smith – who shares poems from their astonishing ...
Vigils | Confabulations - with Robin Houghton & Peter Kenny
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRrrrrrrip! Yikes! That’s the sound of the Planet Poetry rulebook being wantonly torn in half for our Season 4 finale. For one episode ...
Lost trades | Lost songs - with Jane Commane
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGrip the square steering wheel of your Austin Allegro and let Jane Commane navigate you through the haunted places of the post-industria...
Fathers | Frontiers - with Rory Waterman
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHear Rory Waterman describe his experience of being stuck in quarantine in Korea, where (as well as doing press ups) he used his time ...
Bold Lines | Black Pages - with Seni Seneviratne
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSilent faces and displaced lives. Seni Seneviratne gives voice to overshadowed Black children, exotic pages and servants in the portra...
Absence | Accidents - with Ali Lewis
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStaring at the mark on the wall where that painting once hung? Wondering why the moon, seen by others, has been hidden from you? You&a...
Testaments | Troubles - with Roy McFarlane
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHop aboard. No time to idle in green pastures here, instead let’s follow Roy Mc Farlane as he guides us through his collection Living ...
Rapture | Reality - with Seán Hewitt
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe’re back with global ambitions for World Poetry Day. First we skip over to Dublin to interview Seán Hewitt about his gorgeous sec...
Archive - Inua Ellams from March 2021
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA classic interview from the archive: Inua Ellams talking about his extraordinary book The Actual (Penned in the Margins, 2020), a po...
Sorrow | Stored - with Paul Stephenson
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGo on. Press the button. Paul Stephenson guides us through a choice of his varied, formally diverse and moving elegies in his Carcanet ...
Darkness | Discovered - with Tamar Yoseloff
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe are back and delighted to bring you more wonderful poetry in 2024. So let's illuminate the new year with Tamar Yoseloff, whose...
Archive | Kim Moore from October 2022
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHappy New Year! We're on our festive break, but wanted to share with you another classic interview from the archive. Here's Ki...
Crossings | Christmas - with Jane Clarke
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPsssst! Here's a moment of reprieve from the festive frenzy... Follow Jane Clarke wobbling on an oak log slick with frost, then she...
Bridges | Broken - with Martyn Crucefix
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGo on. We dare you to reach across the gulf to Planet Poetry. This time you'll find Martyn Crucefix, reading poems from his Salt co...
Aloneness | Liberty - with Leontia Flynn
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAll aboard! Planet Poetry is going to rattle you into a Belfast haunted by absence. Here you'll meet Leontia Flynn and discover h...
Observation | Celebration - with Ian McMillan
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHush your vuvuzela! Barnsley's own Ian McMillan lobs the keeper and helps Planet Poetry's fourth season start with a belting w...
Archive | Kathryn Maris in March 2021
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe revisit the Spring of 2021 and Robin's interview with Kathryn Maris, principally about her collection The House with only and At...
Archive | Charlotte Gann in January 2021
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAnother absolute sparkler from our trove of first season interviews. Charlotte Gann talks about her exceptional Happenstance Press colle...
Archive | Clare Shaw in November 2020
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAnother gem from the archives to tide you over the long, hot (?) summer of 2023...the brilliant Clare Shaw was our second interviewee on...
Archive | Pascale Petit in Oct 2020
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSummertime. Ho, hum. But wait! What's this on your device. Planet Poetry? Robin and Peter have descended into The Vaults to present...
Culture | Cut-ups - with Richard Skinner
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFollow us as we slip into le Quartier asiatique through a noirish wordscape, when the flutes in the musique concrète are interrupted by...
Play | Wonder - with Rachel Piercey & Kate Wakeling
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPens down, everybody! Now look at me... Today we meet poets Kate Wakeling and Rachel Piercey, editor of Tyger Tyger Magazine, who will...
Looking | Relooking - with Greta Stoddart
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDid you ever repeat a word so often that its meaning ebbed away? Or look so hard at an object -- say a glass of water -- that it began t...
Trust | Betrayal - with Clare Best
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIf you have endured a childhood overshadowed by profound betrayal and abuse, how do you learn to trust again? What kind of bravery must ...
Black Country | Lost Wum - with Liz Berry
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKeep the carriage curtains open as we chug into the post-industrial midlands of The Black Country. We're in the company of Liz Be...
Pacing | Preserving - with Robert Hamberger
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStrap on your toughest boots. Now dodge the speeding cars as we match strides with Robert Hamberger. We discuss two works: his excep...
Asterisks | Alternatives - with Mark Fiddes
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStop polishing that halo for a moment and listen to this! It's Mark Fiddes reading from his Live Cannon collection *Other Saints Ar...
Airborne | Afterwardness - with Mimi Khalvati
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHop aboard! And join your Planet Poetry pals as we bravely embark on a new year. Strap in beside a child of six -- flying away from her ...
Foreign | Belonging - with Matthew Stewart
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat's that? The airy caper of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and their mates? No it's Planet Poetry bringing you Matthew Stewart, wh...
Thinking | Rethinking - with Sarah Barnsley
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat's that popping and blazing from your favourite podcast device? A plethora of lightbulb moments, that's what. This episo...
Epic | Exploration - with Shane McCrae
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHere we go again, blazing through the vast firmaments... We go all starry and stripy this week as we meet Shane McCrae - one of the US&a...
Masculinity | Men - with Peter Raynard
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textForging manfully through cyberspace just to be with you... Robin and Peter are back with another cracking episode featuring Peter Rayn...
Season 3 opener: Kim Moore
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA tantalising twinkle on your favourite device? Relax! It’s Planet Poetry surging back with Season Three! Onboard for Episode 1 is K...
Ep 13 - Season Finale with Fiona Sampson
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhew. What a scorcher! And the weather's hot too. Slip on your shades, and listen to our interview with the incredibly talented Fio...
Postmodern | Precision - with Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFasten your safety belt and jet with us over to New York where we try to get a grip on the elusive eel of postmodernism. Who better to t...
Serious | Playful - with Caleb Parkin
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode of Planet Poetry sees us striding forth with our seriousness only outdone by the luminosity of our socks... Â Caleb Parkin...
Distance | Desolation - with J.O. Morgan
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStrap in! We're going boldly into interplanetary space -- and returning to see our own planet through alien eyes. J.O. Morgan tel...
Joy | Grief - with Sasha Dugdale
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThen what angelic vision is this? It's Sasha Dugdale sharing poetry from her award-garlanded Carcanet collection Joy  including an...
Memory | Minutiae - with Jeremy Page
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYou remember us. Of course you do! It's your pals at Planet Poetry! Fascinating in-depth conversations with poets and poetry love...
Collaboration | Undercurrents - with Joolz Sparkes & Hilaire
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDing-ding. All aboard! In this episode we ride a big red bus into the heart of London's hidden histories. Robin meets poetical dy...
Eels | Elements - with Janet Sutherland
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome home! Now slip off your raincoat and settle down in the flickering firelight. Listening to Janet Sutherland will suggest summe...
Publisher | Poets - with Sharon Black & Di Slaney
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe see you. Covered in tinsel and cavorting with Dancer, Prancer, Vixen and the rest of those red nosed reindeers. Luckily here is a t...
Sympathy | Uncensored - with Alireza Abiz
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYou know us. At Planet Poetry we are always mooning around thinking about poetry instead of doing the laundry. But imagine if you had ...
Cinematic | Demotic - with Martina Evans
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFabulous stories, overheard conversation and a panoply of characters? It's the sound of Planet Poetry basking in the glowing Techni...
Empathy | Affirmation - with Ashanti Anderson
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWant to face the future with strength and empathy? Of course you do! So hop aboard Planet Poetry and jet over to New Orleans to meet Ash...
Season 2 opener: Kim Addonizio
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKerpow! Planet Poetry is back for a second season, replete with box-fresh poetical guests, an assortment of musings on the muses – and...
Selfhood | Sovereignty - with Rishi Dastidar
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIs that a fanfare of brazen trumpets? Why? Well, it's our season finale! Join our audience with the regal Rishi Dastidar who tells ...
Real | Surreal - with Helen Ivory
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome back, poppets! Join us as we peer into the dreamlike cabinet of curiosities that is Helen Ivory’s The Anatomical Venus where...
Playfulness | Persistence - with John McCullough
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIs it a bird? Is it a plane? Planet Poetry is swooping through the air with Hawthornden Prize winner John McCullough tucked under its or...
Publishing | Not Publishing - with JT Welsch
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTo publish or not to publish? Join us as we venture into the shadowy world of poetry publishing. Do instapoets endanger traditional publ...
Untold | Unspoken - with LeAnne Howe
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe’re back! In this episode we encounter esteemed poet, writer and scholar LeAnne Howe — who talks about the extraordinary Norton an...
Time | Translation - The Sarah Maguire Prize with Alireza Abiz, Yang Lian & Brian Holton
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome to our translation special! Join Robin and Peter as we take a deep dive into the Sarah Maguire Prize 2020. We ask Chairman of ...
Xs & Os | zeros and ones - with Kathryn Maris
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEnigmatic hey? That's Planet Poetry for you. Welcome back! This week we are delighted to hear from exiled New Yorker Kathryn Mari...
Colonialism | Reconciliation - with Inua Ellams
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode Inua Ellams talks to us about his extraordinary book The Actual (Penned in the Margins, 2020), a powerful, personal an...
Arrivals | Departures - with Rhona McAdam
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textItching to get away? Then hop aboard Planet Poetry and we'll catapult you to Canada, where we chat with Rhona McAdam and delve into...
Camouflage | Revealing - with Mary Jean Chan
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week, hear Mary Jean Chan discuss and read from Flèche, her award-winning debut collection of growing up and coming out. Cultures ...
Anxiety | Comfort - with Charlotte Gann
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYou're not alone. It's not just you who thinks weird things. Join your pals Robin and Peter for a jaunt to Planet Poetry. This...
Science | Spirit - with Mario Petrucci
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHappy New Year! What better way to start the year than with some poetic banter from Robin and Peter? For the first Planet Poetry episo...
Bliss | Happiness - with Jack Underwood
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textChristmas is coming and we're feeling blissed out.... or are we? The title of Jack Underwood's collection Happiness makes Ro...
Uncanny | Unsettling - with Tess Jolly and Krishan Coupland
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIs that glass eye staring at you? In this episode we persuade Tess Jolly to tell us about her dark alchemy, transforming fear into haunt...
Close-Up - with Katrina Porteous and Sarah Salway
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's all in the detail... Katrina Porteous takes us from the micro quantum world beyond human vision out to the furthest reaches of...
Climate | Weather | Rain - with Clare Shaw and Elizabeth Murtough
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWater, water everywhere! This week we interview Clare Shaw, who discusses and reads from her book Flood triggered by the flooding of h...
Home | Family - with Pascale Petit
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textReady to explore Planet Poetry? In our first episode we meet multi-award winning poet Pascale Petit and discover the lush Edens of her p...
Planet Poetry | Trailer
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome to Planet Poetry, the new poetry podcast produced and presented by Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton. Join us as we explore the w...