the heart in my chest on wings

It’s been a busy few weeks at the Poetry Pharmacy. We’ve got lots of brilliant new books on our shelves, we’ve been busy with poetry events in London and York, our pop-up Poetry Dispensary has moved to its next LUSH location in Leeds, and we have new booksellers joining our Oxford Street team!

There’s always something new happening in our little corner of the literary world. Here’s a little round-up of what’s new this autumn.

Brilliant new books on the shelves

We’ve been adding some wonderful new titles to our shelves, including Rhapsody by Alice Oswald, Creative Writing by David Shrigley, and The Ingredients of Emotional Maturity by The School of Life.

  

New prescriptions from the Dispensary

We have some new poetic remedies in the cabinet to address the emotional ailments of our time:

Poetic Intelligence
An antidote to artificial intelligence. For the cultivation of wonder & original thought, and the preservation of the wild human imagination.

Expiry Date
A poetic treatment for the incurably mortal. For patients experiencing an inconvenient awareness of the passing of time, anticipated loss, change, existential wobbles and the suspicion that life may not, in fact, go on forever.

Glimmers
For the cultivation of wonder & delight. To encourage feelings of safety, connection & joy.
  

New emotional wellbeing tools

Also being added to our medicine cabinet are some new emotional wellbeing tools from The School of Life, including Legacy Cards and Psychological Symbol Cards, to help us reflect, open important and nuanced conversations and better understand ourselves and one another. 
 

New Poetic Poisons in time for Halloween

Something wicked this way comes...

We’ve created four new Poetic Poisons-in-a-box just in time for Halloween: Darkness, Vices and Revenge.

Each comes with a Poetic Prescription book and bottle of poems-in-pills beautifully boxed and ready to administer to yourself or another deserving sinner...

  
In other news, 

This week, acclaimed Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Blending poetry, classical mythology, philosophy and translation, her work is intellectually adventurous, lyrical and often unexpected. We particularly love her translation of Sappho’s “He seems to me equal to gods”, from If Not, Winter: an extraordinary description of desire and its effects on the body, still startlingly familiar across the centuries.
We’ve gathered some of our favourite books in our Bookshop.org list below, if you’d like to explore her work. We also enjoyed this introduction from The Guardian, with some helpful guidance on where to begin.
Poetry Pharmacy Pop-up #3

Today is the last day of our Leeds pop-up inside Lush as part of their LushFest!

Come and find our very mini Poetry Pharmacy dispensary inside the store, stocked with Poetry Pills and poetic remedies for all manner of emotional ailments.

Our Poetry Pharmacists will be there from 11am–5pm!

 
 

We're off to Cardiff next!
Thursday 15th, Friday 16th and Saturday 17th of October inside LUSH. 

We'll leave you with an autumnal writing prompt from friend of the Poetry Pharmacy, poet Rhiannon Hooson, who invites you to find inspiration in the changing season. Rhiannon's Wild Words: Autumn is a self-led writing course featuring 31 seasonal prompts to help you develop a creative habit at your own pace, through the darker half of the year and beyond.

A writing prompt from Rhiannon:

The things we love about Autumn are varied and complex. It begins with harvest and plenty, with a slight wistfulness, perhaps, at the passing of summer. Part of what I love about Autumn is how its best gifts are humble ones: berries like clusters of jewels, richly coloured leaves, perfect shiny conkers and roasted chestnuts, tender mushrooms that rise in a throng overnight. Their value is one of simple joy in the turning year, and we revel in them because this change in the world, in its colours, reminds us that nothing is still, nothing is set in stone.

What small gifts of autumn bring you joy? Take a moment to notice the changing world around you, and see where your thoughts take you.

Discover Wild Words: Autumn here.

Events
Click the links to take you directly to events in 
York, Bishop's Castle, Oxford Street and Online & Pop-Ups
Prescriptions for Matters of the Heart
Sunday 11 October 2026 
12-3pm & 4-6pm
     
The Poetry Pharmacy (Deb and Maya) come to OVADA, Oxford, for a special one-day pop-up as part of After Love, exploring heartbreak and its aftermath.
Drop in for a one-to-one poetry consultation, or browse our travelling dispensary of Poetry Pills, books and poetic remedies for love lost, longing, loneliness, recovery and beginning again

This project is made possible with support from a Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship from the Arts & Humanities Research Council.

No appointment necessary. Free.
Skinship and The Dodo Stories
Thursday 15th October, 7-8.30pm  
Coney Street, York

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.
Writing with Darkness: at The Poetry Pharmacy
Friday 16th October, 10-11.40am  
Oxford Street, London

Write, reflect and connect in this restorative, creative writing workshop. Open to all, no writing experience needed.

'Darkness is rarely just the absence of light. It can be menace and mystery, grief and dream, danger and desire. It can also be the place where the mind loosens its grip and a different kind of seeing becomes possible.' - The Poetry Pharmacy, Poetry Poison: Darkness

Over 90 minutes we’ll be warming ourselves up to get writing, exploring what darkness means to us, looking at how darkness is explored in poems and responding to some creative writing prompts.

This workshop theme has been inspired both by the soon-to-be darker evenings and the seeking of light amidst the dark, and the launch of the new poetic poison anthologies at The Poetry Pharmacy.
The Punkawallah's Rope:
an evening of poetry and music
Friday 23rd October, 7-8.30pm
The Lab, Bishops Castle 

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.
Creative Writing Breakfast Club
with Laurie Bolger
Friday 23rd October, 10-11.30am  
Oxford Street, London
 
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!
Jen Feroze's Bespoke Poetry
Sunday 25th October, 12-6pm
Oxford Street, London
Drop in 
 
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: 
Friday 6th & Sunday 22nd November
Sunday 13th December
Poisonous Party
Tuesday 27th October, 6.30-7.30pm
Oxford Street, London  

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.
Reading John Donne
Sunday 8th November, 11am-1pm
The Lab, Bishops Castle 
 

Join Jan Westwood for a guided exploration of John Donne’s poetry and why it remains so relevant to today’s reader.

Born in 1572, Donne lived in a complex and divided society, and his poetry explores many themes that still resonate today, including love, sex, death and religion. His work is known for its drama, wit, intensity, paradox and wonderfully inventive use of language.

Jan will take us on a journey through the work of this magnificent poet and fascinating man, exploring what makes his poetry so enduring.

Ticket price includes tea or coffee and cake!
You Can Do it with a Broken Heart
Book Launch
Friday 13th November, 6.30-7.30pm  
Oxford Street, London

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.
The Northern Launch of
'UP//ROAR: Poems of Queer Resistance'
Friday 20th November, 7-8pm  
York, Coney Street

Join the Poetry Pharmacy as we welcome editor/poet Cherry Potts from Arachne Press's latest LGBTQ+ Poetry Anthology, UP//ROAR: Poems of Queer Resistance. UP//ROAR is a follow up to best-selling JOY//US: Poems of Queer Joy. This event will feature performances from Arachne poets, line-up to be confirmed!
'VERVACEOUS' launch:
Celebrating 10 Years of VERVE
Thursday 3rd December, 6.30-7.30pm  
Oxford Street, London
 

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.
Sunday 5th December, 11-11am
The Lab, Bishops Castle

Join Anna Dreda, former proprietor of the much-loved Wenlock Books, for her seasonal Poetry Pharmacy Poetry Breakfast!

We’ll read poems to one another over coffee and croissants in the bright and airy space of the Poetry Pharmacy Lab. And if you’d prefer to ‘just’ listen, that’s perfect, too.

Bring a favourite published poem to share on the theme ‘What Branches Hold’, inspired by Ellen Rowland’s poem of the same name. Follow whatever thoughts, feelings or associations the poem sparks for you.

You can read Ellen’s poem on the Eventbrite listing here.
Exploring the Poetry of Winter
Sunday 20th December, 11am-1pm
The Lab, Bishops Castle

Join Jan Westwood for a guided exploration of winter-themed poetry, with the theme of Comfort, Good Food and Warmth.

Winter is a season of great variety, when Shakespeare tells us ‘greasy Joan doth keel the pot ‘, and Dickinson sees snow which ‘sifts from Leaden Sieves ‘.

A time of ‘comfort, good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand’, according to Sitwell, but also when, 'Nothing burns like the cold’ as George RR Matin warns us.

A time of song, candlelight and family for some and loneliness for others when the earth is frozen and, as Laurie Lee reminds us, ‘the wind gnaws with teeth of glass’.

Let us sit together and enjoy poems which reveal winter in all its glory.

Jan was a teacher of English for over 40 years and has had her poems published in various anthologies. She has an MA in English Literature and chairs various poetry groups in person and online.

Ticket price includes tea or coffee and cake!
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
Wednesday 23rd December, 3.45-4.45pm
Poetry Pharmacy, Bishops Castle

A magical candlelit reading of the Christmas classic with Anna Dreda.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Join us for a magical treat on the night before Christmas Eve, when Anna Dreda will be reading the classic Christmas poem, The Night Before Christmas, all by candlelight at the Poetry Pharmacy above the bookshop.

Each ticket is £15 per family, and includes a gift for the children and some festive refreshments.

Our proceeds this year will be going to the Gaza Appeal for Children in Crisis.
Wild Words: Autumn
Online self-led course

Wild Words: Autumn with Rhiannon Hooson

As the days grow shorter and we settle into the autumn season, our friend, poet Rhiannon Hooson, invites you to find inspiration in the changing world around us with Wild Words: Autumn.

Although the live course of daily email prompts is taking a break this autumn, you can still take part with a self-led downloadable version. Featuring 31 writing prompts inspired by the season, the course encourages you to make time for writing, explore your creativity and develop a creative habit to sustain you through the darker half of the year and beyond.

Whether you're just beginning your writing journey or looking to reconnect with an established practice, the prompts offer a starting point for poetry, prose and creative nonfiction. Work through them at your own pace, whenever inspiration strikes.

Discover Wild Words: Autumn.
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