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What is the Poetry Society of the Open University?
The Poetry Society of the Open University (OU Poets) is a membership society for poetry lovers connected with the Open University, combining online activity with in-person events. Its news page shows a community built around member readings, book launches and campus outreach rather than a formal course or publishing service.
What the society does
- Celebrates members' work. A launch event for Wearing Silver Shoes, a collection by the late life member Hilary Mellon, is planned in Norwich with free admission.
- Recruits and welcomes students. Members represented the society at a Welcome Week fayre in Milton Keynes and ran an online introduction with readings from several members; the society reports passing 100 members for the first time.
- Stages public performances. A lunchtime poetry-and-jazz event in Southend featured poet Shephall Frost alongside member Adrian Green, whose collection Bluenote Time draws on jazz listening and promoting in Essex.
- Publishes member news. Posts announce events, readings and collections, giving members a place to share achievements.
Who it suits
OU students and alumni who write poetry and want readers, feedback and event invitations; poetry readers near Norwich, Southend or Milton Keynes who want free local literary events; and anyone interested in the society's member collections. If you want a structured creative writing course or manuscript criticism, this is a community rather than a teaching programme.
A practical next step
Check the events posts for dates and venues, then contact the membership secretary about joining if you are an OU student or supporter. For comparison, the OU itself hosts creative writing study at The Open University, and the UK's national poetry body is The Poetry Society.
How can I join the Poetry Society of the Open University as a student?
The page doesn't publish a step-by-step joining process, so the practical answer comes from what it does show. The Society recruits openly at Open University Welcome Week events—both on campus and online—and its membership secretary handles new members. As an OU student, the most reliable route is to contact the Society's membership secretary through the contact details on The Poetry Society of the Open University and ask for current joining instructions and any fee.
What the site suggests about the Society
- It is a community of OU students and others who write and read poetry, with life members and a chair, and it recently passed 100 members after a Welcome Week push.
- It runs readings, in-person events and online introductions, so joining gives you both a writing community and performance opportunities.
- Events are sometimes open to the public free of charge, such as the Norwich launch for Hilary Mellon's collection, so you can sample the atmosphere before committing.
A sensible next step
Email the membership secretary with your OU student status and ask three things: how to join, whether there is a subscription, and when the next online introduction or read-around is. Attending one of those sessions first lets you judge whether the group's style—formal readings versus informal sharing—suits your own poetry. If you want a broader writing community alongside it, the OU Students Association at OU Students Association lists student societies and can confirm the Society's current contact route.
What events and readings does the Poetry Society of the Open University host?
The Poetry Society of the Open University (OU Poets) hosts a mix of in-person and online events: book launches, welcome events for new students, and performances that pair poetry with music. From the society's own news posts, these include a Norwich launch evening for Wearing Silver Shoes by the late Hilary Mellon (5 November, 7.30 p.m., Bicycle Shop Café, free admission), a Welcome Week presence at the Milton Keynes campus with an online introduction hosted by chair Karen Macfarlane and readings by six members, and a lunchtime poetry-and-jazz performance in Southend featuring Shephall Frost and member Adrian Green, whose collection Bluenote Time draws on his jazz listening and club-promoting years in Essex.
What the pattern suggests
- Local, member-led launches: events cluster around a member's new collection and are often organised through regional groups such as the Norwich Poetry Group.
- Recruitment and welcome events: campus fayres and online introductions serve prospective and new OU students, with member readings and student read-arounds.
- Cross-art performances: poetry set alongside jazz in public venues, aimed at general audiences as much as members.
If you are deciding whether to go
For a nearby launch, expect a short evening of readings and tributes, free to attend, and a good way to hear a poet's work in context. For online introductions, the value is hearing several members read in one session and learning how to join. For the jazz events, check the venue's listing for timing.
A practical next step is to look at the society's news page for dates and locations, and compare with the OU's own student events if you are enrolling: The Poetry Society of the Open University and The Open University.
How can I attend or organise a poetry launch event like the Hilary Mellon celebration?
For the Hilary Mellon celebration, the practical route is the event notice on The Poetry Society of the Open University: it is a Norwich Poetry Group launch at the Bicycle Shop Café, 17 St Benedict's Street, Norwich, at 7.30 p.m. on 5 November, with free admission. If you plan to go, confirm the details with the group beforehand and arrive early, since café launches often have limited seating.
If you are attending
- Treat it as a reading-and-remembrance evening: expect tributes, readings from Wearing Silver Shoes, and conversation with the family, friends and fellow poets who knew Hilary Mellon.
- Bring cash for a drink or a copy of the collection if one is available; the notice says admission is free, not that everything is.
- If you knew the poet or the OU Poets community, ask whether there is a sign-up to read or share a memory.
If you are organising something similar
- Anchor it to a person and a book. A launch works best when there is a specific collection to present and a clear reason to gather, as with this tribute to a life member.
- Choose a room that fits the tone. A café or small hall suits 30–60 people and keeps costs low; a free event needs only a venue, a host and a modest publicity budget.
- Build a simple running order: welcome, two or three sets of readings (the poet's own work plus guests), a short tribute from someone close to them, and time to talk. Keep it to about 90 minutes.
- Recruit readers early. The OU Poets model, where members read alongside the chair at an online introduction, shows how a society can supply both performers and an audience.
- Publicise through the networks that already care. A society newsletter, local poetry groups and campus or community noticeboards reach the right people more reliably than generic listings.
- Plan for access and accessibility. Check step-free entry, hearing loops and whether the venue can host a hybrid stream for people who cannot travel.
A decision criterion
If the aim is celebration and community, prioritise a warm, central venue and a well-paced programme over production values. If the aim is sales or profile, add a bookseller, a signing table and press invitations, and accept that the evening becomes more formal.
Who are the current members and featured poets of the Poetry Society of the Open University?
The page names several people in two roles: members who appear in Society activities, and poets featured at specific events. It does not provide a complete membership list, so the names below are those the page actually identifies, not a full roster.
Members named in Society activity
- Barbara Cumbers — Membership Secretary, who represented the Society at the Milton Keynes campus Welcome Week Fayre.
- Liz Beber — Open SU representative, present at the same fayre.
- Karen Macfarlane — OUP Chair, who hosted an online introduction to the Society and gave readings.
- Adrian Green, Rosie Douglas, Marian Reid, Seb Criado-Perez, Mariana Gardener — members who read at that online introduction.
Featured poets and collections
- Hilary Mellon — a life member who died in December 2025; her collection Wearing Silver Shoes is being launched at a Norwich Poetry Group event on 5 November at the Bicycle Shop Café, Norwich, with free admission.
- Adrian Green — a Southend-based poet and musician whose work draws on the Thames Estuary and jazz; his collection Bluenote Time accompanies a poetry-and-jazz lunchtime performance with Shephall Frost at the Jazz Centre in Southend on 20 August, 1–2pm.
How to read this
If you are deciding whether to join, treat these names as a sample of visible activity rather than a directory. The page reports that membership passed 100 for the first time after Welcome Week, so most members are not listed. For a fuller picture, the events themselves are the practical next step: the Norwich launch and the Southend performance both show the Society's public-facing side, and the online introduction shows how it reaches distance students.
For context on the Open University itself, see The Open University.
How does the Poetry Society of the Open University support new and unpublished poets?
The Poetry Society of the Open University (OU Poets) supports new and unpublished poets mainly by giving them low-pressure chances to read, publish and meet other writers, rather than through a formal mentoring or competition programme. Its public activity suggests three practical routes.
Open readings and welcome events
New students are introduced to the Society through campus welcome fairs and online sessions where members read their work. At the Milton Keynes Welcome Week, the Society ran a stall and an online introduction hosted by its chair, with readings from six members; the session ended with a read-around in which two students shared poems. For an unpublished poet, this is a gentle first step: a short, supportive audience rather than a competitive stage.
Publishing and celebrating members' work
The Society marks members' collections with launch events—such as the Norwich gathering for Wearing Silver Shoes by the late Hilary Mellon, a life member—and highlights members' readings and publications in its news. Adrian Green's jazz-linked collection Bluenote Time is presented in the same way. Being featured alongside established members gives newer poets a visible credit and a reason to prepare work for an audience.
A community that scales with interest
Membership passed 100 for the first time after the 2026 welcome events, which suggests a society small enough for newcomers to be noticed but active enough to offer regular events. The trade-off is that support appears event-driven and informal: there is no stated critique service or submission pipeline, so a new poet should expect to build momentum by attending, reading and volunteering rather than waiting to be mentored.
Next step: if you are an OU student with unpublished poems, ask the membership secretary about the next online introduction or read-around and bring one short poem—roughly two minutes when read aloud—to test the waters. For comparison, The Poetry Society runs national schemes and competitions that suit poets ready for a wider audience.
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