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There is something delicious about the first lengthening evenings of autumn. Somehow it gives us permission to retreat and put the phone down, make a warm drink, find the good chair and disappear into a book for an hour or two.
Reading doesn’t always have to improve us. Sometimes its greatest pleasure is simply that it allows us to be elsewhere.
from William Cowper’s The Task (1785)
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
From moments of calm and comfort to deeper connection, reading supports us in more ways than one. A favourite novel can feel like an old friend, a childhood story can transport us back to another time or favourite memory, and sometimes the right book finds us exactly when we need it most.
In The Agatha Christie Cure, Cathy Rentzenbrink returns to the books she has loved since childhood, finding in Agatha Christie’s stories a source of comfort, companionship and escape during a difficult time in her life. It’s a beautiful reflection on the restorative power of reading, and on the books we return to when we need them most.The book is both literary detective story and a personal memoir, with Cathy finding hope in reading, in a journey into the heart of the most successful writer of the 20th century. It's the perfect tonic for anyone in search of life-affirming resilience. And proof that if ever you’re lonely, tired and in need of solace, getting in the bath with an Agatha Christie is always an excellent idea.
To celebrate and accompany The Agatha Christie Cure, we’ve worked with publisher Canongate to create The Reading Cure Poetry Prescription: a restorative dose of words for readers in need of comfort, escape, solace and the particular consolation of a good book. Inside are carefully chosen extracts from Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Marcel Proust, Dylan Thomas and Cathy Rentzenbrink, each offering its own little dose of literary medicine.
Best read: sitting in a comfortable chair, with a hot drink and plenty of biscuits.
’Tis the season for cosy reading days. So make a cup of tea, curl up somewhere comfortable and take your reading prescription. Prolonged use recommended.
The Agatha Christie Cure and The Reading Cure Poetry Pills are available individually or together as a bundle on our website, and in our York and Bishop’s Castle bookshops now, and coming to Oxford Street very soon.
And if you’d like a little more Cathy Rentzenbrink, we loved this conversation about her reading life, and the comfort, escape and sheer pleasure to be found in books. Especially her excellent observation that “the pleasure bit has to happen before the benefits can get out of bed.” A good excuse, we think, to go and read something purely for the pleasure of it.
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A poetic prescription for finding your place
Our brand new Tongue Depressor Bookmarks are inspired by one of Deb’s favourite possessions, an original Boots Book-Lovers’ Library bookmark from 1943, and by the simple tongue depressors once found in the doctor’s bag.
We’ve reimagined them into these translucent, double-sided bookmarks carrying a small prescription of poetry. Each bookmark is designed to be used every day, kept close and made to last. One side carries a poetic prescription for a particular moment or predicament, while the reverse bears its directions for use.
Choose from prescriptions including For Rainy Days and For Wandering the City Alone.
Finished with a simple string treasury tag, they have the pleasing air of something unearthed from an old lending library, apothecary or doctor's bag.
A small gift for readers, walkers, wanderers and the poetically indisposed.
 
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Speaking of darker evenings... choose your Poison.
We’re still in love with our new Poetry Poison series, and now we’ve made them even more dangerously tempting.
Our new Boxed Poisons pair each beautifully bound hardback with its matching bottle of Poetry Pills, tucked together into a suitably sinister gift box.
Choose your poison: Darkness, Revenge or Vices. Each book is a distillation of poetry’s darker pleasures, while the accompanying bottle contains individual poetic doses to administer whenever the mood takes you.
Perfect for lengthening nights, bad influences, secret grudges and anyone who prefers their poetry with a little bite.
Very bitter pills. Guaranteed adverse reactions. Not to be swallowed (except metaphorically).
 
DARKNESS
Extract of Night; For Howling to the Moon; For the Contemplation of Shadows & the Love of the Unlit; For the lifting of the veil between the real and the imagined.
REVENGE
For the Satisfaction of Deep Hurt; For Wrongs, Real or Imagined; For the Nursing of Grievances; For Fantasies of Redress and Reckoning; to Stoke the Fires of Righteous Fury. Best Served Cold.
Here is the dark poem Judith by Vicki Feaver from Revenge
VICES
A Distillation of the Finest Sins & Vices; For the Indulgence of Appetites; For Moments of Temptation and Relish; For the Celebration of Excess; to Encourage Delight in the Forbidden; for the Cultivation of Delicious Bad Habits.
You can visit our online Poison Cabinet to view the full range.
You can also join us & Macmillan for an evening of poison, poetry and general ill-will on 27th October, 6.30–7.30pm, as we celebrate the launch at Poetry Pharmacy Oxford Street.
Come & drink deep from the poison cup.
Book your ticket on Eventbrite here.
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 Shared ReadingSaturday September 19th & October 3rd, 17th, & 31st
From 10.30am The Lab, Bishops CastleJoin us for a free drop-in Shared Reading group led by Saskia Stenson.
Shared Reading is a simple yet powerful way of bringing people together through great literature. Developed by The Reader, a UK charity dedicated to creating connection and wellbeing through shared reading, these groups offer a welcoming space to experience stories and poems alongside others.
During each session, Saskia reads aloud from carefully chosen poems and stories, pausing along the way to explore thoughts, feelings and memories that arise naturally from the text. There is no pressure to read aloud, speak, or have any prior knowledge of literature. Many people choose simply to listen.
Free and open to everyone.
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Join Jan Westwood for a guided exploration of Simon Armitage's poetry and other poets who drew on the same influences and inspiration.
Simon Armitage is the current Poet Laureate and known for his dry Yorkshire wit and conversational style. His work explores ecology, masculinity, trauma, the aftermath of war and his portrayal of everyday life.
Let us share some time dedicated to exploring his poetry alongside poems by other poets to discuss a range of different perspectives and styles on his ideas.
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Jen is an award-winning poet and creative copywriter who transforms feelings, memories and ideas into heartfelt, personalised poetry. At her regular drop in events at the Poetry Pharmacy on Oxford Street, she crafts bespoke poems live on her trusty vintage typewriter, capturing individual stories and emotions and turning them into unique keepsakes.
Further dates:
Wednesday 7th & Sunday 25th October
Friday 6th & Sunday 22nd November
Sunday 13th December
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We're very excited to host the online launch of The Wonderment, the beautiful new collection from acclaimed US poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
During this special online event, Rosemerry will read from her new collection and talk about the stories behind the poems. The event is introduced by Deborah Alma and hosted by Patrizia Longhitano, our manager in Oxford Street. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during a live audience Q&A.
Whether you're already a devoted reader of Rosemerry's work or discovering her for the first time, this promises to be an uplifting and memorable evening.
You can also pre-order a copy of The Wonderment to include free access to the online launch here.
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Join us at the York shop to step into a world of magic and beauty as Anna Chilvers and Clare Shaw - creators of The Book of Bogs - guide you through moors, bogs and other peatlands.
The event will blend science and poetry, folklore and ecology, we'll explore their vital role in carbon sequestration; the habitat they offer for astonishing life forms and red-listed species; and the role that literature can play in protecting these threatened ecosystems. Sink deep into their soft, dark magic with us!
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Mother Tongues:
A Celebration of Multilingual Poetry
Thursday 1st October, 10am-9pm
Oxford Street, London
Drop in
This National Poetry Day, join the Poetry Pharmacy and Experimental Writing School for a day-long celebration of poetry across languages and cultures.
On Thursday 1 October 2026 poets from around the world will read in their mother tongues, each followed by an English translation - taking us on a journey through languages, cultures and traditions, and exploring how poetry connects us beyond borders. We’re hoping to hear as many different languages and voices as possible - and who knows, we might even break a few records along the way…
The event will take place at the Oxford Street, London, Poetry Pharmacy. We'd love you to come and be part of the audience, to support the poets and hear them read! There is also a livestream planned for audiences around the world.
This is a free all day drop in event.
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For National Poetry Day, join us in York to hear Katharine Towers and John Challis read from their acclaimed new collections, The Worrying Rose (Picador) and The Green Parcel (Bloodaxe).
In The Worrying Rose, Towers invokes the radical act of being still in a world that seems to be dizzyingly out of control, while the rural terrain of The Green Parcel provides a new lens for exploring history, class and work. Be it Towers' thinking about women, creativity and solitude, or Challis’s mediations on fatherhood and landscape, both poets demonstrate a rapt and resonant attentiveness to the world around them.
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Join us to raise a glass and celebrate the launch of Do Wildness: Myth, Mystery, and Mischief with Anna McCracken.
What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like the life meant for you? When you feel drawn towards something wilder and more alive?
From the remote deserts of Australia to the bustle of New York, Do Wildness explores what happens when we slow down and notice what modern life often teaches us to overlook: birdsong, moon cycles, seasons, soils, rhythms and relationships.
Come and hear more about Anna’s journey, and raise a glass of prosecco with us to celebrate the launch.
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Join the Poetry Pharmacy as we welcome the book launches of Mary Mulholland's The Dodo Stories and Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana's Skinship. Mary and Alex will discuss and read from their newest collections, reflecting on themes of cultural inheritance, identity, home and motherhood.
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Join poet Chrys Salt and musician Richard Ingham for an evening exploring the richness and complexity of North East India
Rooted in Chrys Salt’s highly regarded collection The Punkawallah’s Rope and born of her performance at the Kolkata Book Fair and an immersive month in Kolkata and North East India, The Punkawallah’s Rope explores the vibrant textures, voices, and contradictions of a continent both dazzling and daunting. Through layered poems and haunting instrumentals played on various Indian instruments - the aludu, the bansuri, gopi yantra by International musician and saxophonist Richard Ingham.
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Start your morning with a burst of creativity at the Poetry Pharmacy London! Join poet Laurie Bolger for a relaxed, playful session of free flow writing in our lush first-floor space on Oxford Street. All stationery and tea are provided - just bring yourself and your imagination. Newbies very welcome; no experience needed!
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Join us and Macmillan for an evening of poison, poetry and general ill-will as we celebrate the publication of our new Poetry Poisons series.
Expect bitter remedies, venomous verses, streams of foul curses, spite, vengeance & wickedness with readings from some of the poets whose work festers within the covers. Come and drink deep from the poison cup.
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Join us with award-winning poet Carole Bromley for a ghoulish reading from her new book, Ghosts and Ginnels. Explore through words the hidden passages, ancient alleyways and atmospheric corners of York that inspired her new book, Ghosts and Ginnels. She will be joined with poetry readings from Word Up's wonderful Nicky Kippax and Charlotte Oliver.
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Join us to celebrate the launch of this raw, relatable and wise new anthology, a beautiful, bittersweet collection of poems about heartbreak, resilience, love and finding your way through.
An evening of poetry, conversation and comfort, as Ana shares poems from the collection and explores how words can help us make sense of heartache, hold onto hope and begin again.
Every copy bought at the event will come with a free bottle of our new Broken Heart Poetry Pills (Available from 1st October).
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Celebrate the launch of this landmark anthology of contemporary poetry with us!
Join us at the London Poetry Pharmacy to celebrate the launch of VERVACEOUS - a landmark anthology marking 10 years of VERVE Poetry Festival.
Featuring poems from 160+ poets, including Raymond Antrobus, Liz Berry, Mary Jean Chan, Daljit Nagra, Ruth Padel, Roger Robinson, Joelle Taylor and Karen McCarthy Woolf, this vibrant collection celebrates a decade of bold, generous and boundary-pushing poetry.
Come along for an evening of poetry, celebration and community as we raise a glass to ten wonderfully VERVACEOUS years, with readings from a selection of the anthology’s contributors. Poets to be announced.
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